rDistributor - Remote Distribution of Complete Application Environments

Large-scale, grid computing platforms, consisting of thousands of systems distributed across hundreds of computing facilities around the world, are needed for intensive scientific computing. Such grid computing platforms require tools that enable the rapid packaging, distribution, and installation of the necessary application software environment on systems in widely distributed computing facilities. However, current software solutions do not scale to adequately support large grid deployments. To address this deficiency, this project will develop a distributed software repository, with automated dependency determination, that automatically creates packages containing the complete application software environment. These packages can then be applied to systems in the grid computing platform, providing an efficient method of distribution and installation of the complete application environment. In Phase 1, the distributed software repository prototype will be populated with a grid application suitable for benchmarking. The prototype repository will then be enhanced to ensure that it can achieve the speed and scale required for large scale grid computing platforms. Distribution methods will be identified, and a prototype, which integrates the repository with the distribution method selected, will be built. Commercial Applications And Other Benefits as described by the Applicant: The enhanced distributed software repository should allow an organization to rapidly and efficiently deploy new application environments. The technology should enable the delivery of ¿computing on demand¿ to financial institutions and organizations concerned with oil and gas exploration, electronic design automation, animation and visualization, computer aided design, bioinformatics, computational biology, climate modeling, and Internet and web services.