A Grid-based Virtual Reactor: Parallel performance and adaptive load balancing

Abstract

We address the problem of porting parallel distributed applications from static homogeneous cluster environments to dynamic heterogeneous Grid resources. We introduce a generic technique for adaptive load balancing of parallel applications on heterogeneous resources and evaluate it using a case study application: a Virtual Reactor for simulation of plasma chemical vapour deposition. This application has a modular architecture with a number of loosely coupled components suitable for distribution over the Grid. It requires large parameter space exploration that allows using Grid resources for high-throughput computing. The Virtual Reactor contains a number of parallel solvers originally designed for homogeneous computer clusters that needed adaptation to the heterogeneity of the Grid. In this paper we study the performance of one of the parallel solvers, apply the technique developed for adaptive load balancing, evaluate the efficiency of this approach and outline an automated procedure for optimal utilization of heterogeneous Grid resources for high-performance parallel computing.