National Grid Service
Encyclopedia
The National Grid Service (NGS), now entering its seventh year, aims to help UK academics and researchers carry out their research by providing easy to use access to computational, data and other resources. It is funded by two governmental bodies, Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council
(EPSRC) and the Joint Information Systems Committee
(JISC), and is preparing to enter its fourth phase.
The NGS provides compute and data resources that are accessed through a standard common set of services, the Minimum Software Stack. NGS services are based on the Globus Toolkit
for job submission and storage resource broker (SRB) for data management. NGS resources host a large number of scientific software packages, including SIESTA
and GAUSSIAN
. As well as providing access to compute and data resources, the NGS also offers training (through the National e-Science Centre in Edinburgh
) and Grid support to all UK academics and researchers in grid computing.
With more than 500 users and twenty nine sites, the NGS is rapidly expanding, with a mission to provide coherent electronic access for UK researchers to all computational and data based resources and facilities required to carry out their research, independent of resource or researcher location.
The NGS and GridPP also form the basis for the UKNGI, which provides a link for UK researches into the European Grid Initiative international e-infrastructure .
Following initial successes by the UK Engineering Task Force in developing the so called 'Level 2 Grid', which was an ad-hoc collection of individual institutes committing a variety of compute resources for use within a Grid Computing infrastructure, the NGS was funded to develop this into a full service. Initially called the ETFp Grid, or Engineering Task Force Production Grid, this soon became known as the National Grid Service (NGS). During phase 1, from October 2004 to September 2006, the NGS worked closely with the separately funded Grid Operations Support Centre (GOSC). The success of this closer collaboration led to a natural evolution of the Grid Operations Support Centre and the NGS becoming a single entity. By the start of phase 2 of the NGS, which commenced in October 2006, the activities of the NGS and the GOSC were harmonised under the single project name of the NGS. The NGS is currently in its third phase which will run until the end of September 2011.
More affiliate sites are currently under discussion.
As an example use of NGS, "The motivation, methodology and implementation of an e-Social Science pilot demonstrator project entitled: Grid Enabled Micro-econometric Data Analysis (GEMEDA). This used the NGS to investigate a policy relevant social science issue: the welfare of ethnic minority groups in the United Kingdom. The underlying problem is that of a statistical analysis that uses quantitative data from more than one source. The application of grid technology to this problem allows one to integrate elements of the required empirical modelling process: data extraction, data transfer, statistical computation and results presentation, in a manner that is transparent to a casual user".
For more examples of research using the NGS see http://www.ngs.ac.uk/case-studies and the ICT in Higher Education supplement in
Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council
The Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council is a British Research Council that provides government funding for grants to undertake research and postgraduate degrees in engineering and the physical sciences , mainly to universities in the United Kingdom...
(EPSRC) and the Joint Information Systems Committee
Joint Information Systems Committee
JISC is a United Kingdom non-departmental public body whose role is to support post-16 and higher education and research by providing leadership in the use of ICT in learning, teaching, research and administration...
(JISC), and is preparing to enter its fourth phase.
The NGS provides compute and data resources that are accessed through a standard common set of services, the Minimum Software Stack. NGS services are based on the Globus Toolkit
Globus Toolkit
The Globus Toolkit, currently at version 5, is an open source toolkit for building computing grids developed and provided by the Globus Alliance.-Standards implementation:The Globus Toolkit is an implementation of the following standards:...
for job submission and storage resource broker (SRB) for data management. NGS resources host a large number of scientific software packages, including SIESTA
SIESTA (computer program)
SIESTA is an original method and a software implementation for performing electronic structure calculations and ab initio molecular dynamics simulations of molecules and solids....
and GAUSSIAN
GAUSSIAN
Gaussian is a computational chemistry software program initially released in 1970 by John Pople and his research group at Carnegie-Mellon University as Gaussian 70. It has been continuously updated since then...
. As well as providing access to compute and data resources, the NGS also offers training (through the National e-Science Centre in Edinburgh
Edinburgh
Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland, the second largest city in Scotland, and the eighth most populous in the United Kingdom. The City of Edinburgh Council governs one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas. The council area includes urban Edinburgh and a rural area...
) and Grid support to all UK academics and researchers in grid computing.
With more than 500 users and twenty nine sites, the NGS is rapidly expanding, with a mission to provide coherent electronic access for UK researchers to all computational and data based resources and facilities required to carry out their research, independent of resource or researcher location.
The NGS and GridPP also form the basis for the UKNGI, which provides a link for UK researches into the European Grid Initiative international e-infrastructure .
