Grid Computing at UTB/TSC

We are currently creating a parallel computing laboratory using grid technology. The local laboratory which is located at SET-B will be shared among members of OSG(Open Science Grid). Local researchers and students will have access to parallel and clustering architectures using grid technology. The laboratory consists of 45 computers. We have already installed grid technology into one of our computers. And have already installed the required software onto two others. An OSG site is composed of a gatekeeper and a backend resource. The backend resource in our case are the 45 machines mentioned, in a cluster format. The gatekeeper is the door onto OSG,this is also called a Compute Element and needs to be installed with the OSG software. VDT is used to get the OSG software on the gatekeeper.And the Pacman in the required software used to download the VDT. Once the VDT is downloaded the next step will be to download the certificates. There are two certificates a host certificate and a personal certificate. The host certificate is to allow the machine onto the site and a personal certificate is used to allow the user onto the site. Afer this is completed the user will have access to the grid and will be allowed to share data and run applications.

The following are steps to acess the grid:

1. Install the software necessary- The grid's software has only a few supported platforms and most of them are in UNIX. What I did first was to install a VMPlayer and downloaded Centos (one of the few supported platforms). This way I could still be running windows in the background and run Centos when necessary in a seperate desktop. Which are the supported platforms?

2. Install the Pacman- Pacman

3. Install the VDT

4. Install the Host Certificate

5. Install the Personal Certificate

The process works as such:

Pacman --> VDT --> Certificates --> OSG