GridFoRCE: A comprehensive resource kit for teaching grid computing

A comprehensive suite of pedagogical resources is presented that will enable an instructor to embed grid computing concepts in a traditional distributed system course. Rapidly advancing Internet technologies and ever expanding application domains have created excitement in teaching distributed systems. Many fundamental concepts developed decades earlier, such as remote procedure calls and multithreading, have come to play key roles in modern distributed systems. Standards such as eXtensible Markup Language (XML) and Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP) have been developed to enable interoperability among heterogeneous distributed systems. However, a plethora of new paradigms, a wide variety of technological choices, and short cycles of technological obsolescence challenge the introduction of these important concepts into a distributed systems course. This paper describes how the author addressed these challenges in teaching grid computing. The paper also provides details of the resources developed during this process. The pedagogical resource kit developed includes course curriculum, lecture notes, a set of laboratory assignments, a Globus Toolkit-based experimental grid adapted to classroom assignments, and valuable lessons learned from the course offerings during the past two years. The material provided in this paper is expected to help to "jumpstart"educators considering the introduction of grid computing into their curricula.