Institute leader: Ramin Yahyapour (ramin.yahyapourudo.edu), University of Dortmund

The institute on resource management and scheduling aims at delivering a comprehensive model on the resource management and scheduling for next generation Grids. The management and coordination of resources in a Grid environment is a key topic for next generation Grids (NGG), which has also been identified by the NGG expert group. Currently, there is neither a coherent and generally accepted infrastructure to manage and schedule resources nor are there efficient coordination algorithms that suit the complex requirements of a large scale Grid environment with different resource types. An efficient and transparent Grid resource management is essential for any large scale Grid as the availability of a large amount of resources connected by a network does not constitute a Grid. Key issues in this area are, for instance, the consideration of a cost and accounting model as well as the support for individual policies of Grid users and resource providers.

The members of the research institute will jointly address all relevant scheduling and resource management topics to define a common and generic solution for Next Generation Grids. This includes the architectural perspective which has to support scalability and cooperation across different administrative domains. As a Grid is dynamic by nature, it is essential to discover the available resources, coordinate the resources required by a complex job and monitor the progress of this job. This complex and cumbersome process cannot be handled by the user directly. Therefore, a large-scale Grid requires an elaborate resource management system that hides this process from the user. To this end, new scheduling algorithms and scheduling policies will be developed for coordinating the access to resources and for supporting complex job requirements. The actual management of resources and jobs further needs several services that provide the necessary functionality e.g. to manage the scheduling of complex job workflows.

Due to the different sub problems in providing a complete solution for Grid resource management and scheduling, the following key tasks have been identified:

1. Definition of a Grid scheduling architecture
2. Provision of higher-level scheduling models and algorithms
3. Realization of complex coordination of resources including workflow scheduling
4. Provision of fault-tolerant and reliable scheduling methods
5. Evaluation of Grid Scheduling Strategies
6. Definition of a model for coordinated scheduling for all resource types, especially including data and network scheduling
7. Identification of requirements and strategies for supporting Grid business models within the scheduling and resource management process
8. Service Level Agreements
9. Virtualization Management