Introduction to Grid Computing
An IBM Redbooks publication
Note: This is publication is now archived. For reference only.
In the past several years, grid computing has emerged as a way to harness and take advantage of computing resources across geographies and organizations. In this IBM Redbooks publication, we describe a generalized view of grid computing including concepts, standards, and ways in which grid computing can provide business value to your organization. In a nutshell, grid computing is all about virtualization that enables businesses to take advantage of a variety of IT resources in order to be more responsive to demands of the business and increase availability of applications while reducing both infrastructure and management costs.
There are many products and toolkits available from IBM and other companies that enable different aspects of grid computing. One of the most well known toolkits is the Globus Toolkit. Globus Toolkit 4 provides components and services conforming to existing and evolving standards that can be used as the basis for a grid computing solution. In the second half of this book we provide instructions for installing and configuring a simple Globus environment that can be used to demonstrate various aspects of grid computing and to build a proof of concept environment. We also describe, and provide as additional material, a sample grid application that can be used to demonstrate, test, and teach more about the grid computing concepts introduced in this book.
Part 1. Grid fundamentals
Chapter 1. What grid computing is
Chapter 2. Benefits of grid computing
Chapter 3. Grid terms and concepts
Chapter 4. Grid user roles
Part 2. Grid architecture considerations
Chapter 5. Standards for grid environments
Chapter 6. Application considerations
Chapter 7. Security
Chapter 8. Design
Chapter 9. Web services resource framework
Part 3. Creating a grid environment with the Globus Toolkit 4
Chapter 10. Globus Toolkit 4 components
Chapter 11. Globus Toolkit 4 installation and configuration
Part 4. Grid demonstration application
Chapter 12. Demonstration application
Part 5. Appendixes
Appendix A. IBM software portfolio for grid computing