Setting up a Grid using Globus(A Grid Computing Toolkit)

Here I am sharing my experience of  Setting up a Grid using Globus Toolkit  using 3 Ubuntu  machines which was one of our lab assignment in Evolving Architecture Lab.

There are many tools available which are used for setting up and managing a grid. Globus and HTCondor are one of them used worldwide for grid management.Half of our batch was asked to use Globus while other half was asked to use HTCondor.

I have tried to use Globus for setting a grid over 3 Ubuntu 12.04 machines.(although three different machines can be used since grid can have heterogeneous systems).Below,I will briefly discuss about globus,its installation process and configuration-

a).What is Globus toolkit?
The open source Globus Toolkit is a fundamental enabling technology for the "Grid," letting people share computing power, databases, and other tools securely online across corporate, institutional, and geographic boundaries without sacrificing local autonomy. The toolkit includes software services and libraries for resource monitoring, discovery, and management, plus security and file management.

b).Installation of Globus

Globus toolkit can be installed in two ways which are as follows-

1. Using source installer 

Source installer can be found in Source Download part at following link
http://toolkit.globus.org/toolkit/downloads/latest-stable/

2. Using Repository Configuration files(debian files)

Another way of installing globus is to download the repository in form of .deb file and depackaging it.You have to use proper .deb file suitable for your system version(for ubuntu 12.04 you have to use globus-repository-5.2-stable-precise_0.0.3_all.deb which can found here). Further detailed installation guide can be found here

I was having problem with the source installer method so I have opted second method.

c).Configuring the machines

A detailed configuration process of machines can be found here.

I had successfully installed the globus toolkit and configured the machines as per the configuration guide given at above link  but was facing the problem in job execution part due to certification issue.

I hope it will be helpful to beginners.