EGEE-III INFSO-RI Enabling Grids for E-sciencE EGEE and gLite are registered trademarks Software Licensing in the EGEE Grid infrastructure The experience of MATLAB Software Licensing in the EGEE Grid infrastructure The experience of MATLAB Vangelis Floros, GRNET EGEE NA4 Deputy Activity Leader EGEE'09 Business Workshop 23 September 2009, Barcelona, Spain

Enabling Grids for E-sciencE EGEE-III INFSO-RI Vangelis Floros - EGEE09, Barcelona, 23 September EGEE Applications >260 VOs from several scientific domains –Astronomy & Astrophysics –Civil Protection –Computational Chemistry –Comp. Fluid Dynamics –Computer Science/Tools –Condensed Matter Physics –Earth Sciences –Fusion –High Energy Physics –Life Sciences –…. Much of the required software is developed within the communities themselves Also significant requirements for licensed software

Enabling Grids for E-sciencE EGEE-III INFSO-RI Categories of Licensed Software in EGEE Vangelis Floros - EGEE09, Barcelona, 23 September Open Source Discipline Specific Closed Source General Purpose

Enabling Grids for E-sciencE EGEE-III INFSO-RI Discipline vs Generic Vangelis Floros - EGEE09, Barcelona, 23 September

Enabling Grids for E-sciencE EGEE-III INFSO-RI VO-based approach Dedicated VO for accessing a specific software –Software is managed by the local admin. Installed in storage software area dedicated for the VO –User needs to enroll to the VO in order to access the software –Typically, one License per site Examples: GAUSSIAN, NWCHEM Need to enroll to the VO to use the software –Pros:  Simple to setup.  National and International scope –Cons:  No flexibility. Heavyweight approach. If more than to software needs to be accessed they have to be included in the same VO (no support for cross-VO interactions in gLite) Vangelis Floros - EGEE09, Barcelona, 23 September

Enabling Grids for E-sciencE EGEE-III INFSO-RI VO-independent approach Server only –The service provider buys the license and installs them on the host –CompChem example: GAUSSIAN, Turbomole Client only –User applies for individual license and can use the programs anywhere –CompChem example: Server and Client –Both server and clients have to own a license Pros: –Out-of-the box support for distributed environments –License per service provider or/and user Cons –No security. Cannot enforce grid-based authorization and access control mechanisms Vangelis Floros - EGEE09, Barcelona, 23 September

Enabling Grids for E-sciencE EGEE-III INFSO-RI MATLAB Collaboration EGEE and The MathWorks™ joined forces to integrate MATLAB Parallel Computing Products with gLite –Trials started July ’08, completing this month (Sept. 2009). –A selected number of user teams where given access and free licenses to testdrive the solution –Operational support provided by 2 production clusters MDCS installed in two gLite sites in France (GRIF) and Greece (AUTH) –128 licenses per site –License manager running locally A number of grid user teams where given access and free licenses to testdrive the solution Vangelis Floros - EGEE09, Barcelona, 23 September

Enabling Grids for E-sciencE EGEE-III INFSO-RI MDCS MATLAB Distributed Computing Server™ (MDCS) lets users solve computationally and data-intensive problems by executing MATLAB ® and SIMULINK ® based applications on a computer cluster Vangelis Floros - EGEE09, Barcelona, 23 September

Enabling Grids for E-sciencE EGEE-III INFSO-RI Integration with gLite clusters Vangelis Floros - EGEE09, Barcelona, 23 September User submits jobs to gLite sites through regular MATLAB GUI Environment (e.g. from a Windows workstations) One PCT client license per user. License travels together with the job to the server (CE). User responsible for her/his own PCT license User submits jobs to gLite sites through regular MATLAB GUI Environment (e.g. from a Windows workstations) One PCT client license per user. License travels together with the job to the server (CE). User responsible for her/his own PCT license A fraction of cluster WNs are used as MATLAB Workers Administrator is responsible for installing MDCS licenses on the cluster A fraction of cluster WNs are used as MATLAB Workers Administrator is responsible for installing MDCS licenses on the cluster

Enabling Grids for E-sciencE EGEE-III INFSO-RI Current Status Trials are ending Trying to define appropriate licensing model –Site-based  Third party license appropriate for grid-environment  All VOs supported by a given site have access to MDCS functionality –Country/NGI based (License server on national level) –VO based (License server on international level) EGEE site admins and VO managers approached and asked express interest Ongoing discussions with Matlab about licensing model and price level Vangelis Floros - EGEE09, Barcelona, 23 September

Enabling Grids for E-sciencE EGEE-III INFSO-RI Success Stories Finance - Examining financial market data in extremely fine detail. Spyros Skouras, Athens University of Business Economics and Business. Making better lasers - Seeking to improve fiber-optic telecommunication networks by making better semiconductor lasers. Pavlo Ivanov from the University of Bristol. For more information see: Vangelis Floros - EGEE09, Barcelona, 23 September

Enabling Grids for E-sciencE EGEE-III INFSO-RI Conclusions EGEE infrastructure serves a large number of scientific communities –Need for both discipline specific and general purpose licensed software –Demand for licensed software at the moment comes mainly from CompChem and Life Science communities Technically the VO-based approach is easy to apply but inflexible Software vendors should consider grid-friendly licensing schemes Close collaboration with Mathworks to provide MATLAB environment on the Grid –Negotiating a grid-friendly LM approach Vangelis Floros - EGEE09, Barcelona, 23 September