Re: [wsdm] DCML

["Fred Maciel" <fred-m@crl.hitachi.co.jp>]

Hi,

Putting my GGF OGSA-WG member hat... :-)

> What about Grid Computing and OGSA?
> DCML seems like duplication with OGSA.
> http://www.globus.org/ogsa/

Well, first of all, what is OGSA? It means "Open Grid Services
Architecture", therefore it is an *architecture*. This architecture is
composed of many components, like OGSI, CMM (read: WSDM :-), plus
higher-level services to implement Grid-specific and non-Grid-specific
functionality like workflow, metering and billing, provisioning, logging,
job management, etc., etc., etc. It also includes models (CIM, etc.),
description/modeling languages, etc.

I had a short e-mail conversation with Hiro Kishimoto (OGSA-WG co-chair) on
DCML, and it seems to fit OGSA very well (i.e., it could be used as one of
the components of the architecture). In fact, it does not even seem to
overlap with anything currently being done in the Global Grid Forum (not
even the "Configuration Description, Deployment, and Lifecycle Management"
WG that we are starting there).

Now, changing the subject. It is still not clear in the industry what OGSA
means (and the fact that we haven't completed the OGSA spec doesn't help).
There is also confusion on the difference of OGSA (the whole architecture)
and OGSI (one of its components). My impression is that you are confusing
OGSA (i.e., the architecture), with an implementation (i.e., Globus). Also,
please notice that the page that you mention says that Globus GT3 implements
OGSI (not OGSA), and that it will increasingly implement other OGSA
components (as both the OGSA spec and Globus progress).

I hope that this answer helps to clear the fog a little bit. For more info,
please feel free to contact me directly.

Regards,

                         Fred Maciel (GGF CMM-WG co-chair)
                         Hitachi Ltd., Central Research Laboratory
                         Tokyo, Japan

P.S.- For those of you who got curious, the latest snapshot of the OGSA spec
is at:
https://forge.gridforum.org/projects/ogsa-wg/document/draft-ggf-ogsa-ogsa-013/en/12