7 things you should know about...
Grid Computing
Scenario What is it?
For years, Dr. Rayburn has been looking for tools to help Computing grids are conceptually not unlike electrical grids. In an
his architecture students move beyond paper sketches electrical grid, wall outlets allows us to link to an infrastructure of
and scaled-down models. He knows that as working resources that generate, distribute, and bill for electricity. When you
architects, they will be using computer simulations that connect to the electrical grid, you don’t need to know where the
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require not just design skill but proficiency with increas- power plant is or how the current gets to you. Grid computing uses
ingly complex software and hardware. Unfortunately, middleware to coordinate disparate IT resources across a network,
his department cannot afford to purchase and support allowing them to function as a virtual whole. The goal of a com-
a computing system with the necessary processing ca- puting grid, like that of the electrical grid, is to provide users with
pacity to run such advanced applications. access to the resources they need, when they need them.
Over the summer, the university’s IT staff, working with Grids address two distinct but related goals: providing remote
the computer science department, set up a computer access to IT assets, and aggregating processing power. The most
grid running on the campus network. The grid con- obvious resource included in a grid is a processor, but grids also
nects nearly all university-owned computers, including encompass sensors, data-storage systems, applications, and
those in labs, the library, as well as faculty and staff other resources. One of the first commonly known grid initiatives
offices. The software that runs the grid gives local us- was the SETI@home project, which solicited several million volun-
ers priority for those machines, but when they are idle, teers to download a screensaver that used idle processor capac-
their processors can be used over the grid. Using the ity to analyze data in the search for extraterrestrial life. In a more
power of the campus grid, Dr. Rayburn’s students can recent example, the Telescience Project provides remote access to
now use sophisticated architectural design software an extremely powerful electron microscope at the National Center
that previously was unavailable because of its pro- for Microscopy and Imaging Research in San Diego. Users of the
cessing requirements. With the software, students can grid can remotely operate the microscope, allowing new levels of
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design buildings and other structures as well as the ar- access to the instrument and its capabilities.
eas surrounding them, and create three-dimensional,
interactive animations of their designs. As presenta-
tions, the animations allow viewers to “fly” over and
Who’s doing it?
Many grids are appearing in the sciences, in fields such as chem-
around the scenes the students generate, zooming in
istry, physics, and genetics, and cryptologists and mathematicians
and out and moving in any direction they want to go.
have also begun working with grid computing. Grid technology has
The university’s grid supplies enough unused comput-
the potential to significantly impact other areas of study with heavy
ing power to process the animations fast enough for it
computational requirements, such as urban planning. Another
all to function smoothly.
important area for the technology is animation, which requires
After several weeks of using the software, two of Dr. massive amounts of computational power and is a common tool in
Rayburn’s students persuade faculty in the meteorol- a growing number of disciplines. By making resources available to
ogy department to connect a very large climatic data- students, these communities are able to effectively model authentic
base to the grid. The database includes data about the disciplinary practices.
exact positioning of the sun and moon at any latitude
on the globe during daily, monthly, and yearly cycles,
as well as historical data on weather conditions for
How does it work?
Grids use a layer of middleware to communicate with and manip-
most parts of the world. With the database available
ulate heterogeneous hardware and data sets. In some fields—
on the grid, the students can incorporate seasonal
astronomy, for example—hardware cannot reasonably be moved
changes into their animations. They can render a build-
and is prohibitively expensive to replicate on other sites. In other
ing at a particular latitude, at a specific time of the year
or spanning weeks or months. Dr. Rayburn sees that more ➭
with the new capabilities, his students are able to cre-
ate better designs, ones that make more creative use
of natural light—even as seasons change—and that
demonstrate students’ deliberation about how their
structures interact with the environment.
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Grid Computing
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instances, databases vital to research projects cannot be duplicat- grids, but, by their nature, grids that can provide unprecedented
ed and transferred to other sites. Grids overcome these logistical access to facilities and tools involve a high level of complexity.
obstacles and open the tools of research to distant faculty and stu-
dents. A grid might coordinate scientific instruments in one country
with a database in another and processors in a third. From a user’s
Where is it going?
