AXIS GridLink is a Grid solution to managing the processor farm used for distributed processing of AXIS batch calculation runs. It offers a comprehensive set of tools that help you create and manage a more efficient and secure production environment.
AXIS GridLink vs. Standard Distributed Processing
The standard AXIS license allows you to run an AXIS batch job using the Distributed Processing processing option with up to 15 Helpers. This Standard Distributed Processing feature is our user-managed solution for reducing AXIS runtimes when complex processes on large volumes of data are involved. Helpers used in Distributed Processing may run on the same machine as the master, or on different machines, or on any combination.
With Standard Distributed Processing, there is quite a bit of manual intervention required to prepare and launch the batch process that is to be distributed. You need to install the correct version of AXIS on each computer, then start the helper instances of AXIS using this version on each computer, retarget each helper to monitor the desired dataset paths and then launch the batch job on the designated master version of AXIS. If the master resides on your local PC it will be fully occupied with both processing the job and coordinating the helpers, and there will not likely be enough available resources to handle any other applications. If on the other hand the master is a remote server, you need full access to that server in order to log on as a user and run the AXIS application. You will also need full access rights to every helper machine.
Standard Distributed Processing works very well for a single batch job especially when only a few helpers are used and access rights are not a concern. However when long complex production jobs are intended to be run on a regular basis, it is advantageous to set up a "farm" of connected processors dedicated to such jobs. It is difficult to efficiently share a farm among a group of users, and there is too much work involved in utilizing such a farm as a production environment with AXIS standard distributed processing.
To address these concerns, we have developed a Grid solution to managing your farm. AXIS GridLink is designed for use with dedicated farms, and gives you a more efficient test and production environment, especially when there is more than one user sharing the farm resources.
With AXIS GridLink you can:
How does AXIS GridLink work?
The following diagrams illustrate how AXIS GridLink can help manage the use of the processor farm and optimize 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 help topic "Monitor Remote Batch Jobs" for more details.
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:
What if I need to add more Helpers to my processor farm?
You may increase the maximum number of Helpers (currently 15) by buying additional Helper licenses to enhance your GridLink license.
How can I find more information about AXIS GridLink?
For more information please refer to the following documents:
Distributed Processing Tab in System Parameters
or contact Victor Rubinstein (vr@ggy.com, 416-2506777 x 237) or Jeffrey Wei (jw@ggy.com 416-2506777 x 236).