AHM08/RS1: Regular Session

Jeremy Cohen: ICENI II

Coordinate forms:

declarative workflow lnguage
.. describe what not how
.. much easier to logically analyze the flow

use of coordination forms for matching

workflow execution .. bpel, scufl etc

declarative workflow generation tuned to users normal activities

.. automated workflow generation
.. extract from a users real-time use of their natural software - matlab etc

workflow execution with performance .. performance repository .. used to drive planning of optimal execution plan

ICENA II plan

Daniel Goodman: Decentralised Middleware and Workflow Enactment for the Martlet Workflow Language


Middleware comprises:
.. Process Coordinator
.. Data Store
.. Data Processor

Essentially introduces an efficient protocol for P2P communication between PCs and DPs such that each node becomes aware in changes in state and availability of the network as a whole in a decentralised robust efficient way.

Ahmed Algaoud: Workflow Interoperability


API for workflow interoperablity providing direct interaction
.. based on WS-eventing .. asynchronous
.. look to implement in eg Triana Taverna Kepler

WS-Eventer set up witth four types
.. subscriber, sink service, subscribe manager, source servce

also use WSPeer & working with NAT issues.

Asif Akram: Dynamic Workflow in GRID Environment


Imperial College

part of ICENI project
GridCC incl QoS, BPEL, ActiveBPEL

introduce QoS language

QoS criteria incl security, performance (from performance criteria)

Used WS Addressing engine (WSA) to achieve dynamic redefinition of the BPEL partner link within the BPEL.

BPEL Editor / Monitor

Conclusion .. QoS can be injected into BPEL which makes dynamic workflow much easier to achieve, and this can be achieved within existing standard specification.

Jos Koetsier: A RAPID approach to enabling domain specfic applications

User prefers domain specific portlet, but there is quite a lot of work creating domain specific portlets so ..
OK so approach is to build a custom portlet generator ..

have written one based on jsdl and jsdl xml file (GridSAM)

Uses OMII.uk s/w

obtain at http://research.nesc.ac.uk/rapid

Martin Dove: MaterialsGrid: An end-to-end approach for computational projects
3yr 5fte project www.materialsgrid.org

based on CASTEP to simulate the behaviour of materials to predict the properties of material.

results are contributed to a database .. which may also hold measured properties.

so database content is computed on demand for groups of users that dont want to know the computational under the hood stuff.

workflow using scitegic pipeline pilot instead of bpel, partly because the bpel std wasnt uniformly implemented.

cml.sourceforge.net .. chemical ml from cmlcomp.org

cml2sql & www.lexical.org golem to construct cml

.. jquery allows mix of pulldown and autocompletion & constrains to allowed values ..

Workflows dissected

In New Zealand the concept of web-service or grid Workflow is very new, with a morass of new nomenclature, that I have found difficult to grasp all in one. So I have attempted to relate objects, names and concepts in the workflow world to their functional equivalents in traditional programming development and execution environments, that are more widely known. This is not to pretend that a web service and a file, for example are the same, but instead to recognise that within the two different domains they fulfill functionally equivalent roles. By seeing things in this way, it becomes easier to understand how all the new nomenclature fits together. Of course sometimes the functional fit is very loose and at other times the equivalence is very close. So this is the conclusion that I have come to, if it helps you as well, then thats is usefull, if I have missed something fundamental, then I'm happy to be corrected and to adjust the table – so if you are an expert feel free to comment, but bear in mind that this is a table to emphasize functional similarities from the perpsective of newbies to the workflow space. Following blogs will hopefully expand on key differences.

OK first attempt at the table - as yet incomplete:

Functional Role	Traditional Environment	Web-service based Workflow - Taverna	Grid based Workflow - Triana	Web-service based Workflow - Sedna
Scripting tools	AML, shell script	SCUFL	?	Domain PEL & Scientific PEL
Programming Language	C++, Fortran, Java	n/a	?	BPEL
Integrated Development Environment	MS Visual Studio	Taverna	Triana	Sedna plugin to Eclipse IDE
Callable object	DLL file	Web Service	Java Unit	Web Service
Executable Object	EXE file	Taverna workflow	Triana workflow	BPEL bpr archives
Process launch & control, or enactment	Windows, Linux	Freefluo workflow enactor	GAP	ActiveBPEL engine
File/data objects	File, database	Web service	Grid service protocol GridFTP	Web service

table v0.1, Sep 5th, 2008