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Evaluating GRIA Using the IT Innovation Demonstration Servers

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Note: This is the print view with all the tutorial pages on one page. The paginated version is available here, if you prefer that.

In order that you can evaluate GRIA and the ideas behind it quickly, IT Innovation has set up demonstration systems with the basic application services and service provider management packages installed. In this tutorial we will use the GRIA client software to access these services.

Introduction

Description of the demonstration services available and an overview of this tutorial.

In order that you can evaluate GRIA and the ideas behind it quickly, IT Innovation has set up demonstration systems with the basic application services and service provider management packages installed. In this tutorial you will

  • install and configure the GRIA client software;
  • use the client to run an image processing job on the "free" demonstration service;
  • use the client to obtain a Service Level Agreement, and use this to access the "managed" demonstration services; and
  • install the client management services to manage your remote resources centrally.


Installing the GRIA client software

Installing the client software and generating your keystore.

To access a GRIA service you need some client software. The GRIA client libraries can be used to create a variety of client applications, but for this tutorial we will use the standard GRIA client package. To install it:

  1. Download the GRIA Client package from the downloads page.
  2. Unpack the archive somewhere.
When the client is first run, it will ask you for a keystore. Your keystore contains your certificate and private key. Having this private key allows you to prove who you are when you access a service, so keep your keystore safe! The keystore also contains certificates for authorities that you trust to identify other people and services. If you already have a keystore then you can use that, but if not you can get one easily using this web-site:
  1. Register with this web-site, if you haven't already done so.
  2. Read the GRIA Demo CA Certificate Policy, and check you agree with the terms.
  3. Download your keystore from the downloads page (it's in the Keystore Management section).
  4. Unpack the downloaded gria-keystore.zip file in the conf directory of the client (so that, for example, you end up with a file called gria-client-cli-5.1-bin/conf/crypto.properties).

Your personal GRIA keystore is generated using the information contained in your profile. Keep it secure as it contains personal information. Its sole purpose is for your evaluation of the GRIA systems at IT Innovation and any other use is prohibited. The keystore is generated when you request it, and is deleted from our server once you have downloaded it. See the GRIA Demo CA Certificate Policy for more details.

You are now ready to run the client:

  1. Run the gridcli launcher script inside the client directory. Consult the GRIA Client User Guide for more detailed instructions if you have difficulty with this step.
The GRIA client's main window should now appear:
empty-client.png

The GRIA client

Single Trusted Domain Deployment

Using the "free" services to process an image.
In order to demonstrate the Single Trusted Domain Deployment scenario, the basic application services package have been deployed and configured to run on the griademo1 system as 'free'. This means that GRIA's management infrastructure is not used because there is no requirement for users to pay for services, and so no need for usage monitoring, management and billing. To use these services follow these steps:
  1. Start the client, if it isn't already running.
  2. Add the 'free' basic application services to the client by dragging both of the following URLs from your browser into the top-left are in the client's window (the "Service View" area):
  3. You can now use the client to store data and run jobs. For example:
    1. Right-click on the JobService to open the menu and choose New Job.
    2. The client gets a list of available applications from the service. Choose swirl from the menu.
    3. A new swirl job appears under the job service, with one input and one output.
    4. Right-click on source-image and choose Upload data from the Data Functions sub-menu.
    5. Select an image on your computer to upload.
    6. After uploading the file, the input will still say "(empty)"; you need to choose Update EPR from the menu to get the new status "(full)".
    7. Right-click on the swirl job and choose Start Job and Monitor to start the job running. You don't need to enter any arguments; just click OK.
    8. You can watch the progress of the job using the Job Log tab.
    9. When the job finishes, you can select the swirled-image output and view the processed image in the Preview tab.
swirled-image.png

Previewing the swirled image.

You can do much more than this with the client. Consult the Client User Guide for full details.

Using managed services

You need to obtain a Service Level Agreement before you can use "managed" services.

In order to demonstrate the Inter-Domain Deployment scenario the basic applications services have been installed and configured on the griademo2 system as 'managed'. This means access to application services is managed by an SLA service and usage is billed to a Trade Account service. For convenience, the service provider management package (containing the SLA and Acccount services) has also been installed on the griademo2 system, although GRIA does not require them to be located on the same machine.

To use all these services follow these steps:

  1. Ensure the Client package is installed and configured as above.
  2. Add the 'managed' basic application services to the client by specifying the following URLs:
  3. If you try to create a job at this new service as you did for the one at griademo1 you will be refused and told that you need an SLA.
  4. Add the Trade Account and SLA services to the client by specifying the following URLs:
  5. Open a Trade Account by selecting the account service and clicking on Open Account in the Details tab.
  6. In a real deployment scenario the next stage would be for the service provider to perform some credit checks before approving or denying the account. However, since this is a demo system we will open the account if you send us an account approval request.
  7. Once you have received notification of the account approval, select the Sample Job and Data Package 1 SLA template and click on Propose SLA.
  8. You can now use the client to store data and run jobs, much as you did before, but managed by the SLA that you proposed and billing to the account that you have just opened.
usage.png

Viewing usage of your SLA.


Consult the Client User Guide for information about monitoring your usage.


Federated Domain Deployment

Deploying the client management package locally allows you to manage your remote resources centrally.

Federated Domain Deployment

In order to demonstrate the Federated-Domain Deployment scenario, where client organisations want to control access for large numbers of users and SLAs, you should install the client management package locally. To do this follow these steps:

  1. Download the GRIA Client Management package.
  2. Follow the client management installation instructions.
  3. Ensure the client package is installed and configured as above.
  4. Using Keytool GUI import the GRIA Demo CA certificate (available in gria-keystore.zip) into the server keystore that you created for the client management service.
  5. Add the private account service either by dragging wsdl link to your private account service or by specifying the URL directly, e.g. https://mymachine/gria-client-mgt/services/PrivateAccountService?wsdl
  6. Add yourself as a manager to the private account service by selecting your generated demo certifcate and the certifcate of the demo CA , which are both available in gria-keystore.zip.
  7. Open a private account using the GRIA client, by selecting your PrivateAccountService and then clicking on Open Account in the Details panel.
  8. Select your new private account and add the supplier SLA and trade account you created on the griademo2 service by using the Supplier Resources tab.
  9. Add another user in your organisation to the private (project) account, using the Access Control tab.
  10. This user should then be able to store data and run jobs according to the SLA, as before.
  11. You can then check the account for billing information using the Aggregated Statement tab.
As you can see, a private account performs two functions: it allows you to organise users into groups, and it allows you to assign resources to groups. For greater modularity, these functions have been split up into two new services in GRIA 5.1. The Membership service organises users into groups (but doesn't manage resources), while the Registry service keeps track of groups of resources. These two services can be used together to provide the same functionality as the private account service, but are also useful on their own.

See the client management package's documentation for more information about using these services.

Next steps

Decide which of the scenarios is most suitable for you and install the service packages.

The next step depends on which deployment scenario meets your needs:

If it is the Single Trusted Domain Deployment scenario then install and configure the basic application services ensuring that you configure the Data and Job Service as free.

If it is the Inter-Domain Deployment scenario then follow the basic application services guide and service provider management guide ensuring that the Data and Job Service are managed by the SLA service, and the SLA service itself is managed by the Trade Account Service.
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