NMI: An Integrative Testing Framework for Grid Middleware and Grid Environments

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In 2001, the Grid Research, Integration, Development and Support (GRIDS) Center was established to define, develop, deploy, and support an integrated national middleware infrastructure. This proposal seeks to extend this work to (1) broaden the scope and capabilities of the middleware delivered; (2) embrace and extend emerging Open Grid Services Architecture (OGSA) standards; (3) expand the range of communities supported; and (4) establish international consensus in middleware. GRIDS Center 2 (GC2), like GC1, will rely heavily on open protocols, and open source implementations, and will work closely with major U.S. projects including the NSF Partnerships for Advanced Computational Infrastructure (PACI), the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR), the Pittsburgh Supercomputer Center (PSC), and Internet2 to reach out to other user communities and to address integration with campus infrastructures. The proposal details a strategy to aggressively transition relevant technologies to standards and industry, building on strong corporate relationships.Early deployment of the NMI software releases demonstrated the benefits of such an integrated middleware package but also exposed the limitations of current testing capabilities. The goal of the effort outlined by this proposal is to develop, implement, and deploy a comprehensive testing framework and to offer its services to the Grid community.The proposal outlines the design, construction, and dissemination of a transparent and transferable testing framework to address increasing demand for timely distribution of robust Grid middleware. The approach will be validated against the GC2 reference distribution, and the process and tools open and easy to install so custom middleware can achieve quality, reliability and stability. The approach should: 1) dramatically shorten the period from component update to release (speed of integration), 2) enhance integration of test modules (quality of integration), 3) validate middleware installations (certification), and 4) determine if an application failure is to blamed on the application, middleware, or fabric (fault isolation). GRIDS has already improved the quality and accessibility of an integrated Grid stack, but significant investment is needed to extend this capability and transfer it to community-specific software.The proposal has intellectual significance and broad benefits for society. GRIDS leadership and staff have established reputations in designing and deploying middleware. These R&D activities have real, immediate implications in research, education and beyond. GRIDS impact has already been considerable, with over a dozen companies such as IBM, Hewlett-Packard, and Oracle committed to building products on the technology. GC2 will see even greater emphasis on these outreach efforts, centering on emergent OGSA standards that are being driven by the GRIDS leadership. .