An Easy Way to Access Grid Resources

This paper is a description of the European A-WARE project. For each user, a deployed instance of the A-WARE technology presents a facade over the underlying fabric of grid resources a bridge between users and resources. The primary target in grid fabric is the Web services based UNICORE 6 software. For the user, A-WARE provides a single point of entry to their distributed resources, and importantly it shields them from the complexity of direct engagement. The primary user interface is Web browser based and built with two well known portal solutions, EnginFrame and GridSphere. The mediation layer is based on an enterprise service bus, which offers excellent integration prospects. This is used for tasks scoped to a single resource, e.g. the management and monitoring of individual resources, as well as tasks covering multiple resources, e.g. workflow enactment, and search functionality. In this paper, we highlight the benefits of such an approach and describe how the adoption of key business integration standards enable the transfer of grid technology to a broader range of fields, from HPC to the business domain.