Location-transparent naming in grid computing using Legion-G

Globus is a powerful toolkit but lacks location transparency in its naming system, due to a reliance on URLs. In practical terms, this means that a Grid user (or software running on behalf of the user) must know precisely where Grid entities are. The problem is that hardware reconfiguration, file system reorganization, and changes in organizational structure can often result in dangling links. At the University of Virginia, we are designing and implementing a comprehensive project that combines the best aspects of Globus and Legion into Legion-G - roughly an "applications-level" interface from Legion to Globus, whereby Legion "runs on" key Grid functionality of Globus such as GSI. Among the capabilities already supported in Legion, and thus will be delivered to the Globus user, are: end-user tools for transparent remote execution and parameter-space studies; support for dynamic, transparent remote instantiation of transient Grid services, with integrated scheduling support; fine-grained access control for Grid services; and the Legion programming model which supports arbitrary, asynchronous, data-flow-style, secure Grid computations. This poster describes the Legion-G support for location-transparent naming in Grid Computing and illustrates its value in the context of Globus MPI computations that accesses LegionFS which is a location-transparent, Grid-enabled distributed file system.