Abstract

In this paper, we present a new type of Globus resource allocation manager (GRAM) called RMF (Resource Manager beyond the Firewall) for wide-area cluster computing. RMF manages computing resources such as cluster systems and enables utilization of them beyond the firewall in global computing environments. RMF consists of two basic modules, a remote job queuing system (Q system) and a resource allocator. The Q system is a remote job queuing system, which schedules jobs submitted from global computing sites. The resource allocator manages resources and allocates them for requested jobs. For communications beyond the firewall between job processes, we designed the Nexus Proxy, which relays TCP communication links beyond the firewall. RMF and the Nexus Proxy provide a global computing environment in which users can easily utilize such parallel systems as cluster systems and supercomputers beyond the firewall.