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AXIS GridLink is a Grid solution to managing the processor farms used in the distributed processing of AXIS batch calculation runs. It offers a comprehensive set of tools that help you create and manage an efficient and secure production, development or testing environment.

AXIS GridLink vs. Standard Distributed Processing

The standard AXIS license allows you to run an AXIS batch job using the Distributed Processing option with up to 15 Helpers.

This Standard Distributed Processing feature is a single user solution for reducing AXIS runtimes when complex processes on large volumes of data are involved.  Helpers used in Standard Distributed Processing mode are automatically started by the master copy of AXIS on the same machine as the master utilizing multiple processor (CPU) cores of the computer. Standard Distributed Processing works very well for a one-batch-at-a-time scenario if a user is in full control of a multi-processor multi-core computer.

AXIS GridLink is designed to provide a secure, robust production environment that can scale over multiple dedicated computers up to 100's of processor cores running multiple distributed jobs in parallel or in succession. Consider AXIS GridLink as a solution when:

• many jobs in different datasets need to be run
• end-user workstation need to be free to develop models
• required processing resources exceed 15 CPU cores (e.g. for stochastic processing)
• multiple users need to share the processor farm
• multiple versions are in use
• access control to data partitions is required
• teams of users need secure production/testing/development environment

With AXIS GridLink you can:

• Control your farm without logging on to the farm servers.
• Initiate AXIS batch jobs from any AXIS workstation.
• When the job is submitted to the farm it is not running on the user's workstation anymore so it becomes free to do other work - even run AXIS and work in a different dataset
• Automatically start the appropriate Master and Helpers for the current job on the farm, and control the maximum number of helpers.
• Monitor the batch job running on the farm and the queue of jobs submitted by multiple users in multiple AXIS versions, from your local workstation or from home (using VPN)
• Move pending jobs up and down in the queue, or cancel them, if required.
• Perform multiple non-distributed jobs (e.g. DataLink macros) in parallel with distributed ones
• Review the history of runs with detailed documentation
• Install new versions of AXIS on all computers in the farm with just one button click
• Authorize users to perform runs on the processor farm and specify what actions are allowed for each user
• Create groups with different access permissions for extra security in a production environment
• Perform dataset level batch jobs as well as system batch jobs such as system formula
• Schedule and execute safe backups of your data that will not interfere with active jobs 

    For a complete list of features please see AXIS GridLink Feature List

How does AXIS Gridlink work?

The following diagrams illustrate how AXIS Gridlink can help manage the use of the processor farm and optimise your access to its computing resources.

As shown in the above scenario, the AXIS user can monitor the remote job status screen and control the job from any AXIS machine without logging on to the farm server. At any time the user can close the monitor and even turn off the local machine. He/she can reconnect to AXIS Gridlink Controller later and reopen the monitor as long the job is still running. More than one user can monitor and control the job at the same time.

Please refer to the article Monitor and manage jobs with AXIS GridLink for more details.

How AXIS GridLink can help efficiently share the farm?

There may be many scenarios how the processor farm can be shared between multiple users.

For example you may want to allow the processor farm to be shared by two or more departments or organize the farm in such a way so you can perform a development work regularly and high priority production runs at the end of each month or a quarter.

Each GridLink license allows you to control one job queue for one Master with up to 15 Helpers per Master. But if you have a batch job to process on your farm which does not use distributed processing (for example a DataLink batch job), you will be able to run this at the same time as it processes another distributed batch job. This means you won't have to tie up the whole farm just to run a DataLink batch job.

However the most flexible setup can be achieved with multiple AXIS GridLink licenses installed on the farm.

If you have two or more AXIS GridLink licenses you can have two or more queues with multiple Masters splitting the pool of Helpers on a cooperative basis for both distributable and non-distributable jobs.

When submitting the job to each of these queues GridLink allows you to specify the resource priority as "High", "Normal", "Low" and "No Helpers".

GridLink will automatically determine whether the job needs helpers or it is a non-distributable job and balance the resources between the queues according to the resource priorities of the jobs that are currently running in such a way that the farm processing power is always 100% utilized.

For example, with two GridLink licenses if you have 32 processor cores available on the farm then you can run two  distributed jobs in parallel with 15 Helpers on each if they have the same resource priority, or one job using only 3 Helpers and another using the remaining 27 if the first job had Low resource priority and the second one - High.

If there is only one job running on the farm from one of the queues and there are no more jobs in other queues it will use all 31 Helpers regardless of its resource priority (except if it is "No Helpers"). But as soon as a new job appears in another queue - the processor cores will be split according to the jobs respective resource priorities.

The following diagrams illustrate how AXIS GridLink provides the ability to balance processing resources between multiple users and jobs and achieve full utilization of the computing power of your farm:

Who can use AXIS GridLink?

AXIS GridLink offers powerful User Management feature. The administrator of the processor farm can define the list of users who can connect and perform jobs on the GridLink farm. Each user can be granted one of three levels of control: Basic, Regular and Advanced. These levels define what actions (e.g. monitor, cancel, change order of the jobs) are allowed for a given user to perform on the farm.

For additional security in your production environment AXIS GridLink implements a feature called Access Groups that allows the administrator to set up a farm in such a way that jobs submitted by different users will be ran under specific accounts with their respective permissions.

For more information on this feature please refer to the following article AXIS GridLink Installation Instructions.

How do I perform safe backups of my data if a farm is constantly working?

AXIS GridLink now has built-it Active Backup functionality that allows you to schedule and execute backups of your data without interfering with calculation jobs currently running on the farm.

Another way to backup your datasets and other related files is to perform it in the system level batch - suche as system macro or system formula - these tyeps of batch jobs are now supported on the GridLink too.

How can I find more information about AXIS GridLink?

For more information please contact Victor Rubinstein  (vr@ggy.com, 416-2506777 x 237) or Jeffrey Wei (jw@ggy.com 416-2506777 x 236) or visit the following site: www.ggy.com\gridlink

Below please find the link to the Microsoft PowerPoint presentation about AXIS GridLink.

• AXIS GridLink Overview.pps

• AXIS GridLink Controller
• Major Enhancements to AXIS GridLink (April - December, 2006)
• More Features Added to GridLink (February, 2007)