COHESION — A microkernel based Desktop Grid platform for irregular task-parallel applications

We present Cohesion, a novel approach to Desktop Grid Computing. A major design goal of Cohesion is to enable advanced parallel programming models and application specific frameworks. We focus on methods for irregularly structured task-parallel problems, which require fully dynamic problem decomposition. Cohesion overcomes limitations of classical Desktop Grid platforms by employing peer-to-peer principles and a flexible system architecture based on a microkernel approach. Arbitrary modules can be dynamically loaded to replace default functionality, resulting in a platform that can easily adapt to application specific requirements. We discuss two representative example applications and report on the results of performance experiments that especially consider the high volatility of resources prevailing in a Desktop Grid.