Background
The NGS grew out of requirements within the UK to develop a production quality Grid Computing service for use by academic researchers. Prior to the establishment of the NGS the UK e-Science program funded the development of the Grid Support Centre and later the Grid Operations Support Centre (GOSC). These were both focussed on providing support for end users in the use and development of grid computing.Following initial successes by the UK Engineering Task Force in developing the so called 'Level 2 Grid', which was an ad-hoc collection of individual institutes committing a variety of compute resources for use within a Grid Computing infrastructure, the NGS was funded to develop this into a full service. Initially called the ETFp Grid, or Engineering Task Force Production Grid, this soon became known as the National Grid Service (NGS). During phase 1, from October 2004 to September 2006, the NGS worked closely with the separately funded Grid Operations Support Centre (GOSC). The success of this closer collaboration led to a natural evolution of the Grid Operations Support Centre and the NGS becoming a single entity. By the start of phase 2 of the NGS, which commenced in October 2006, the activities of the NGS and the GOSC were harmonised under the single project name of the NGS. The NGS is currently in its third phase which will run until the end of September 2011.
Services
The NGS provides the following free-to-use services to UK academic researchers:- The UKUnited KingdomThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
e-ScienceE-ScienceE-Science is computationally intensive science that is carried out in highly distributed network environments, or science that uses immense data sets that require grid computing; the term sometimes includes technologies that enable distributed collaboration, such as the Access Grid...
Certification Authority, which provides digital certificates to identify UKUnited KingdomThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
GridGrid computingGrid computing is a term referring to the combination of computer resources from multiple administrative domains to reach a common goal. The grid can be thought of as a distributed system with non-interactive workloads that involve a large number of files...
users. - A web portal, the applications repository, which provides a graphical method for submitting jobs to the NGS.
- A resource broker, which can determine the best site or cluster for a submitted job based on its requirements and the current workloads.
- The GSI-SSHTerm, a Java-based terminal used to give command-line access NGS resources using GSIGrid Security InfrastructureThe Grid Security Infrastructure , formerly called the Globus Security Infrastructure, is a specification for secret, tamper-proof, delegatable communication between software in a grid computing environment...
-enabled SSHSecure ShellSecure Shell is a network protocol for secure data communication, remote shell services or command execution and other secure network services between two networked computers that it connects via a secure channel over an insecure network: a server and a client...
. - Oracle databaseOracle databaseThe Oracle Database is an object-relational database management system produced and marketed by Oracle Corporation....
s. - The NGS P-GRADE Portal, based on P-GRADE PortalP-GRADE PortalThe P-GRADE Grid Portal is a grid portal solution that allows users to manage the whole life-cycle of executing a parallel application in a grid, enabling the creation, execution and monitoring of workflows through high-level Web interfaces....
technology, which enables the creation, execution and monitoring of workflows – composed of sequential and parallel jobs – on NGS and EGEE resources.
Sites
All NGS sites provide standard interfaces for users to access resources, but they are differentiated on the access they provide to NGS users.Partner Sites
The NGS consists of the following partner sites:- Cardiff UniversityCardiff UniversityCardiff University is a leading research university located in the Cathays Park area of Cardiff, Wales, United Kingdom. It received its Royal charter in 1883 and is a member of the Russell Group of Universities. The university is consistently recognised as providing high quality research-based...
- University of GlasgowUniversity of GlasgowThe University of Glasgow is the fourth-oldest university in the English-speaking world and one of Scotland's four ancient universities. Located in Glasgow, the university was founded in 1451 and is presently one of seventeen British higher education institutions ranked amongst the top 100 of the...
Computing Service - University of GlasgowUniversity of GlasgowThe University of Glasgow is the fourth-oldest university in the English-speaking world and one of Scotland's four ancient universities. Located in Glasgow, the university was founded in 1451 and is presently one of seventeen British higher education institutions ranked amongst the top 100 of the...
ScotGrid - Lancaster UniversityLancaster UniversityLancaster University, officially The University of Lancaster, is a leading research-intensive British university in Lancaster, Lancashire, England. The university was established by Royal Charter in 1964 and initially based in St Leonard's Gate until moving to a purpose-built 300 acre campus at...
- University of ManchesterUniversity of ManchesterThe University of Manchester is a public research university located in Manchester, United Kingdom. It is a "red brick" university and a member of the Russell Group of research-intensive British universities and the N8 Group...
- University of OxfordUniversity of OxfordThe University of Oxford is a university located in Oxford, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest surviving university in the world and the oldest in the English-speaking world. Although its exact date of foundation is unclear, there is evidence of teaching as far back as 1096...
- Queen's University Belfast
- Rutherford Appleton LaboratoryRutherford Appleton LaboratoryThe Rutherford Appleton Laboratory is one of the national scientific research laboratories in the UK operated by the Science and Technology Facilities Council . It is located on the Harwell Science and Innovation Campus at Chilton near Didcot in Oxfordshire, United Kingdom...
(STFC/RAL) - University of WestminsterUniversity of WestminsterThe University of Westminster is a public research university located in London, United Kingdom. Its origins go back to the foundation of the Royal Polytechnic Institution in 1838, and it was awarded university status in 1992.The university's headquarters and original campus are based on Regent...
- White Rose Grid (University of Leeds)
Affiliate Sites
Affiliate sites also provide resources to the NGS but with more conditions than partner sites. Sometimes they will not provide any resources to the general NGS pool, but simply provide access to their own users through the common NGS interfaces. Affiliate sites currently consist of:- University of BirminghamUniversity of BirminghamThe University of Birmingham is a British Redbrick university located in the city of Birmingham, England. It received its royal charter in 1900 as a successor to Birmingham Medical School and Mason Science College . Birmingham was the first Redbrick university to gain a charter and thus...
