On 29 Apr 2011, at 16:56, Waruna Ranasinghe <waruna...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Hi all, > > +1 for the proposal Airavata. I would like to contribute to this project. Yay! Another person who sees personal value. Look forward to working with you too :-) Ross > > > Thanks, > Waruna > >>>>> On 4/23/11 5:53 PM, Ross Gardler wrote: >>>>>> >>>>>> I would like to propose Airavata for entry into the Apache Incubator. >>>>>> >>>>>> The full proposal can be found at [1] and is copied at the end of this >>>>>> mail. For those in a hurry here's a quick summary: >>>>>> >>>>>> Airavata is a software toolkit currently used to build science >> gateways >>>>>> but that has a much wider potential use. It provides features to >>>>>> compose, manage, execute, and monitor large scale applications and >>>>>> workflows on computational resources ranging from local clusters to >>>>>> national grids and computing clouds. Users can use Airavata back end >>>>>> services and build gadgets to deploy in open social containers such as >>>>>> Apache Rave and modify them to suite their needs. Airavata builds on >>>>>> general concepts of service oriented computing, distributed messaging, >>>>>> and workflow composition and orchestration. >>>>>> >>>>>> Airavata will provide web interfaces and scalable Service Oriented >>>>>> Architecture based backend services to build or enhance Science >> Gateway >>>>>> (see https://www.teragrid.org/web/science-gateways/) and similar >>>>>> environments. Airavata will specifically focus on: >>>>>> >>>>>> 1. sophisticated server-side tools for registering and managing large >>>>>> scale applications on computational resources. >>>>>> >>>>>> 2. graphical user interfaces to construct, execute, control, manage >> and >>>>>> reuse of scientific workflows. >>>>>> >>>>>> 3. interfacing and interoperability with with various external (third >>>>>> party) data and provenance management tools >>>>>> >>>>>> The project team consists of a number of existing Apache Committers >> and >>>>>> the code comes from the same stable as some of the code donated to >>>>>> Apache Rave (Incubating). >>>>>> >>>>>> We welcome your questions, suggestions, observations and support. >>>>>> >>>>>> Ross >>>>>> >>>>>> [1] http://wiki.apache.org/incubator/AiravataProposal >>>>>> >>>>>> FULL PROPOSAL TEXT >>>>>> ================== >>>>>> >>>>>> = Airavata Proposal for Apache Incubator = >>>>>> >>>>>> == Abstract == >>>>>> Airavata is a software toolkit currently used to build science >>>>>> gateways but that has a much wider potential use. It provides features >>>>>> to compose, manage, execute, and monitor large scale applications and >>>>>> workflows on computational resources ranging from local clusters to >>>>>> national grids and computing clouds. Users can use Airavata back end >>>>>> services and build gadgets to deploy in open social containers such as >>>>>> Apache Rave and modify them to suite their needs. Airavata builds on >>>>>> general concepts of service oriented computing, distributed messaging, >>>>>> and workflow composition and orchestration. >>>>>> >>>>>> >>>>>> == Proposal == >>>>>> >>>>>> Airavata will provide web interfaces and scalable Service Oriented >>>>>> Architecture based backend services to build or enhance Science >>>>>> Gateway (see https://www.teragrid.org/web/science-gateways/) >>>>>> and similar environments. Airavata will specifically focus on: >>>>>> >>>>>> 1. sophisticated server-side tools for registering and managing large >>>>>> scale applications on computational resources. >>>>>> 2. graphical user interfaces to construct, execute, control, manage >> and >>>>>> reuse of scientific workflows. >>>>>> 3. interfacing and interoperability with with various external (third >>>>>> party) data and provenance management tools. >>>>>> >>>>>> == Background == >>>>>> Working in close quarters with Apache Axis2 committers and inspired by >>>>>> the true open source community driven software development of ASF, >>>>>> Suresh Marru and Marlon Pierce have been pioneering the idea of a >>>>>> Science Gateways software-based Apache project since late 2008. Many >>>>>> Apache members have fostered these ideas and guided them to arrive at >>>>>> this proposal. >>>>>> >>>>>> Currently the software is a actively used in various science >>>>>> gateways. But the tools are general purpose and build upon widely used >>>>>> Apache tools like Axis2, ODE engine. The core team is motivated to >>>>>> expand the community and build a community