Development journey of QADPZ - A desktop grid computing platform

Abstract

In this paper we present QADPZ, an open source system for desktop grid computing, which enables users of a local network or Internet to share resources. QADPZ allows a centralized management and use of the computational resources of idle computers from a network of desktop computers. QADPZ users can submit compute-intensive applications to the system, which are then automatically scheduled for execution. The scheduling is performed according to the hardware and software requirements of the application. Users can later monitor and control the execution of the applications. Each application consists of one or more tasks. Applications can be independent, when the composing tasks do not require any interaction, or parallel, when the tasks communicate with each other during the computation. The paper describes both QADPZ functionality and the process of design and implementation, with focus on requirements, architecture, user interface and security. Some future work ideas are also presented. Copyright © 2006-2009 by CCC Publications.