Astro-RG questions

[Tony Linde]

I've responded to a list of questions that Guy Rixon sent to workgroup
chairs (not sure if he needed a quick answer). I'd like to ask people's
opinions and will update Guy based on responses.

To reiterate, the questions are:

1. Is grid technology in use in the area covered by your WG? If not, what
are the main reasons for not using it?

2. Are current GGF standards and draft standards of use to your working
group?  If not, what causes them to be inapplicable?

3. Are the GGF standards known to and understood by the workers in your
group? Do you see a need for better explanations of GGF's work?

4. For the GGF working-groups mapped to your IVOA group, what additional or
changed standards (and associated documents) would make the GGF work more
relevant to the IVO?

And my initial response follows...

Cheers,
Tony. 

-----Original Message-----
From: Tony Linde [mailto:ael at star.le.ac.uk] 
Sent: 19 July 2004 14:45
To: 'Guy Rixon'; 'Roy Williams'; 'jcm at cfa.harvard.edu';
'masatoshi.ohishi at nao.ac.jp'; 'dtody at nrao.edu';
'francois at newb6.u-strasbg.fr'; 'Thomas.A.McGlynn at nasa.gov';
'gerard.lemson at mpe.mpg.de'
Cc: 'moore at sdsc.edu'; 'naw at ast.cam.ac.uk'; 'Andrew Lawrence'
Subject: RE: 

Hi Guy,

I've not polled the registry workgroup for opinions on this but will do so
and will update my response later - this is a preliminary view in case you
need it sooner rather than later.

>   * Is grid technology in use in the area covered by your WG?
>     If not, what are the main reasons for not using it?

No. 

1) Standards for other IVOA areas do not mandate grid technologies and we
need to be compatible. 
2) Grid technologies are not in use much in astronomy centres and we need to
develop standards that can be implemented in a production environment at the
vast majority of those centres.

>   * Are current GGF standards and draft standards of use to your
>     working group?  If not, what causes them to be inapplicable?

Don't know if they've been evaluated. I don't remember any specific
discussion.

>   * Are the GGF standards known to and understood by the workers in
>     your group? Do you see a need for better explanations of GGF's 
> work?

In general, I'd say not but this may be untrue.

Yes. If the standards can be implemented in a fashion acceptable to all the
astro centres around the world: so, securely and easily.

>   * For the GGF working-groups mapped to your IVOA group, what 
> additional
>     or changed standards (and associated documents) would make the GGF 
> work
>     more relevant to the IVO?

I don't know what is available in the area. Metadata would be
astro-specific. But standards on registry interface (query, harvesting) such
as we've been developing might be useful - would prefer any GGF ones to be
compatible with ours.

More later if the list comes up with changes to what I've said.

Cheers,
Tony. 

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Guy Rixon [mailto:gtr at ast.cam.ac.uk]
> Sent: 19 July 2004 14:24
> To: Tony Linde; Roy Williams; jcm at cfa.harvard.edu; 
> masatoshi.ohishi at nao.ac.jp; dtody at nrao.edu; 
> francois at newb6.u-strasbg.fr; gtr at ast.cam.ac.uk; 
> Thomas.A.McGlynn at nasa.gov; gerard.lemson at mpe.mpg.de
> Cc: moore at sdsc.edu; naw at ast.cam.ac.uk; Andrew Lawrence
> Subject: 
> 
> Dear IVOA-working-group leader,
> 
> as you may be aware, the Global Grid Forum (GGF) has an astronomy 
> research-group (ASTRO-RG). The mandate of this group is to establish 
> how GGF-branded grid software can be used in the IVO and how the needs 
> of the IVO should inform the GGF standards.
> 
> There is a clear mapping from IVOA working-groups to GGF 
> working-groups in most cases, as laid out in the attached presentation 
> (given at GGF10). Astro-RG hopes that the IVOA working-groups can 
> supply the necessary information.
> 
> Astro-RG is due to present a report at the GGF12 conference, which is 
> in September. We ask for your input on the following issues.
> 
>   * Is grid technology in use in the area covered by your WG?
>     If not, what are the main reasons for not using it?
> 
>   * Are current GGF standards and draft standards of use to your
>     working group?  If not, what causes them to be inapplicable?
> 
>   * Are the GGF standards known to and understood by the workers in
>     your group? Do you see a need for better explanations of GGF's 
> work?
> 
>   * For the GGF working-groups mapped to your IVOA group, what 
> additional
>     or changed standards (and associated documents) would make the GGF 
> work
>     more relevant to the IVO?
> 
> The last issue is the most important.
> 
> Please note that GGF produces standards, not implementations, and that 
> most grid toolkits available so far are not entirely written to GGF 
> standards.
> Comments on the standards and draft standards are more useful to 
> Astro-RG than comments on the current products.
> 
> Please send responses to me, copied to Nic Walton
> (naw at ast.cam.ac.uk) and Reagan Moore (moore at sdsc.edu).
> 
> Thanks in advance for your imput.
> 
> Guy Rixon 				        gtr at ast.cam.ac.uk
> Institute of Astronomy   	                Tel: +44-1223-337542
> Madingley Road, Cambridge, UK, CB3 0HA		Fax: 
> +44-1223-337523
>