This information is for a release that is no longer supported by the Globus Toolkit.

Globus Toolkit 2.0 Release Notes

These notes describe the 2.0 Release of the Globus Toolkit. This is a major new version of the Globus Toolkit, so the information provided here is substantial.  Please be prepared to spend some time with these notes before getting started with the software!

Specific information is provided for the following topics.

New/Improved Features

The Globus Toolkit 2.0 includes major improvements over the Globus Toolkit 1.1.3 and 1.1.4 releases in the following areas.

Data Grid Components

The Globus Project has defined a set of deliverables for our current work on projects involving Data Grids. These deliverables include a reliable data transfer protocol optimized for high-performance networks (GridFTP), a catalog service for keeping track of replicated files (Globus Replica Catalog), and a replica management service for managing files in a high-performance, wide-area, data storage environment (Globus Replica Management).

We have developed a reference implementation of the GridFTP protocol. This implementation includes a suite of libraries and tools that use the GridFTP protocol. This software can be used to implement systems and applications that incorporate high-performance data transfer capabilities.

Additionally, we have defined APIs for constructing and manipulating replica catalogs and for reliable replica management, libraries that implement these APIs, and tools to provide command line access to the libraries' features.

Specific new components include:

  • GSI-enabled versions of ncftp client and wu-ftpd server
    These tools have been patched to enable GSI authentication on their control channels. Additionally, the wu-ftpd server has been patched to add support for the GridFTP partial file transfer feature and the GridFTP parallel transfer feature.

  • globus_ftp_control library
    This C library contains the code that implements our GridFTP protocol. The API provides routines for managing GridFTP connections including both control channel and data channel support.

  • globus_ftp_client library
    This C library contains the code implementing our GridFTP client API. The API provides higher-level client features on top of the globus_ftp_control library (full file get, put, transfer, etc.).

  • globus_gass_copy library
    This C library implements our "GASS Copy" API, which allows data to be copied between a source and destination using any combination of GridFTP, HTTP, HTTPS, and local file I/O.

  • globus-url-copy tool
    This command line tool allows data to be copied between URLs, local files, and/or stdin/stdout. Recognized protocols in the URL are: http, https, ftp, gsiftp, and file. This tool also supports transfers using parallel data streams and partial file transfers.

  • globus_replica_catalog library
    This C library implements our "Globus Replica Catalog" API, which allows operations on an LDAP-based replica catalog. (Replica catalogs keep track of files within collections stored in multiple storage repositories.)

  • globus_replica_management library
    This C library implements our "Globus Replica Management" API, which allows the registration of files in a managed storage environment and subsequent replication operations on these files.

  • globus-replica-catalog and globus-replica-management tools
    These tools provide command-line access to the features in the gloubs_replica_catalog and globus_replica_management libraries.

MDS Components

The Monitoring and Discovery Service (MDS) is the information services component of the Globus Toolkit. MDS 2.1 enhances the original implementation found in the 1.1.3 release of the Globus Toolkit with improvements in performance, security, reliability, and ease of extension.

Major feature enhancements include the following:

  • High performance GIIS and GRIS
    -  Memory-based caching backends for GRIS and GIIS
    -  Efficient GRIS resource information providers
  • Revised resource representation model
    -  New MDS schema files
    -  New GRIS information providers
  • Support for GSI authentication and access control
  • Integrated GRIS/GIIS server
  • Newer versions of OpenLDAP and OpenSSL
  • Support for the new Globus Toolkit 2.0 packaging model

GRAM Components

The Globus Resource Allocation Manager (GRAM) is the resource management component of the Globus Toolkit. GRAM 1.5 is an update to existing components in the Toolkit.

The major feature change in GRAM 1.5 vs. earlier versions is the addition of new GRAM protocol and API features to support more robust job submission and management capabilities. This technology was contributed to the Globus Toolkit by the Condor Team at the University of Wisconsin.

Packaging Technology

The 2.0 release of the Globus Toolkit uses a packaging technology unlike the one used in previous releases.

Because Grid software and the Globus Toolkit mean different things to different people, the new packaging system for the Globus Toolkit includes features to support Grid builders, application developers, and end users.

  • We continue the Globus Project tradition of offering software that will run on a very wide variety of platforms and OS-level configurations. We provide a new "a la carte" mechanism for installing only the software components that you need. We provide binary distributions of components for popular platforms. We've improved the efficiency of compiling the software from source code. We now support the ability to easily relocate the Globus Toolkit after installation. We provide setup packages for individual software components (furthering the "a la carte" installation model), and the ability to distribute "preconfigured" software for organizations that need to standardize the configurations on all their systems.
  • Our "patch-n-build" mechanism allows third-party software (like OpenLDAP, OpenSSL, SASL, etc.) to be redistributed with patches that automatically apply on installation, allowing up to keep up with third-party software development.

