[ogsa-wg] Abstract names in BES

[Christopher Smith]

> 
> I'm concerned that the following two notions may be inconsistent:
> 
> a) WS-Names should be globally unique (Andrew)
> 
> b) The WS-Name can be used to pass a LSF jobid (Chris)
> 
> Or is Chris proposing that LSF be changed to generate its jobids with
> whatever scheme WS-Naming proposes to ensure global uniqueness? (If it
> doesn't, then I don't think that Chris can guarantee that the names that
> LSF generates and the names that someone else generates will not collide.)
> 
For me, these names are all about context. Within an LSF environment
(including an LSF multicluster environment), the LSF jobid is sufficient,
and generating another globally unique identifier doesn't really add much
value. 

If I'm in a context where I'm dealing with multiple systems that will be
providing me EPRs for interacting with "jobs", then I'll need a higher level
software layer to shield me from the lower level details, and here globally
unique (well ... at least contextual globally unique) identifiers are
required, and add more value.

So let's circle back on this discussion for a moment. You asked for some use
cases for the use of abstract names, and I provided one (perhaps you don't
agree with my usage of abstract names, but that's this side discussion).

This use case is one that we see all the time. Imagine an application
"workbench" (e.g. something like Fluent or Sybyl), that exports a special
BES service to run and manage domain specific jobs through its own "gateway"
to LSF. Imagine then, if you will, a higher level job "viewer" interface
that then produces another EPR for watching jobs (maybe so I can aggregate
my job views from multiple workbenches). A job submitted through the
workbench is viewable through the viewer, but they have different EPRs. The
LSF jobid in this case is the abstract name that let's me know they are the
same thing. And this jobid is as unique as it needs to be within this
context. If I embed this identity information in the EPR, then how do the
two gateways share this information? How can they if they are hosted at
different SOAP endpoints?

-- Chris