Master–Worker: An Enabling Framework for Applications on the Computational Grid

Abstract

The goal of this work is to create a tool that allows users to easily distribute large scientific computations on computational grids. Our tool MW relies on the simple master–worker paradigm. MW provides both a top Level interface to application software and a bottom Level interface to existing Grid computing toolkits. Both interfaces are briefly described. We conclude with a case study, where the necessary Grid services are provided by the Condor high-throughput computing system, and the MW-enabled application code is used to solve a combinatorial optimization problem of unprecedented complexity.