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Grid-Computing: For a High Throughput|
- By Kunal Rupera, Feb 13, 2009 1241 hrs IST
- Tags : Condor, DAGMan, video codecs, Globus grid, Kunal Rupera, virtual Condor cluster, windows, Linux
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A biotechnology company might want to use Condor to manage the long running pattern searches over the human genome. An engineering company might have similar needs with long-running simulations of stress on a building, wind tunnel simulations for cars, or circuit simulations for new electronics devices.
Condor helps those businesses with long running tasks. Such businesses may be using some sort of batch system already, or operate by starting the program each evening, hoping that it finishes before they return in the morning. This is the sort of situation in which Condor excels. Condor also saves time and effort when the time it takes a user to get jobs executing is longer than a few moments, or when a large number of jobs (of any size) must be started.
Condor can be useful on a range of network sizes, from small to large. On a single machine, Condor can act as a monitoring tool that pauses the job when the user uses the machine for other purposes, and it restarts the job if the machine reboots. On a small dedicated cluster, Condor functions well as a cluster submission tool. If you have long-running jobs, but cannot afford to purchase dedicated machines to run the jobs, you can use Condor's opportunistic behavior to scavenge cycles from desktop machines when their users are not using the machines.
In a typical business, these desktop machines are unused for 12 or more hours per day. This processing time is available at no extra cost under Condor. A long-running job expected to require the exclusive use of a workstation for two days may be able to produce results overnight.
Condor's functionality, called DAGMan, manages the submission of a large number of jobs with simple or complex dependencies on each other. A simple example is that job A and B must complete before job C can start. A rendering example of this would be that job A renders a 3D special effect, job B renders the background, and job C superimposes the special effect onto the background. Condor DAGMan can also be used to run a series of jobs.
If the business is using Globus grid resources to gain access to more computing power than it has available in-house, Condor-G provides reliability and job management to their jobs. Or, with Condor glidein, remote Globus grid resources can transparently become part of a virtual Condor cluster.
Condor can easily integrate itself in windows as well as Linux environments and it is a cost-effective solution compared to a mainframe or a custom-clustering solution. The advantage of using Condor is that it can enable many applications to use a grid cluster system with minimum or no code changes.
Related Link
Duo to Deliver Grid Computing Solutions
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