AXIS GridLink - Feature List

AXIS GridLink Feature List

Submit jobs from a workstation to a GridLink processor farm

after submission the workstation is free to perform other tasks
can submit one or multiple jobs in one or multiple datasets
submit jobs to GridLink without opening the datasets (useful when connection is slow)
submit jobs to GridLink via command line
submit jobs with start-up options (wait for a specified time or wait until a file is available)

Monitor Job Progress

at any time from any version of the client copy of AXIS the user can connect to GridLink and see real-time job progress and disconnect at any time
any user configured to work with GridLink can monitor other users jobs (authorization in GridLink farm profile required)
monitor jobs from a remote connections (e.g. from home via VPN)

Manage Job Queue

review current job queue, jobs history and jobs statistics (user Id, timestamps, status etc.)
view last saved logs of finished jobs right from the job queue screen
view log of currently running job without interrupting the calculations
change pending jobs sequence of execution
change pending and running job resource priority
suspend/resume pending jobs
terminate running jobs
print job queue reports for documentation

Multiple Queue Configuration (two or more GridLink licenses required)

maintain/manage multiple job queues (e.g. processor farm is shared by two or more departments)
execute multiple distributed jobs in parallel in different queues
automatically move a remote job to another available job queue if the current queue is busy

Automatic Performance/Reliability Features

supports unlimited number of AXIS versions on the farm
automatically selects correct version of AXIS
starts/stops master and helper copy of AXIS on all farm machines
executes jobs in a queue according to user defined sequence
executes one distributed job and/or multiple non-distributed jobs (e.g. DataLink) in one queue in parallel
executes multiple distributed jobs in parallel (multi-queue configuration)
load-balances helpers between jobs in queues according to user-specified resource priority
automatic data cache for remote datasets
automatically restarts failed helpers, terminates crashed helper copies (if any) when the job is done
automatically cleans up AXIS temporary files between jobs

Configuration and Deployment

support 256 CPU cores per job on the farm
configure and administer GridLink processor farm remotely via AXIS GridLink Utility
update GridLink Controller service remotely on all machines
deploy and check AXIS versions on all machines remotely with one button click
configure centralized drive mapping, AXIS data and executable paths etc.
customize ratios for resource priority levels
suspend/resume processor farm
remotely check system information of the servers
take helper servers offline for maintenance

Diagnosis

Security

maintain authorized users list per job queue
assign different levels of permissions to different users to specify which actions are allowed for each user
access Groups feature to secure access to various disk partitions per user
AXIS security key verification at the time of the job submission (no need to stay connected after this and keep RKey running)
ability to limit maximum resource priority per user

Backup/Restore/Copy

built-in Active Backup functionality that will not interfere with running jobs
ability to schedule backup jobs to safely move specified data to a shadow location for tape backup etc.
backup jobs status documentation
backup/Restore/Copy individual datasets from your AXIS client copy via GridLink - much faster for large datasets as it is done remotely

Integration

integrated with Enterprise Grid products, such as DataSynapse GridServer, Platform EGO and Microsoft HPC server.

(Last updated: August 16th, 2010)