Grid Computing is a dynamic and loose federation of resources and institutions that enables researchers to solve large scale computational problems and store large amounts of data. The resources are geographically distributed and heterogeneous interconnected with fast network connections.
A Grid user is able to use all this computing power simultaneously in a transparent way, without having to log in at all the different sites. The Grid middleware is on the top of connected clusters and takes care of the job distribution among the resources.
This course on Grid Computing aims to provide you with an understanding of the key concepts that underlie Grid technology and the role that Grid Computing can play in computationally intensive problems. It also aims to help researchers, regardless of their major (High Energy Physics, Biology, Earth observation, etc), to feel confident of their ability to use the Grid Infrastructure. This includes working with portals, workflow management systems and Grid middleware. By demonstrating practical examples on Grid, you will effectively develop your skills on accessing the grid resources, submitting workloads and developing applications on shared computational and storage grid resources.