(GridPP) - University of BristolUniversity of BristolThe University of Bristol is a public research university located in Bristol, United Kingdom. One of the so-called "red brick" universities, it received its Royal Charter in 1909, although its predecessor institution, University College, Bristol, had been in existence since 1876.The University is...
- Brunel UniversityBrunel UniversityBrunel University is a public research university located in Uxbridge, London, United Kingdom. The university is named after the Victorian engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel....
(GridPP) - Durham UniversityDurham UniversityThe University of Durham, commonly known as Durham University, is a university in Durham, England. It was founded by Act of Parliament in 1832 and granted a Royal Charter in 1837...
(GridPP) - University of EdinburghUniversity of EdinburghThe University of Edinburgh, founded in 1583, is a public research university located in Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland, and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The university is deeply embedded in the fabric of the city, with many of the buildings in the historic Old Town belonging to the university...
(ECDF) - University of HuddersfieldUniversity of HuddersfieldThe University of Huddersfield is a university located in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, England.- History :The University traces its roots back to a Science and Mechanic Institute founded in 1825...
- Imperial College LondonImperial College LondonImperial College London is a public research university located in London, United Kingdom, specialising in science, engineering, business and medicine...
(GridPP) - Keele UniversityKeele UniversityKeele University is a campus university near Newcastle-under-Lyme in Staffordshire, England. Founded in 1949 as an experimental college dedicated to a broad curriculum and interdisciplinary study, Keele is most notable for pioneering the dual honours degree in Britain...
- University of LiverpoolUniversity of LiverpoolThe University of Liverpool is a teaching and research university in the city of Liverpool, England. It is a member of the Russell Group of large research-intensive universities and the N8 Group for research collaboration. Founded in 1881 , it is also one of the six original "red brick" civic...
(GridPP) - University of ManchesterUniversity of ManchesterThe University of Manchester is a public research university located in Manchester, United Kingdom. It is a "red brick" university and a member of the Russell Group of research-intensive British universities and the N8 Group...
(GridPP) - University of OxfordUniversity of OxfordThe University of Oxford is a university located in Oxford, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest surviving university in the world and the oldest in the English-speaking world. Although its exact date of foundation is unclear, there is evidence of teaching as far back as 1096...
(GridPP) - Queen Mary, University of LondonQueen Mary, University of LondonQueen Mary, University of London is a public research university located in London, United Kingdom and a constituent college of the federal University of London...
(GridPP) - University of ReadingUniversity of ReadingThe University of Reading is a university in the English town of Reading, Berkshire. The University was established in 1892 as University College, Reading and received its Royal Charter in 1926. It is based on several campuses in, and around, the town of Reading.The University has a long tradition...
- Royal Holloway, University of LondonRoyal Holloway, University of LondonRoyal Holloway, University of London is a constituent college of the University of London. The college has three faculties, 18 academic departments, and about 8,000 undergraduate and postgraduate students from over 130 different countries...
(GridPP) - University of SheffieldUniversity of SheffieldThe University of Sheffield is a research university based in the city of Sheffield in South Yorkshire, England. It is one of the original 'red brick' universities and is a member of the Russell Group of leading research intensive universities...
- University of SouthamptonUniversity of SouthamptonThe University of Southampton is a British public university located in the city of Southampton, England, a member of the Russell Group. The origins of the university can be dated back to the founding of the Hartley Institution in 1862 by Henry Robertson Hartley. In 1902, the Institution developed...
- STFC SCARF
- STFC Ceramics and Minerals Consortium (Mott) VO
- University of YorkUniversity of YorkThe University of York , is an academic institution located in the city of York, England. Established in 1963, the campus university has expanded to more than thirty departments and centres, covering a wide range of subjects...
(White Rose Grid at York)
More affiliate sites are currently under discussion.
Research using the NGS
All academics in the UK are eligible to apply for a free account on the NGS. The science and research achieved using the NGS covers a diverse range of subjects, from the permeation of drugs through a membrane to the welfare of ethnic minority groups in the United Kingdom. Other applications include cases for modelling the coastal oceans, modelling of HIV mutations, research into cameras for imaging patients during cancer treatments and simulating galaxy formation.As an example use of NGS, "The motivation, methodology and implementation of an e-Social Science pilot demonstrator project entitled: Grid Enabled Micro-econometric Data Analysis (GEMEDA). This used the NGS to investigate a policy relevant social science issue: the welfare of ethnic minority groups in the United Kingdom. The underlying problem is that of a statistical analysis that uses quantitative data from more than one source. The application of grid technology to this problem allows one to integrate elements of the required empirical modelling process: data extraction, data transfer, statistical computation and results presentation, in a manner that is transparent to a casual user".
For more examples of research using the NGS see http://www.ngs.ac.uk/case-studies and the ICT in Higher Education supplement in