On The Feasibility of Running Entity-Level Simulations on Grid Platforms

• Published in: Fifth IEEE/ACM International Workshop on Grid Computing pp. 312 - 319
• Main Authors: Su, Alan, Berman, Fran, Casanova, Henri
• Format: Conference Proceeding
• Language: English
• Published: Washington, DC, USA IEEE Computer Society 08-11-2004; IEEE
• Series: ACM Conferences
• Subjects: Aggregates; Biological system modeling; Computational modeling; Computer simulation; Computer systems organization; Computer systems organization > Dependable and fault-tolerant systems and networks; Context modeling; General and reference; General and reference > Cross-computing tools and techniques; General and reference > Cross-computing tools and techniques > Performance; Grid computing; Immune system; Social and professional topics; Social and professional topics > Professional topics; Social and professional topics > Professional topics > Computing profession; Social and professional topics > Professional topics > Computing profession > Testing, certification and licensing; Software and its engineering; Software and its engineering > Software organization and properties; Software and its engineering > Software organization and properties > Software system structures; Software and its engineering > Software organization and properties > Software system structures > Distributed systems organizing principles; Supercomputers; Traffic control; Vehicles
• ISBN: 0769522564; 9780769522562
• ISSN: 1550-5510; 2377-6374
• DOI: 10.1109/GRID.2004.45

Scientists have long relied on abstract models to study phenomena that are too complex for direct observation and experimentation. As new scientific modeling methodologies emerge, new computing technologies must be developed. In this paper, we focus on entity-level modeling, a modeling approach that is gaining prevalence in many scientific fields. Although the principles of entity-level modeling are straightforward, entity-level simulations require a large amount of compute resource and grid platforms can meet such resource needs. Unfortunately, efficient large-scale distributed entity-level simulations have proven elusive, typically due to non-determinism that renders classical distributed application deployment strategies ineffective. In this work, we propose a method for dynamically remapping application tasks to cope with this inherent non-determinism. We evaluate the efficacy of this method in a simulated grid computing environment and discuss the feasibility of executing entity-level applications on grids.