[saga-rg] SAGA-RG charter revision 2
Tom Goodale
goodale at cct.lsu.edu
Thu Feb 9 06:59:22 CST 2006
Latest version with Steven's comments, and spell-checked this time 8-)
Informational Section
---------------------
Area: Applications [Standards]
Name of group: Simple API for Grid Applications Research Group
Acronym: SAGA-RG
Type of group: Reasearch Group (RG)
Chairs: Tom Goodale, Shantenu Jha, Thilo Kielmann
Secretaries: TBD
Email list: saga-rg at ggf.org
Web page: http://forge.ggf.org/projects/saga-rg/
Charter:
-------
This charter is the result of a re-chartering of the SAGA Research
Group.
Focus/Purpose:
-------------
Many application developers wish to make use of the exciting
possibilities opened up by the advent of the Grid. Application
developers, however, have their own agendas to pursue and often
cannot spare the time or resources to fully investigate the vast
wealth of Grid technologies and APIs which currently exist. They
would rather be presented with a simple API close to the
programming paradigms and interfaces they are used to.
For example, the process of copying of a remote file may involve
interaction with a replica location service, a data transport
service, a resource management service, and a security service.
It may involve communication via LDAP/LDIF, GRAM, HTTP, and GSI,
as protocols or protocol extensions. A Fortran application
programmer, however, wants to see a call very much like:
call fileCopy (source, destination)
Although this example is simplified, it illustrates the motivation
for our work. The APIs developed by this RG will deliver a similar
level of abstraction for a range of basic operations which need to
be grid aware. The precise set of operations is to be decided by
the RG based upon application requirements and use cases; examples
of such operations may be file access, job submission, monitoring
or steering.
Scope:
-----
The group will build on the results and feedback of the work of
the former SAGA RG. As such, it will provide a forum in GGF to
consolidate application driven API specifications. The primary
goals of the group are two fold:
1) provide general guidelines for application driven API
specifications in GGF (security guidelines, common look & feel,
interoperability guidelines, conflict resolution, etc.)
2) The group will form, on an ad hoc basis, design teams
which investigate new API areas for inclusion in the SAGA-API
The design teams will
- solicit related application use cases
- issue an informal use case document
- issue an informal requirement document
3) Spawn off focused working groups which will work on API
specifications (standard recommendation track) for specific
subsystems, e.g. RPC, CPR, application steering etc, after
a design team has identified and explored an area as described
in (2) above.
4) Coordinate the activities of the SAGA working groups and
make sure that the resulting APIs are in line with the
SAGA goals.
The SAGA API does not strive to replace Globus or
similar middleware systems, and does not target middleware
developers, but solely application developers with no assumed
background on Grid Computing who wish to grid enable their
applications whilst spending as little time as possible learning
new paradigms. Such developers typically wish to devote their
time to their own goals and minimise the time spent coding
infrastructure functionality. The API will insulate application
developers from middleware.
The specification of services, and the protocols to interact with
them, is out of the scope of the RG. Rather, the API seeks to hide
the detail of any service infrastructures that may or may not
be used to implement the functionality that the application
developer needs. The RG will, however, actively liaise with all
grid-middleware groups within the GGF.
Exit Strategy:
--------------
No clear exit strategy for this group exists, as it is supposed to
provide means to continuously spawn off focused working groups.
However, the group does have a list of deliverables, and should
revisit its charter after these deliverables have been completed.
Goals:
------
Note: As this charter is a result of a re-chartering process for
the SAGA RG, it also contains goals and deliverables which have
already been, or are currently in the process of being
delivered.
The group will produce an informal use case document ("SAGA
Use-Case Document") and a informal requirement document ("SAGA
Requirements Document").
In continuation, and broadening its scope, the group will create a
Community Practise Document "SAGA API Guidelines", which will
define the Look & Feel of SAGA APIs, and describe central
paradigms (such as asynchronous operations and error handling)
which should be respected in SAGA API specifications. That
document will build upon the experience of the SAGA-CORE WG and their
initial SAGA API specification v1.0.
These documents are to guide the spawned off working
groups, and to ensure short and concise working agendas for these
groups. The formation of design teams is informal, and should
always strive to find members from the specific areas of
expertise - i.e. members from the relevant GGF community groups,
and members from the relevant GGF standards groups.
* Informational Document:
"SAGA Use Case Document"
- use cases
* Informational Document:
"SAGA Requirements document"
- define exact scope of the initial SAGA API
- define target user groups for initial SAGA API
- define programming languages to be supported by the initial
SAGA API
* Informational Document:
"SAGA use of other Grid specifications"
This document will survey the survey and evaluate SAGA
reference implementations with underlying models of
grid-middleware including, but not confined to OGSA.
* Community Practise Document:
"SAGA API Guidelines"
This document will define the Look & Feel of SAGA APIs,
and describe central paradigms (such as asynchronous
operations and error handling) which should be respected
in SAGA API specifications.
Milestones:
-----------
GGF16: - Finalisation of "SAGA Use Case Document, version 1"
- Presentation of "SAGA Requirements document, version 1"
GGF17: - Finalisation of "SAGA Requirements document, version 1"
GGF19: - Presentation of "SAGA use of other Grid
specifications, version 1"
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