A peer-to-peer approach to resource location in grid environments

Computational grids provide mechanisms for sharing and accessing large and heterogeneous collections of remote resources such as computers, online instruments, storage space, data, and applications. Resources are requested by specifying a set of desired attributes. Resource attributes have various degrees of dynamism, from mostly static attributes, such as operating system version, to highly dynamic ones, such as available network bandwidth or CPU load. Another dimension of dynamism is introduced by variable and highly diverse sharing policies: resources are made available to the grid community based on locally defined and potentially changing policies.