Virtual Workspaces - VWS

Introduction

• allow a client to create a custom execution environment configured with a required operating system, software stack and access policies and then deploy it on any resource running a hypervisor.

• may be serialized into a VM image, allowing the client to pause or shut down VM operation, and resume it at a different time and in a different location, decoupling image preparation from its deployment and enabling migration.

• offer excellent enforcement of resource usage: typically, a virtual machine is configured with a specific memory and disk size and some allow those qualities to be managed during deployment.

For these reasons, VMs are an excellent implementation option for workspaces: the configuration of a VM image can reflect a workspace's software requirements while the hypervisor can ensure the enforcement of hardware properties.

The workspace service implementation based on VMs:

• receives VM image pointer(s), meta-data, and a resource request
• then deploys the VM on one of the physical hosts administered by it

See the major features below.

Our implementation is based on the Globus Toolkit 4 (GT4) -- this allows us to leverage an interaction protocol for Grid Services as well as many tools available in the Globus Toolkit such as authentication and authorization mechanisms or persistence. Although we experimented with VMware in the past, our current implementation is based on the Xen hypervisor: an open source, efficient implementation. A Google Summer of Code student is working on integrating KVM this summer.

Major Features

Click on any feature to see an expanded explanation or go directly to the Features page.

Current release

• The current release is Technology Preview 1.3.3.1 (TP1.3.3.1).

• Within the TP1.3.3.1 section, find:

  • The main page: an introduction to the services and documentation.
  • The changelog: differences between TP1.3.2 and TP1.3.3.1.
  • The interfaces guide: explains the capabilities and semantics of the service in detail.
  • The cloud configuration overview: explains the cloud configuration that allows clients to get running in minutes (even from laptops, NATs, etc).
  • The Administrator's Guide: for deploying the Workspace Service on resources.
  • The User Quickstart: for testing or using an existing Workspace Service installation.
  • The plugins overview: plugins overview and details about rich authorization options.
  • The Misc. Questions list.

• Get the code from the Downloads page.

Marketplace

• Find VM based workspaces at the Workspace Marketplace.

Incubator Status

Virtual Workspaces is an effort undergoing incubation at Globus. Incubation is required of all newly accepted projects until a further review indicates that the infrastructure, communications, and decision making process have stabilized in a manner consistent with other successful Globus projects. While incubation status is not necessarily a reflection of the completeness or stability of the code, it does indicate that the project has yet to be fully endorsed by Globus.

The dev.globus project page can be found here.