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IBM Redbooks

Introduction to Grid Computing

An IBM Redbooks publication

Note: This is publication is now archived. For reference only.

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Published on 27 December 2005

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ISBN-10: 0738494003
ISBN-13: 9780738494005
IBM Form #: SG24-6778-00

Authors: Bart Jacob, Michael Brown, Kentaro Fukui and Nihar Trivedi

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    Abstract

    In the past several years, grid computing has emerged as a way to harness and take advantage of computing resources across geographies and organizations. In this IBM Redbooks publication, we describe a generalized view of grid computing including concepts, standards, and ways in which grid computing can provide business value to your organization. In a nutshell, grid computing is all about virtualization that enables businesses to take advantage of a variety of IT resources in order to be more responsive to demands of the business and increase availability of applications while reducing both infrastructure and management costs.

    There are many products and toolkits available from IBM and other companies that enable different aspects of grid computing. One of the most well known toolkits is the Globus Toolkit. Globus Toolkit 4 provides components and services conforming to existing and evolving standards that can be used as the basis for a grid computing solution. In the second half of this book we provide instructions for installing and configuring a simple Globus environment that can be used to demonstrate various aspects of grid computing and to build a proof of concept environment. We also describe, and provide as additional material, a sample grid application that can be used to demonstrate, test, and teach more about the grid computing concepts introduced in this book.

    Table of Contents

    Part 1. Grid fundamentals

    Chapter 1. What grid computing is

    Chapter 2. Benefits of grid computing

    Chapter 3. Grid terms and concepts

    Chapter 4. Grid user roles

    Part 2. Grid architecture considerations

    Chapter 5. Standards for grid environments

    Chapter 6. Application considerations

    Chapter 7. Security

    Chapter 8. Design

    Chapter 9. Web services resource framework

    Part 3. Creating a grid environment with the Globus Toolkit 4

    Chapter 10. Globus Toolkit 4 components

    Chapter 11. Globus Toolkit 4 installation and configuration

    Part 4. Grid demonstration application

    Chapter 12. Demonstration application

    Part 5. Appendixes

    Appendix A. IBM software portfolio for grid computing