Configuring scientific applications in a heterogeneous distributed system

Current scientific applications are often structured as a collection of individual software components that are manually executed on heterogeneous machines, with files being used to transfer data from one component to the next. Yet despite having the structure of a distributed application from the perspective of configuration management, the techniques and tools that have been used in this domain to address configuration have generally been minimal at best. An approach to configuring scientific applications in a heterogeneous distributed system is described. The focus is on Schooner, an interconnection system that provides the programming model and base technology needed for realizing enhanced configurability. One key aspect of this technology is a machine- and language-independent interface specification that is used to generate interface code to bind components into the application and map them onto suitable host architectures. The other is a runtime system that implements support for both static and dynamic configuration. The authors describe the Schooner application model, outline the method of creating component interfaces, and describe the runtime system and its various configuration options