5.0 Optimization Metadata

Envisaged use cases:

1. Users should be able to use the Grid transparently within Triana i.e. a user should need only to provide a Triana task graph and a maximum time for completion. Mechanisms plugged into Triana should then determine from this task graph the best way that the algorithm can be distributed onto the Grid given this user constraint.
2. Users should have the option to specify the distribution of tasks i.e. the user can specify a task/task graph to run at particular hosts.

Requirements:

1. Each unit within Triana will implement a monitoring API that will allow it to be quizzed about certain properties, for example, the number of flops required to complete its task (which is related to the input dimension), the amount of memory required and other information such as disk space requirements and network load. This information therefore can be used collectively to estimate the requirements from a complete algorithm (or part of an algorithm).
2. A benchmarking API for estimating the JavaFlops on a machine is required (the CPU speed the OS are irrelevant; we simply need to know how fast that machine will be for running Java). Giving this combination of information, an optimization algorithm can be written to map a Triana network onto the Grid by splitting it up in the optimal way for the available resources. Users therefore, do not need to be involved in the distribution or parallelization of their code.
3. Caching issues not considered yet.
4. Network routing issues not considered yet.