[ogsa-rss-bof] Resource Model Discussion during OGSA telecon

[Mathias Dalheimer]

Hi!

I just read the protocol of last nights OGSA-telecon:

"
* Resource model and BES discussion

   - It is unclear how or where the resource modelling work should
     continue now that BES has put it out of scope.
     - One option is to do this work in the context of RSS or perhaps
       even spawn a new group dedicated to resource modelling. The
       coordination problem is not insignificant, however. It is not
       yet clear how to proceed with this work.
   - BES put this work out of scope on the assumption that selection is
     over by the time a request reaches the BES container. (Also due to
     the fear that if the resource modelling work was taken on then it
     would cause the overall BES work to stall.)
   - Since RSS deals with resource selection it is probably a better
     (right?) place to do this modelling effort.

   - There is a concern that leaving this modelling work for later may
     cause rework of specs. This is not intended to stop ongoing work
     until the resource modelling is finished but to make sure people
     are aware of the risk.
     - BES is not doing modelling so the problem may not be that big
     - RSS would have to tackle this work---so it is probably going to
       be tackled relatively soon

   The consensus is that this topic needs more discussion.

   - Agreed that interested parties should discuss this offline,
     followed by discussing it on the BES call this week, followed by
     discussing it again in the OGSA call next Monday.
     - This activity is part of the coordination between OGSA &
       OGSA-BES WG
"


I think this is an very important discussion. In Chicago, we decided
that the defintion of an information system is out of scope, but what
about the underlying resource model? Basically, we need to identify
which resource is capable of executing a job described in JSDL
(Candidate Set Generator) and which resource to choose from this set
(Execution Planning Service).

While the first part is rather easy to answer (we need all the
attributes used in the JSDL), the second part seems to be a kind of
Pandora's box: The attributes vary greatly with the implementation of
the scheduler. While something like load or queue length of the resource
seems to be common, we can also have "network utilization", "existing
reservations", "availability between 2 and 3 p.m. tomorrow"...

In addition, the OGSA Information System session in Chicago revealed
some other aspects: What about information necessary to manage resource
(e.g. uptime, status, admin contact, ...) There are existing models like
CIM which has been investigated by Fred Maciel. The design of an
information system has been investigated by Abdeslem Djaoui.

This seems to be a lot of work. So before making a statement on the OGSA
mailing list, I would like to collect some opinions. What do you think
about the resource model? Should we deal with it? Is it out of scope?
Do we have the knowledge to deal with it? Can we - if it is out of scope
- provide input to another team?

Cheers,
Mathias