Agent-based grid computing

Abstract

This Chapter begins with a brief introduction to the development of computing Grids, and introduces prominent Grid architectures, communication protocols, resource allocation and scheduling algorithms. It then reviews the service-oriented Grid computing architecture, its related standards, and highlights five problems associated with the deployment and application of Grids in an open environment. The remainder of the Chapter focuses on two proposed solutions to these problems. The first solution is a hybrid one, which consolidates client-server and peer-to-peer computing architectures. This solution abandons a conventional super-local Grid architecture, and is shown to be more efficient, flexible and robust in open environments. In summary, this Chapter shows that integrating peer-to-peer computing and multi-agent technologies leads to improved scalability, efficiency, flexibility, and robustness in open environments, compared with conventional Grid computing architectures. © 2008 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.