welcoming both synergistic >>>>>> software components and also new usage scenarios. >>>>>> >>>>>> It is perhaps worth noting that one of the three seed projects that >>>>>> make up the Apache Rave (Incubating) project is also the product of >>>>>> this same team and is derived from the same Science Gateways >>>>>> community. >>>>>> >>>>>> == Rationale == >>>>>> >>>>>> The nature of computational problems has evolved from simple desktop >>>>>> calculations to complex, multidisciplinary activities that require the >>>>>> monitoring and analysis of remote data streams, database and web >>>>>> search and large ensembles of simulations. In the academic domain >>>>>> Science Gateways have emerged to address these needs and have built >>>>>> software platforms that provide a community of users with the ability >>>>>> to easily solve computational problems within a specific domain. The >>>>>> tools developed to support these gateways are potentially of value to >>>>>> any organisation needing to perform complex computations. Gateways >>>>>> provide a convenient interface to the underlying infrastrucure without >>>>>> the need for a deep understanding of the intricacies that >>>>>> infrastructure. >>>>>> >>>>>> We summarize the rationale for choosing The Apache Software Foundation >>>>>> (ASF) below. This is what we hope to gain from participating in the >>>>>> ASF. >>>>>> >>>>>> 1. '''Broader impact''': our science gateway tool set is based on >>>>>> Service Oriented Architecture principles, and it has always been our >>>>>> goal to align our software with broader trends in the development of >>>>>> software for distributed systems. Participating in the ASF provides a >>>>>> concrete way to implement this idea. In particular, we have done >>>>>> extensive work on the workflow systems, messaging, and application >>>>>> management as Web services from the perspective of computational >> science >>>>>> use cases (i.e., high failure rates, very long running jobs, dynamic >>>>>> service creation, workflows not expressible as directed acyclic >> graphs, >>>>>> etc). These requirements and our work to implement them have already >> had >>>>>> direct impact on the Apache Axis 2 and Apache ODE projects. As an >> Apache >>>>>> project, it is hoped that our community will have an enhanced >>>>>> opportunity for collaboration and complementary development with >> Apache >>>>>> Hadoop (for scientific application management), Apache QPID (for >>>>>> messaging), Apache Rave (incubator - Open Social Container) and >> others. >>>>>> It is our goal to expand our software’s usage beyond just science >>>>>> gateways to the broader enterprise community. >>>>>> 2. '''Sustainability''': Science gateway software development (and >>>>>> cyberinfrastructure software generally) is primarily funded in the US >> by >>>>>> the National Science Foundation (NSF), so the long term sustainability >>>>>> of software across funding cycles is a longstanding problem. The NSF >> is >>>>>> attempting to solve this problem, and its vision for sustainable >>>>>> software is described here: >>>>>> http://www.nsf.gov/pubs/2010/nsf10015/nsf10015.jsp. Participating in >> the >>>>>> ASF is our project’s vision for reaching software sustainability >> that >>>>>> underpins the NSF CF21 vision. As a successful ASF project (after >>>>>> incubation), we will have created a community led, rather than funding >>>>>> led, environment for the development of our sotware. This community, >>>>>> through our community engagement work and adoption of meritocratic >>>>>> principles, will expand beyond our current core team and existing >>>>>> project collaborations. This will greatly increase the chances that >> our >>>>>> software will continue to grow and improve beyond the participation of >>>>>> any individuals. >>>>>> 3. '''Maturity''': much of the software included in this proposal was >>>>>> developed initially by graduate students as part of their Ph. D. work. >>>>>> The Open Grid Computing Environment has devoted significant effort >>>>>> (through salaried staff and volunteers from collaborating >> institutions) >>>>>> to convert these research projects into mature, reliable, >> well-written, >>>>>> packaged components. The code is currently hosted at SourceForge, but >> we >>>>>> recognize the need to go beyond just the SourceForge support tools to >>>>>> participate in a real community of software engineering experts. It is >>>>>> our desire, through the Apache Incubator, to take our software >>>>>> engineering efforts to a higher level by learning from the substantial >>>>>> experience of appropraite Apache Committers. Apache mentors will >> provide >>>>>> initial guidance, as will the attraction of additional committers from >>>>>> the relevant Apache projects. >>>>>> >>>>>> == Initial Goals == >>>>>> >>>>>> * Implement a standalone version of the code base with a simple hello >>>>>> world service, workflow and gadget(s) to access the examples. >>>>>> * Migration of documentation and design knowledge from existing SF >> project >>>>>> * Re-architect Grid based security (GSI) dependencies and adopt more >>>>>> general purpose security implementations. >>>>>> * Make sure Cloud (including hadoop) support is more first class. >>>>>> * Aim to have the first Apache release within the first 6 months >>>>>> * Verify with Apache Legal that some of the more esoteric licences in >>>>>> our dependencies are acceptable, or replace them as appropriate >>>>>> >>>>>> == Current Status == >>>>>> >>>>>> The proposed tools are currently hosted on SourceForge at >>>>>> http://sourceforge.net/projects/ogce/ (source at >>>>>> https://ogce.svn.sourceforge.net/svnroot/ogce/ogce-xbaya-gui/) and >> are >>>>>> described at http://www.collab-ogce.org. >>>>>> >>>>>> == Meritocracy == >>>>>> >>>>>> A significant portion of initial committers are already ASF >>>>>> Committers/Members, >>>>>> and the entire team is well experienced with open source software >>>>>> development. The existing code base has resulted from >>>>>> multi-institutional collaborative projects. The developers are well >>>>>> aware of the Apache way and will honor the meritocracy policy of ASF >>>>>> foundation. >>>>>> >>>>>> == Community == >>>>>> >>>>>> To date our focus has been serving our immediate partners needs rather >>>>>> than looking outwards in order to build a broader community with >>>>>> diverse needs. Whilst the core team area likely to remain focussed on >>>>>> the Science Gateways communities we are keen to welcome community >>>>>> members from other disciplines. >>>>>> >>>>>> == Core Developers == >>>>>> Our core developers consist of participants from academic, >>>>>> not-for-profit and for-profit organisations. Many are already well >>>>>> versed in The Apache Way. >>>>>> >>>>>> Amongst our initial team we have one or more committers on the >>>>>> following Apache top level projects; axis, geronimo, synapse, ws, >>>>>> ws-pmc, ws-woden as well as Apache Rave (Incubating). >>>>>> >>>>>> == Alignment == >>>>>> Airavata software is built upon Apache Projects like Axis2, ODE, >>>>>> Rampart, Tomcat and Maven. We will try to closely align the project >>>>>> with ODE to ensure BPEL workflow compatibility. We will align with >>>>>> metadata management projects like Apache OODT. Web interfaces within >>>>>> the Airavata software will be synergistically developed with Apache >>>>>> Rave. >>>>>> >>>>>> == Known Risks == >>>>>> === Orphaned products === >>>>>> We acknowledge the need to seek project contributions outside the >> current >>>>>> developers. The core team actively travels and conducts workshops and >>>>>> tutorials at relevant academic conferences like Supercomputing, >> TeraGrid, >>>>>> Collaborative Technologies Systems and SciDAC. Previous experiences >>>>>> have showed that these tutorials and outreach efforts will bring in >>>>>> community participation. The general strategy will be to encourage >>>>>> users to be active in the community and develop patches and >>>>>> contribute. Also, the core developers use the Airavata software in >>>>>> multiple projects with a life span ranging from 2 to 10 years, so the >>>>>> risk of orphaned products is very minimal. >>>>>> >>>>>> Furthermore, by opening our doors to non-academic organisations >>>>>> already adopting large scale computation related projects in the ASF >>>>>> we hope to be able to build community beyond the proposing teams >>>>>> Science Gateway interests. >>>>>> >>>>>> === Inexperience with Open Source === >>>>>> The core team is very familiar with open source practices. The >>>>>> developers include existing Apache members who have long term >> experience >>>>>> with >>>>>> the Apache Way. The OGCE project has been an active >>>>>> open source project in SourceForge since November 2006. We welcome the >>>>>> new directions and are well prepared to follow the Apache way. >>>>>> >>>>>> === Homogenous Developers === >>>>>> We have a semi-distributed development environment distributed among >>>>>> Indiana University