PORTLETS
The GSP and DMS services can be delivered to the users within grid portals by Java portlets. We have
implemented a set of such portlets with the use of PROGRESS Portlet Framework
Core portlets
There are three core portlets for use within grid portals:
- "My computing jobs" portlet
- This portlet allows to create, configure and submit computing jobs for execution in the grid,
monitor the job execution, and download and visualize the results. It communicates with the GSP
Job Submission and Application Management services and the DMS services.
See the tutorial for the PROGRESS HPC Portal version
of this portlet.
- "Applications" portlet
- This portlet allows to manage the application repository. It allows to add and remove applications,
to prepare multiple configurations of applications, and to prepare virtual applications. It communicates
with the Application Management Service and the DMS services.
- "My data" portlet
- This portlet allows to manage the user grid data filespace. The users have a possibility to browse
the folders of the Data Managements System, upload and download files from/to DMS. The portlets cooperates
with the DMS services.
Specialized application portlets
Specialized application portlets are aimed to facilitate access to grid-enabled applications. They utilize
the same services as the core "My computing jobs" portlet, however, knowing the structure and the nature of the
corresponding application, they can deliver a highly user-friendly interface to the application. The most
important feature of a specialized application portlet is the job configuration wizard, which allows to
submit a new computing job to the grid with just three mouse clicks! This is a big advantage over the standard
"My computing jobs", which allows to prepare a job on top of any application available in the repository, but
the users are required to know how the application should be used. With the specialized application portlets
the non-advanced users also can submit computing jobs to the grid: no knowledge on the application or the
grid is required, everything can be done automatically by the portlets!
There are currently two such portlets implemented:
- "Gaussian" portlet
- This portlet was the first specialized application portlet implemented. It is aimed to deliver
a popular application from the chemistry area, Gaussian. The "Gaussian" portlet served as the proof of concept
for the idea of specialized application portlets and the PROGRESS Portlet Framework mechanisms.
See the tutorial for the PROGRESS HPC Portal version
of this portlet.
- "DNA Assembly" portlet
- This portlet is aimed to facilitate the use of the
DNA Assembly application that has been
prepared as an additional task within the project. This portlet not only allows to utilize the application
itself, but is also capable of adding additional data format converters to the job if necessary, thus creating
workflow jobs. In the same time the workflow structure of such a job is hidden from the user: this is
very useful for non-advanced users who just want to have their data delivered in their favourite data format
analyzed: they do not need to create these workflows by themselves, the portlet does it automatically.
See the tutorial for the PROGRESS HPC Portal version
of this portlet.
Other portlets
There are three more portlets implemented as the user interfaces for two remaining GSP services: the Short News
Service and the Provider Management Service. These portlets are:
- "My News" portlet
- This portlet is aimed to deliver news service within portals and other websites. It served as the proof
of concept for utilization of a GSP service within multiple independent portals/websites. It also served
as the proof of concept for cutomization mechanisms and features of the PROGRESS Portlet Framework: we
used these mechanisms and features to quickly (one day) prepare customized servlets on the base of the
"My news" portlet for delivery of the Short News Service within
this website and the website for
Poznań Sun Center of Excellence.
- "News: edit" portlet
- This portlet is the complementary for the "My news" portlet, which allows only to read the news. With
the "News: edit" portlet it is possible to add new, modify and remove existing news. It is aimed for the
news editors.
- "Management" portlet
- This portlet is currently aimed to deliver information stored by the Provider Management Service to
the grid-portal environment administrators. It also allows to manage the list of accepted resource requirments
for the computing jobs. We plan to make this portlet more functional and sophisticated in the future, adding
some more possibilities for configuration of various aspects of the underlying grid-portal infrastructure.
Get it now!
Version 1.1 of the PROGRESS Portlets, including the PROGRESS Portlet Framework and the Upload Servlet can be
downloaded here.