language: en

NetSolve: A Network Server for Solving Computational Science Problems

Henri Casanova
University of Tennessee UTK, Dept. of Computer Science
104, Ayres Hall. KNOXVILLE, TN 37996-1301.
casanova@cs.utk.edu
Jack Dongarra
University of Tennessee, Oak Ridge National Laboratory UTK, Dept. of Computer Science
104, Ayres Hall. KNOXVILLE, TN 37996-1301.
dongarra@cs.utk.edu November 12, 1996

Abstract This paper presents a new system, called NetSolve, that allows users to access computational resources, such as hardware and software, distributed across the network. The development of NetSolve was motivated by the need for an easy-to-use, efficient mechanism for using computational resources remotely. Ease of use is obtained as a result of different interfaces, some of which require no programming effort from the user. Good performance is ensured by a load-balancing policy that enables NetSolve to use the computational resources available as efficiently as possible. NetSolve offers the ability to look for computational resources on a network, choose the best one available, solve a problem (with retry for fault-tolerance), and return the answer to the user.

Keywords Networking, Heterogeneity, Load Balancing, Client-Server, Fault Tolerance, Numerical Computing, Virtual Library.