Papers

Reseach

Published Papers

2007

L. Joita, O. F. Rana, , F. Freitag, I. Chao, P. Chacin, L. Navarro, O.
Ardaiz. A catallactic market for data mining services. Future
Generation Computer Systems, Volume 23, Issue 1, 1 January 2007, pages
146-153.

Abstract. We describe a Grid market for exchanging data mining services based on the Catallactic market mechanism proposed by von Hayek. This market mechanism allows selection between multiple instances of services based on operations required in a data mining task (such as data migration, data pre-processing and subsequently
data analysis). Catallaxy is a decentralized approach, based on a \free market" mechanism, and particularly useful when the number of market participants is large, or conditions within the market change often. It is therefore particularly suitable in Grid and Peer-2-Peer systems. The approach assumes that the service provider
and user are not co-located, and require multiple message exchanges to carry out a data mining task. A market of J48-based decision tree algorithm instances, each implemented as a Web Service, is used to demonstrate our approach. We have validated the feasibility of building catallactic data mining grid applications, and implemented a proof-of-concept application (Cat-COVITE) mapped to a Catallactic Grid Middleware.
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2006

L. Joita, O. F. Rana, P. Chacin, I. Chao, F. Freitag, Leandro Navarro,
O. Ardaiz. Application Deployment on Catallactic Grid Middleware. IEEE
Distributed Systems Online, vol. 7, no. 12, 2006, art. no. 0612-oz001

An architecture for the integration of Grid applications with a Catallactic middleware is described, along with an analysis of issues associated with this integration in a real world deployment scenario. This approach makes use of the economic concept of “Catallaxy”, which understands a market as a decentralised and self-organizing coordination mechanism, as opposed to a centralised command economy. A prototype is described which consists of an existing Grid application making use of a distributed query service. The Catallactic middleware has been implemented using Globus Toolkit 4, Web Services Resource Framework (WSRF) and WS-Agreement. The evaluation of this prototype shows the feasibility of offering existing Grid applications in a computational market, and demonstrates how the middleware based on market mechanisms can in effect be used to balance query request workload across multiple Grid services.
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Pablo Chacin, Liviu Joita, Björn Schnizler, Felix Freitag, Flexible Architecture for Supporting Auctions in Grids, Workshop in Smart Grid Technologies on the Internacional Conference on Autonomic Computing (ICAC 2006), Dublin, Ireland, July 16, 2006

Abstract. Efficient and flexible resource allocation is one of the key factors for a wide application of Grids in business and scientific areas. Recently, the use of auctions for scheduling and allocating Grid resources has been proposed in literature. Hitherto, however, only few of the proposed mechanisms are integrated in Grid infrastructures. Furthermore, none of these proposals are applied in commercial settings. One reason for this lays in technical challenges such as replacing discovery and matchmaking mechanisms by auctions have to be overcome in order to integrate an auction mechanism into a Grid platform. Another barrier for a wide deployment of Grid auctions is that an allembracing auction mechanism may not exist. A technical and economic sound architecture thus has to support the simultaneous deployment of multiple different auction instances. The paper introduces a flexible economic Grid middleware which abstracts from the underlying technical infrastructure and supports the simultaneous instances and management of a wide spectrum of different auction. The design concepts of such system are outlined and an ongoing prototype is presented, using the integration of a MACE auction as a case study.
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2005

Liviu Joita, Omer Rana, Pablo Chacin, Oscar Ardaiz, Isaac Chao, Felix Freitag, Leandro Navarro, Application Deployment Using the Catallactic Grid Middleware, I Workshop on Middleware for Grid Computing in the ACM/USENIX/IFIP Middleware 2006, Grenoble, France, November 28-29, 2005

Abstract. In this paper we describe an application deployment using a Catallactic Grid-enabled middleware, which is based on the Catallaxy “free market” self-organisation approach described by von Hayek, who understood the market as a decentralised coordination mechanism opposite to a centralised command economy. The implementation makes use of Globus Toolkit, JXTA and WSRF. The paper envisages the resource virtualization in the WSRF context as the main driver for a proper connection middleware-base platform (on the broad scenario of grid applications).
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Pablo Chacin, Felix Freitag, Leandro, Isaac Chao, Navarro, Oscar Ardaiz, Integration of Decentralized Economic Models for Resource Self-Management in Application Layer Networks, Second IFIP TC6 International Workshop on Autonomic Communications, Athens, Greece, Octuber 3-5, 2005

Abstract. Resource allocation is one of the challenges for self-management of large scale distributed applications running in a dynamic and heterogeneous environment. Considering Application Layer Networks (ALN) as a general term for such applications including computational Grids, Content Distribution Networks and P2P applications, the characteristics of the ALNs and the environment preclude an efficient resource allocation by a central instance. The approach we propose integrates ideas from decentralized economic models into the architecture of a resource allocation middleware, which allows the scalability towards the participant number and the robustness in very dynamic environments.At the same time, the pursuit of the participants for their individual goals should benefit the global optimization of the application. In this work, we describe the components of this middleware architecture and introduce an ongoing prototype.
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Oscar Ardaiz, Pablo Chacin, Isaac Chao, Felix Freitag, Leandro Navarro, An Architecture for Incorporating Decentralized Economic Models in Application Layer Networks, International Journal on Multiagent and Grid Systems. Special Issue on Smart Grid Technologies Vol. 1(4), 2005

Abstract. Efficient resource discovery and allocation is one of the challenges of any large scale Application Layer Network (ALN) such as computational Grids, Content Distribution Networks and P2P applications. In centralized approaches, the user requests can easily be matched to the most convenient resource. These approaches, however, present scalability limits in the highly dynamic and complex ALN environments. This paper, explores an architecture for incorporating fully decentralized economic mechanisms for resource allocation. These mechanisms are implemented by a set of trading agents that operate on behalf of the clients and service providers, interacting over an overlay network and interfacing with the underlying resources of the platform. A prototype of the proposed architecture is presented and the practical implications of its implementation in a grid scenario are discussed.
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