There are many legacy code applications that cannot be run in a Grid environment without significant modification. To avoid re-engineering of legacy code, we developed the Grid Execution Management for Legacy Code Architecture (GEMLCA) that enables deployment of legacy code applications as Grid services. GEMLCA implements a general architecture for deploying legacy applications as Grid services without the need for code re-engineering, or even access to the source files. With GEMLCA, only a user-level understanding is required to run a legacy application from a standard Grid service client. The legacy code runs in its native environment using the GEMLCA resource layer to communicate with the Grid client, thus hiding the legacy nature of the application and presenting it as a Grid service. GEMLCA as a Grid service layer supports submitting jobs, getting their results and status back. The paper introduces the GEMLCA concept, its life cycle, design and implementation. It also presents as an example a legacy simulation code that has been successfully transformed into a Grid service using GEMLCA. Grid computing offers seamless integration of hardware and software resources, databases, special devices (like sensors or visualisation tools) and services in a geographically distributed environment. This has many potential advantages; for example, in the creation of virtual organisations for solving computationally intensive tasks or supporting collaborative work. The Grid computing environment requires special Grid enabled applications capable of utilising the underlying Grid middleware and infrastructure. Most Grid projects so far have either developed new applications from scratch, or significantly re-engineered existing ones in order to be run on their platforms. This practise is appropriate in this context, where the applications are mainly aimed at proving the concept of the underlying architecture. However, as the Grid becomes stable and commonplace in both scientific and industrial settings, a demand will be created for porting a vast legacy of applications onto the new platform. Companies and institutions can ill afford to throw such applications away for the sake of a new technology, and there is a clear business imperative for them to be migrated onto the Grid with the least possible effort and cost. Grid computing is now progressing to a point where reliable Grid middleware and higher level tools will be offered to support the creation of production level Grids. A high-level Grid toolkit should definitely include components for turning legacy applications Journal of Grid Computing (2005) 3: 75-90
Delaitre et al. REF propose Grid Execution Management for Legacy Code Architecture (GEMLCA) that performs semi-automatic black-box wrapping of scientific legacy codes.
GEMLCA: Running Legacy Code Applications as Grid Services
Journal of Grid Computing
Journal of Grid Computing
Computer Science