and Lanka Software Foundation. We fully expect >>>>>> contributions from the partnering science gateways adding to the >>>>>> heterogeneous development. >>>>>> >>>>>> === Reliance on Salaried Developers === >>>>>> The core developers are self motivated on the project and also are >>>>>> funded through various federal, state and endowment research >>>>>> grants. Participation in these research efforts based on Airavata >>>>>> software is mostly voluntary and above and beyond the requirements of >>>>>> the salaried jobs. >>>>>> >>>>>> The Open Gateway Computing project, from which the initial code >>>>>> donation is sourced, is funded for the next 3 years and is mandated by >>>>>> the funding guidelines to open source software development - >>>>>> http://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward.do?AwardNumber=1032742. We >>>>>> believe in the Airavata software capabilities and its vital role in >>>>>> providing sustainable middleware for Science Gateways. Nevertheless, >>>>>> the core team will actively build upon Airavata software and foster >>>>>> developer community outside the current core. >>>>>> >>>>>> === Relationships with Other Apache Products === >>>>>> See “Alignment†above. Airavata is based on the concepts of >> Service >>>>>> Oriented Architecture and all services run within Tomcat >>>>>> container. The web services are based on Axis2. The orchestration of >>>>>> the scientific workflows uses Orchestration Director Engine. The >>>>>> software is built using Apache Maven. >>>>>> >>>>>> === An Excessive Fascination with the Apache Brand === >>>>>> The Apache brand would certainly help promote the software suite, but >>>>>> gaining the brand is not the motivation for this project. Airavata is >>>>>> being proposed to Apache because of the belief in Apache’s >> meritocracy >>>>>> model for mentored, community-driven, open source software is the best >>>>>> way to develop sustainable software. See “Rational†above. Most >>>>>> importantly, The Apache Software Foundation will help us create an >>>>>> institution-neutral contribution venue and will help us build a >>>>>> long-standing community around Airavata to sustain and improve it >>>>>> beyond the span of specific, targeted research grants. >>>>>> >>>>>> == Documentation == >>>>>> Existing documentation is available from the OGCE wiki, >>>>>> http://www.collab-ogce.org/ogce/index.php/Main_Page. In addition, >>>>>> there is abundance of presentation and self guided video tutorial >>>>>> material. Effort will be put in to collect all this information into >>>>>> meaningful documentation on the Apache websites. >>>>>> >>>>>> == Initial Source == >>>>>> The initial source of the project is in SourceForge. The source is >>>>>> available for anonymous check out from svn at >>>>>> https://ogce.svn.sourceforge.net/svnroot/ogce/ogce-xbaya-gui/ >>>>>> >>>>>> == Source and Intellectual Property Submission Plan == >>>>>> Indiana University is the current holder of Intellectual Property >>>>>> rights for the software. The university has approved the code donation >>>>>> and signed trustees approval, Corporate Contributor Licence Agreement >>>>>> and Software Grant Agreement have been emailed to ASF secretary and >>>>>> received acknowledgement. >>>>>> >>>>>> Specifically Indiana University will donate 4 components into Airavata >>>>>> project. >>>>>> >>>>>> 1. XBaya Scientific Workflow Suite - includes a GUI for workflow >>>>>> composition and monitoring. The composed workflow can be exported to >>>>>> various workflow languages like BPEL, SCUFL, Condor DAG, Jython and >>>>>> Java. The defacto workflow enacting engine used is Apache ODE. >>>>>> 2. GFac - an application wrapper service that can be used to wrap >>>>>> command line-driven science applications and make them into robust, >>>>>> network- accessible services. This component is build on Axis2 web >>>>>> service stack. >>>>>> 3. XRegistry - a registry service for storing deployment information >>>>>> about wrapped application services and constructed workflows. >>>>>> 4. WS-Messenger - a “publish-subscribe†based message broker >>>>>> implemented on top of Apache Axis2 web services stack. It implements >> the >>>>>> WS-Eventing and WS-Notifications specifications and incorporates a >>>>>> message box component that facilities communications with clients >> behind >>>>>> firewalls and overcomes network glitches. >>>>>> >>>>>> == External Dependencies == >>>>>> >>>>>> Following the guideline -http://www.apache.org/legal/resolved.html, >> the >>>>>> following are the dependent software and all of them are in binary >>>>>> format in java archive (jar files). >>>>>> >>>>>> * CDDL license - Javax activation, JSR311, Portlet-API, Servlet-API >>>>>> * Apache V2: cog-jglobus, globus, caster, gridsphere, Woodstox, xmpp, >>>>>> xsul, sigiri, atomixmiser, weps-beans. >>>>>> * BSD: puretls, >>>>>> * MIT: bcporv, hsqldb, dom4j, slf4j >>>>>> * PSFL: Jython >>>>>> * GPL 2.0: mysql-connector-java >>>>>> * Other: >>>>>> * cryptix32, cryptix-asn1 (http://www.cryptix.org/LICENSE.TXT) >>>>>> * backport (public domain) >>>>>> * jaxen (http://jaxen.codehaus.org/license.html) >>>>>> >>>>>> Licence incompatibilities (GPL) will be resolved during incubation. >>>>>> >>>>>> == Cryptography == >>>>>> The software does not implement any cryptographic algorithms. However, >>>>>> to perform secured messaging and data movement and SSL communications, >>>>>> the software depends upon third party security libraries. These >>>>>> external libraries depend in turn on Java Security, Puretls, Cryptix >>>>>> and Bounce Castle libraries. Apache Cryptographic steps will be >>>>>> followed to register the use of these libraries. >>>>>> >>>>>> == Required Resources == >>>>>> >>>>>> === Mailing lists === >>>>>> 1. airavata-dev >>>>>> 2. airavata-commits >>>>>> 3. airavata-private >>>>>> >>>>>> === Subversion Directory === >>>>>> https://svn.apache.org/repos/asf/incubator/airavata >>>>>> >>>>>> === Issue Tracking === >>>>>> We intend to make use of Jira for issue tracking. Proposed key: >> AIRAVATA >>>>>> >>>>>> === Other Resources === >>>>>> >>>>>> We intend to manage our website using the Apache CMS. >>>>>> >>>>>> == Initial Committers == >>>>>> Names of initial committers with affiliation and current ASF status: >>>>>> >>>>>> || '''Name''' || '''Email''' || '''Affiliation''' || '''ICLA''' || >>>>>> '''ASF Status''' || '''Apache Id''' || >>>>>> || Suresh Marru || sma...@cs.indiana.edu || Indiana University || On >>>>>> File || Apache Commiter || smarru || >>>>>> || Marlon Pierce || mpie...@cs.indiana.edu || Indiana University || >> On >>>>>> File || Apache Commiter || mpierce || >>>>>> || Srinath Perera || hemap...@apache.org || Lanka Software Foundation >> || >>>>>> On File || Apache Member || hemapani || >>>>>> || Aleksander Slominski || aslom at us.ibm.com || IBM || On File || >>>>>> Apache Member || aslom || >>>>>> || Raminderjeet Singh || rami...@indiana.edu || Indiana University || >> On >>>>>> File || Apache Commiter || raminder || >>>>>> || Archit Kulshrestha || akuls...@indiana.edu || Indiana University >> || >>>>>> On File || N/A || N/A || >>>>>> || Chathura Herath || chath...@apache.org || Indiana University || On >>>>>> File || Apache Commiter || chathura || >>>>>> || Eran Chinthaka || chinth...@apache.org || Indiana University || On >>>>>> File || Apache Member || chinthaka || >>>>>> || Thilina Gunaratne || thil...@apache.org || Indiana University || >> On >>>>>> File || Apache Commiter || thilina || >>>>>> || Wathsala Vithanage || waths...@opensource.lk || Lanka Software >>>>>> Foundation || On File || N/A || N/A || >>>>>> >>>>>> All the parties are affiliated with companies and organizations that >>>>>> are familiar with the development of open source. We expect that the >>>>>> amount of volunteer work will increase, and more developers will come >>>>>> on board. >>>>>> >>>>>> == Champion == >>>>>> Ross Gardler, Apache Software Foundation >>>>>> >>>>>> == Nominated Mentors == >>>>>> * Ross Gardler, Member, Apache Software Foundation >>>>>> * Alek Slominski, Member, Apache Software Foundation >>>>>> * Ate Douma, Member, Apache Software Foundation >>>>>> * Sanjiva Weerawarna, Member, Apache Software Foundation >>>>>> * Paul Fremantle, Member, Apache Software Foundation >>>>>> >>>>>> == Sponsoring Entity == >>>>>> Apache Incubator Project. >>>>>> >>>>>> >>>>>> --------------------------------------------------------------------- >>>>>> To unsubscribe, e-mail: general-unsubscr...@incubator.apache.org >>>>>> For additional commands, e-mail: general-h...@incubator.apache.org >>>>>> >> > > -- > ----------------------------------------------------- > Regards, > Waruna Ranasinghe > > blog: http://warunapw.blogspot.com > twitter: http://twitter.com/warunapww > http://lk.linkedin.com/in/waruna > www.facebook.com/waruna.ranasinghe --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, e-mail: general-unsubscr...@incubator.apache.org For additional commands, e-mail: general-h...@incubator.apache.org
