[glue-wg] RFD, WSRF-RP and GLUE: food for thought [WAS: a new software release: Semantic MDS]

[Paul Millar]

Happy New Year, everyone!

I received the email below from the semantic grid list.  I haven't explored 
the S-MDS package beyond reading the documentation on their webpage, but it 
looks both interesting and relevant to GLUE.

At the abstract level, this package provides a "semantically" queryable access 
(i.e., a SPARQL end-point) to some instance data.  The instance data is 
maintained by querying WSRF Resource Properties (RPs).  An overview is 
available here:
  http://pages.dbgrid.org/s-mds/dist/doc/background/architecture.htm

[in the diagram, they show RPs as local to the target system.  I guess this is 
a deployment decision, so might not be a requirement]

If this package were extended to expose GLUE data, then one could also use the 
same SPARQL end-point to query GLUE metadata.

An alternative approach would be to define an WSRF-RP binding for GLUE.  I've 
skimmed through the WSRF-RP spec (v1.2 draft-4) and, given a suitable 
GLUE/XML binding, this doesn't look too hard: a simple encapsulation through 
a suitable GLUE XML-namespace should work.

The S-MDS package has an "RP/ontology mapping algorithm" that (I believe) 
automatically converts the WSRF-RP into some OWL ontology description of the 
WSRF-RP.  Provided this mapping algorithm works for GLUE/WSRF-RP (i.e., 
GLUE/XML encapsulated within WSRF-RP SOAP), this should "just work" :-)

This would be an interesting extension of the current work on an XML binding.  
Apart from the application within MDS, we might get an RDF/OWL binding for 
free!

Cheers,

Paul.

----------  Forwarded Message  ----------

Subject: [SEM-GRD] A new software release: Semantic MDS TP1
Date: Sunday 23 December 2007
From: "Said Mirza" <mirza at ni.aist.go.jp>
To: gt-user at globus.org, sem-grd at gridforum.org

Hi,

We are pleased to announce the release of our new software Semantic
MDS (S-MDS) TP1.
S-MDS is a Semantic Metadata Discovery and Monitoring system
implemented on the top of the Globus Toolkit 4 (GT4).
It is an information system that uses semantic web technologies to
semantically describe grid resources (services) so that they can be
more efficiently and effectively discovered and monitored.
The software does not require any change to the (targeted/monitored)
grid resources so that it can "peacefully" work with your grid
resources.

S-MDS harvests many semantic web technologies but it does not require
users to be familiar with the technologies.
It provides the following management and query tools for supporting the users.
* S-MDS wizard and tools for easy creating, enriching and registering
the semantic metadata.
* A GUI-based query client for easy constructing a (SPARQL) query.
This tool also includes a monitoring client that periodically pulls
data from the repository and presents the data in a graphical view.

For more information and download please visit:
http://wiki.dbgrid.org/index.php?smds

Best Regards,

Said Mirza

On behalf of the Data Grid Team,
Grid Technology Research Center,
AIST - Japan
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