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This document describes the high level technical architecture of the GStat system and its implementation. The main aim of GStat is to display information about grid services, the grid information system itself and related metrics. The system is designed in modular way so that the software can be reused in different application scenarios. Gstat has evolved over the past few years from a simple cgi script that displayed the summary of a grid infrastructure to a production quality service providing rich features such as information content testing and infrastructure monitoring. An evolutionary approach to its development has enabled GStat to add functionally in response to real use cases and to become an key operational tool. GStat 2.0 is a major redesign of the original version which will ensure that it will meet the future demands of an evolving infrastructure and easily integrate with other operational tools. GStat is the result of a collaboration between the ASGC at Academia Sinica and the Grid Technology Group at CERN. The main purpose of the joint project is to align GStat with direction taken by the WLCG monitoring group with respect to operational tools and in addition ensure that GStat can make a contribution to middleware certification and site validation. To provide feedback, such as problems encountered and suggestions for echancement, please email project-grid-info-support@cern.ch. Further details on GStat 2.0 project can be found in the GStat 2.0 Wiki pages.High-Level System Architecture
Gstat provides a method to visualize a grid infrastructure from an operational perspective based on information found in the grid information system. Even in the absence of a information system, information about the existence of grid services needs to be communicated. The communication of the existence of grid services defines the grid infrastructure. As such, GStat 2.0 should be bootstrapped by the information system endpoints of those grid services. It periodically takes a snapshot of the information system and maintains a cache of the main entities found in the infrastructure which provides the basic structure for the visualization. The main entities cache is also used to configure monitoring framework that monitors the information system and reports the health of the various components from which the information system is composed along with further metrics about the performance. The resulting information from both the information system itself and the monitoring thereof is use to produce various displays that address specific use cases.
The GStat architecture makes a clear separation between data, infrastructure monitoring, content validation and visualization. At the core is the data model used to maintain a snapshot of the information system and a cache of the main entities. Probes are used to monitor the information system components and validation checks are used ensure that the information content is correct. A visualization visualization framework used for displaying the resulting data. The modular approach enables the software to be reused in other application scenarios.
