Fall 2008: CS 491/633/733 Grid Computing

Course Website:

http://www.cis.uab.edu/cs633/fall2008. Please use WebCT to access all course materials.

Prerequisites:

CS 631/731 Distributed Computing. Please check with the instructor if you have any questions about the course prerequisites.

Course Description:

Over the last few years Grid Computing has gained popularity as the emerging architecture for next-generation high performance distributed computing. Grid Computing aims to provide ubiquitous access to distributed high performance computing resources shared between multiple organizations and provide "virtualization" of computational resources. In this course we will first study the motivation for developing and using Grid Computing, the evolution of Grid Computing, and relationship between Grid Computing and other types of computing such as Cluster Computing, Distributed Computing, Internet Computing, Peer-to-Peer Computing, and Cloud Computing. The benefits of Grid Computing along with the issues and challenges that must be addressed are also discussed along with the impact on developing scientific and engineering applications in a Grid environment.

The second part of the course concentrates on the various technologies and architectures used to develop "Grids." Students will work on projects to develop a "Grid Testbed" using the Globus Toolkit and other software packages available through the NSF Middleware Initiative (NMI). Projects during this part of the course will focus on understanding the different Grid technologies and architectures such as the Open Grid Specification Architecture (OGSA) and developing higher-level tools using these technologies. The last part of the course will be dedicated to the study of different Grid Computing Environments and Grid Applications. Students will work on projects to prototype simple Grid environments and/or deploy applications using the "Grid Testbed" developed during the second part of the course. Students will use the computational resources provided by the UABgrid to implement and test the class assignments and project.

Grade Determination:

The final grade for the course is determined as follows:

Exams (2)	30%
Homework (3-4)	30%
Project and Presentation	20%
Final Exam	20%

All students are required to attend all classes and to present excuses for justifiable absences (e.g., attending a conference, or serious illness). This includes classes given by guest lecturers (if any). Students enrolled in CS 733 will have additional questions on homework and a major project.

Late Submission:

All homework assignments are due at the beginning of class on the due date. Any assignment turned in after this deadline is considered late. Late assignments will lose 10% for every 24-hour period, up to a maximum of 50% (weekends and holidays count as one 24-hour period).

Academic Honesty:

Students who plagiarize a computer program (or parts of a program), get others to write a program (or parts of a program), or are found cheating on a quiz/exam, will be reported for academic dishonesty. Anyone who is caught cheating will receive a zero on a given test or assignment. If a second offense occurs, the student will receive an F in the class. This includes both the provider of the information as well as the receiver of the information. Any student who violates the university's academic honesty policy will be reported for academic discipline. All university and department policies related to students are included here by implication.

Course Accommodations:

Students who require course accommodations are requested to make an appointment with the instructor during office hours. Students with disabilities must register with Disability Support Services, HUC 516 or 934-4205, and provide an accommodation request letter to receive academic adjustments.

Email:

Every student will be required to use his/her official email address that is blazerid@uab.edu. New students must login and configure their email addresses. For more details on obtaining blazerid and configuring email please see: http://www.uab.edu/blazerid. All email communications will be made using this address. Additional instructions or announcements will be sent by e-mail, so check your mail often - at least twice a day (once in the morning and once at night). Also check the course WebCT page for up-to-date information and announcements. Instructor will check email frequently, so e-mail is often the best way to contact the instructor.

Textbook:

No textbook for this course. The instructor will provide handouts for each topic covered in class.

References:

"The Grid 2: Blueprint for a New Computing Infrastructure" by Ian Foster and Carl Kesselman. Publisher: Morgan Kaufmann; 2nd Edition (November 18, 2003). ISBN: 1558609334.

"Grid Computing: Making the Global Infrastructure a Reality" edited by Fran Berman, Geoffrey Fox, and Tony Hey. Publisher: John Wiley & Sons (April 8, 2003). ISBN: 0470853190.

"Globus Toolkit 4: Programming Java Services" by Borja Sotomayor and Lisa Childers. Publisher: Morgan Kaufmann Publishers/Elservier (December 16, 2005). ISBN: 0123694043.

Tentative Schedule (Please check course website for updates):

Date	Topic	Comment
Aug 19 -- Aug 21	Introduction and Overview
Aug 26 -- Aug 28	The Evolution of the Grid	Assign Homework-1 Last Day to Add/Drop -- Aug 26
Sep 2 -- Sep 4	What is the Grid? Computational Grids The Anatomy of the Grid
Sep 9 -- Sep 11	Grid Security Infrastructure	Homework-1 Due (Sep 9) Assign Homework-2
Sep 16 -- Sep 18	Grid Resource Allocation and Management
Sep 23 -- Sep 25	Grid Information Services	Instructions for obtaining signed certificates
Sep 30 -- Oct 2	Exam-1	Homework-2 Due (Sep 30) Assign Homework-3
Oct 7 -- Oct 9	The Physiology of the Grid
Oct 14 -- Oct 16	Grid Programming Models Java CoG Kit	Last Day to Withdraw (Undergraduate) -- Oct 17
Oct 21 -- Oct 23	Introduction to Grid Services	Homework-3 Due (Oct 21) Assign Homework-4 Assign project topics
Oct 28 -- Oct 30	Developing Grid Services
Nov 4 -- Nov 6	Grid Services Standards
Nov 11 -- Nov 13	Data Grids	Homework-4 Due (Nov 11)
Nov 18 -- Nov 20	Exam-2
Nov 25	Semantic Grids
Dec 2	Project Presentations	Final Project Due (Dec 2) Last day to withdraw (Graduate) -- Dec 3
Dec 11 (Thursday) 4:15 -- 6:45 PM	Final Exam