UC-NGI-CZ-IX

From EGI Knowledge Base

Use Case title: Support for user-empowered services

Short description: Summary of CHEP'07 "Computing facilities, production grids and networking" track says that "Pilot jobs are becoming a reality". A pilot job is an empty shell, which is submitted onto the grid through standard submission channel. Once it gets executed, it calls back its controlling service, which is run under a complete control of the user or the users group, and the service provides the pilot with its actual payload.

The users use this technique to overcome various shortcomings of the grid infrastructure – low reliability, long submission latency – or to add further functionality – dynamic scheduling, advance workflow execution etc. (many specific use cases can be found in presentations of the mentioned CHEP'07 track).

A common feature of the addressed problems is their extreme complexity when they are approached in general, trying to find a solution suitable for all users. Therefore the available grid middleware stacks keep failing to solve them satisfactorily. However, the problems become significantly simpler when they are addressed in the specific instance of a particular user group.

National and international grid infrastructures should define procedures which would keep a reasonable balance between providing support to such user initiatives, minimizing their eventual negative impact on the grid stability and efficiency of its usage, as well as eventual adopting the user services developed in this way for more general usage. This would be done ideally in collaboration with the “grid gurus” mentioned in the previous use case.

Actors involved: local research community, VO operator, NGI operator