iJob: an Internet-based job execution environment using asynchronous messaging

Various toolkits exist today for the distributed execution of computational algorithms on clusters of machines. These toolkits are often referred to by the terms 'Grid Toolkits', 'Job Execution Environments', and 'Problem Solving Environments (PSEs)'. Here, we introduce iJob-an Internet-based job execution environment that sets out to meet many of the goals of PSEs, such as providing facilities and services to solve a class of problems. In addition, the iJob software allows execution of computational algorithms utilizing standard Internet technologies such as Java, XML, and asynchronous communication protocols. The goals of this project include: (1) deploying the toolkit easily to multiple platforms using the Java technologies; (2) running multiple types of algorithms and supporting multiple users simultaneously; (3) providing a web-based GUI for monitoring and controlling the status of jobs; and (4) providing security at both the user-level and at the network-level. The toolkit has been tested using several simulation codes on pools of Windows 2000 and Solaris systems.