The new Globus Toolkit packaging technology was co-developed by the Globus Project and the National Center for Supercomputing Applications, and is heavily based on NCSA's Grid Packaging Toolkit (GPT).

Security Components

A number of security enhancements have been made since the 1.1.3 release of the Globus Toolkit. These are now included in the 2.0 release and are described below.

  • The GSI configuration files have been changed to allow CA information to be added and removed in a modular manner.
  • Due to relaxed export controls, we now include the necessary code in the GSI (security components) to enable integrity and privacy features (data encryption) on authenticated communication channels.
  • The most common security error messages are now clearer and more user-friendly.
  • The user interface for grid-proxy-init has been improved.
  • Numerous code changes have been made to the GSI to enable anticipated features in future versions of the Globus Toolkit, including restricted delegation and community authentication services.
  • Numerous memory leaks in the GSSAPI and GAA code were eliminated. These leaks were identified by the INFN team in the EU DataGrid project.
  • Numerous security changes were made to enhance compatibility with non-PKI GGSAPI implementations (specifically, Kerberos). These changes were contributed to the Globus Toolkit by the ASCI DRM team at Sandia National Laboratory.
  • Changes were made to allow the GSI to be used with OpenSSL 0.9.6b.

Other Improvements

In addition to the above major development efforts, we have continued to make less extensive improvements to other components in the Globus Toolkit.

  • Various changes were made (primarily in globus_io) to enhance support for MPICH-G2. These changes were contributed by the MPICH-G2 team at ANL and Northern Illinois University.
  • Several changes were made to globus_io to provide features required by our Data Grid code. A new globus_io API specification is available.

This list is is very likely incomplete, as it was nearly 18 months between the release of version 1.1.3 and version 2.0 and some items have not been kept track of as well as others. If you are aware of other changes made since the 1.1.3 release, please send email to webmaster@globus.org.

Obtaining and Installing the Software

Please refer to our Installation Instructions for detailed information on how to obtain and install this software.

Documentation

The following general information about this software is available.

MDS Documentation

The Monitoring and Discovery Service (MDS) is the information services component of the Globus Toolkit. MDS 2.1 enhances the original implementation found in the 1.1.3 release of the Globus Toolkit with improvements in performance, security, reliability, installation, and ease of extension.

New: public GIIS vo-index now available

GRAM Documentation

The Globus Resource Allocation Manager (GRAM) is the resource management component of the Globus Toolkit. The Globus Toolkit 2.0 includes GRAM 1.5, an update to existing components in the Toolkit.

General information about GRAM (updated with new GRAM 1.5 information) is available via the Globus Project GRAM website.

Security Documentation

The Grid Security Infrastructure (GSI) is the security component of the Globus Toolkit. General information about GSI is available via the Globus Project Security website.

Documentation on changes to the GSI configuration files is also available.

Support

The traditional public Globus Toolkit support infrastructure has been adjusted to support this new software, so please use these mechanisms to request help or support with this release..

Testing

For the 2.0 release we tested the software build and installation and basic functionality on the following platforms. Note that not all of these platforms passed all of our tests! Please see the Known Issues section for details.

  • Linux Kernel 2.x, Intel x86
  • Linux Kernel 2.4, Intel IA-64 (Itanium)
  • IRIX 6.5, MIPS
  • Solaris 2.8, UltraSPARC
  • AIX 5.1
  • Compaq Tru64

In addition to our internal testing, the Globus Toolkit 2.0 was also tested by teams at Compaq (Tru64) and at IBM (AIX 5.1 and Linux). We are grateful to these organizations for their help with this release.

Known Issues

The following issues are known to exist in the Globus Toolkit 2.0 release. Fixes for these issues will be released when they have been resolved.

Detailed information and workarounds for software build issues (for those using source distributions) are available on the Platform-specific Build Issues page.

  • The Replica Catalog and Replica Management APIs and tools are not currently present in the 2.0 "basic bundles". These libraries and tools to support file replication will be provided shortly as an additional bundle.
  • When building from a source code distribution on AIX, the GridFTP server will not be built correctly. The build and install will complete, but you will not have a GridFTP server executable in your installation.
  • Binary distributions of the Information Services bundles are not yet available for AIX. We will provide these when we have resolved a number of technical issues.
  • MDS information providers are not yet available for AIX.
  • MDS information providers for Tru64 are not currently included in the Globus Toolkit. A set of information providers for Tru64 is available from Compaq. Please contact us for details.
  • When building from a source code distribution on AIX, the Information Services bundles (SDK, clients, and services) will not build correctly. A workaround is available; please contact us for details.

Licensing

The Globus Toolkit is distributed and licensed for use under the terms of the Globus Toolkit Public License.