code.edbaskerville.com

I silently released XgridDRMAA 0.1 the other day; today I’m releasing XgridDRMAA 0.1.1 and announcing it to the appropriate mailing lists.

You can download it here:

http://code.edbaskerville.com/xgrid_drmaa/XgridDRMAA.dmg

I have now included simple example code in all three supported languages (C, Objective-C, Java). For people working in Mac-only environments, I highly recommend the Objective-C interface. If you want your code to work with, e.g., Sun Grid Engine as well, the Java interface is convenient. If you’re attached to C, go ahead, but the API is a little cumbersome. All three languages use the Objective-C implementation at their core. (In the case of Java, there are actually two levels of wrapping: Java wraps C; C wraps Objective-C; this is so I could re-use Sun’s Java bindings for the Grid Engine.)

The code doesn’t take too much explanation, but here’s a basic outline of what it does:

1. Obtain an object representing a DRMAA session (Objective-C and Java only).
2. Open the session.
3. Create a job template object describing various aspects of the job: in this case, it simply echoes a single number and writes stdout to the user’s desktop on the client machine.
4. Run a “bulk job”—that is, a job with a parameterized index—with an index running from 1 to 5. The corresponding sub-job simply echoes the parameterized index.
5. “Synchronize” all five jobs—wait for them all to complete.
6. Clean up memory (C and Java only).
7. Close the session and exit.

Development work will be on hold for the next few weeks as I work on GridSweeper and travel around Europe, but please send along feedback for when I return to it in early September! For bug reports, please use the bug database.

My mixed-up brain thought the end of Summer of Code was August 26; it’s actually right now, so it’s time to wrap things up for this program. The code will be architecturally complete in the next couple of days.

The complete list of items that should be done:

• XgridDRMAA 0.1 (already released)
• Blog entry introducing the use of XgridDRMAA for developers
• GridSweeper 0.0.1, with the following features:
• Support for Drone-compliant models, and a standard interface for adding additional types of models
• Support for file transfer via FTP, and a standard interface for adding adding additional filesystems
• Command-line interface for running batches

The following GridSweeper features will be implemented in a post-SoC release:

• Direct support for Repast models
• Graphical user interface
• Full plug-in support and developer documentation for plug-in interfaces

Additionally, XgridDRMAA will improve with user feedback and additional testing.

I’m pleased to announce the first development release of XgridDRMAA. This version should be useful enough to do basic job submission and monitoring tasks, but will probably have some problems to work out. Due partially to limitations in Xgrid and partially to time, some features are still missing (see the readme).

Over the next few days (between Paris gigs with The April Fishes) I’ll upload some tutorials on how to actually use the framework. For now, you can consult the DRMAA website for general information.

You can download the file here:

http://code.edbaskerville.com/xgrid_drmaa/XgridDRMAA.dmg