Because the number of functioning grids is relatively small, it may
perspective, these resources function as a single system—differ-
take time for the higher education community to capitalize on the
ences in platform and location become invisible.
opportunities that grids can provide and the feasibility of such proj-
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On a typical college or university campus, many computers sit ects. As the number and capacity of high-speed networks increase,
idle much of the time. A grid can provide significant processing however, particularly those catering to the research community and
power for users with extraordinary needs. Animation software, for higher education, new opportunities will arise to combine IT assets
instance, which is used by students in the arts, architecture, and in ways that expose students to the tools and applications rele-
other departments, eats up vast amounts of processor capacity. vant to their studies and to dramatically reduce the amount of time
An industrial design class might use resource-intensive software to required to process data-intensive jobs. Further, as grids become
render highly detailed three-dimensional images. In both cases, a more widespread and easier to use, increasing numbers and kinds
campus grid slashes the amount of time it takes students to work of IT resources will be included on grids. We may also start to see
with these applications. All of this happens not from additional more grid tie-ins for desktop applications. While there are obvious
capacity but through the efficient use of existing power. advantages to solving a complex genetic problem using grid com-
puting, being able to harness spare computing cycles to manipu-
Why is it significant? late an image in Photoshop or create a virtual world in a simulation
may be some of the first implementations of grids.
Grids make research projects possible that formerly were imprac-
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tical or unfeasible due to the physical location of vital resources.
Using a grid, researchers in Great Britain, for example, can conduct What are the implications for
research that relies on databases across Europe, instrumentation
in Japan, and computational power in the United States. Making teaching and learning?
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resources available in this way exposes students to the tools of the Higher education stands to reap significant benefits from grid com-
profession, facilitating new possibilities for research and instruction, puting by creating environments that expose students to the “tools
particularly at the undergraduate level. of the trade” in a wide range of disciplines. Rather than using mock
or historical data from an observatory in South America, for exam-
Although speeds and capacities of processors continue to increase,
ple, a grid could let students on other continents actually use those
resource-intensive applications are proliferating as well. At many
facilities and collect their own data. Learning experiences become
institutions, certain campus users face ongoing shortages of com-
far richer, providing opportunities that otherwise would be impossi-
putational power, even as large numbers of computers are under-
ble or would require travel. The access that grid computing offers to
used. With grids, programs previously hindered by constraints on
particular resources can allow institutions to deepen, and in some
computing power become possible.
cases broaden, the scope of their educational programs.
What are the downsides? Grid computing encourages partnerships among higher educa-
tion institutions and research centers. Because they bring together
Being able to access distant IT assets—and have them function
unique tools in novel groupings, grids have the potential to incor-
seamlessly with tools on different platforms—can be a boon to
porate technology into disciplines with traditionally lower involve-
researchers, but it presents real security concerns to organizations
ment with IT, including the humanities, social sciences, and the
responsible for those resources. An institution that makes its IT
arts. Grids can leverage previous investments in hardware and
assets available to researchers or students on other campuses and
infrastructure to provide processing power and other technology
in other countries must be confident that its involvement does not
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capabilities to campus constituents who need them. This realloca-
expose those assets to unnecessary risks. Similarly, directors of
tion of institutional resources is especially beneficial for applications
research projects will be reluctant to take advantage of the oppor-
with high demands for processing and storage, such as modeling,
tunities of a grid without assurances that the integrity of the project,
animations, digital video production, or biomedical studies.
its data, and its participants will be protected.
Another challenge facing grids is the complexity in building middle-
ware structures that can knit together collections of resources to
work as a unit across network connections that often span oceans
and continents. Scheduling the availability of IT resources connect-
ed to a grid can also present new challenges to organizations that
manage those resources. Increasing standardization of protocols
addresses some of the difficulty in creating smoothly functioning
www.educause.edu/eli
January 2006
