A Lightweight Interface to Local Grid Scheduling Systems

Many computationally intensive research problems can be addressed using a Grid architecture. However, Grid use is restricted to those who have an indepth knowledge of its complex architecture and functionality. To make Grid computing more accessible, a lightweight Web 2.0 interface to the scheduling systems on which Grids rely, and which can serve as an abstraction of a large Grid environment, was built. The purpose of this interface was to simplify many of the complexities associated with using Grid architectures. A case study is used to demonstrate the applicability of the interface to a problem that can be solved using a Grid, while a user study demonstrates how users, with little or no experience using Grids, were able to accomplish tasks using the Grid. Lastly, it is shown that the Web 2.0 interface can outperform traditional static interfaces in terms of response time and bandwidth efficiency. Keywords: computin