Grid is a computing architecture that consists of distributed clusters of computers interconnected by a network. Grid computing is used in a variety of data and compute-intensive scientific domains such as bioscience, nanotechnology, geoscience, high-energy physics. To facilitate the transportation of enormous (e.g. terabyte-sized) data-sets between Grid clusters, a new type of Grid computing architecture, called the LambdaGrid, has emerged. LambdaGrids are Grids that are interconnected by ultra-high-speed networks that can be directly controlled by applications. Typically the unit of control is a light path (often called a Lambda) in an optical network. In order for data-intensive applications to function efficiently, they need to be able to reserve enough bandwidth, through the allocation of these light paths. This thesis focuses on the problem of efficient scheduling of light paths between Grid clusters. Prior approaches use rigid scheduling schemes- i.e. resources are scheduled in terms of when the resources are needed and for how long. This thesis will show that contrary to obvious expectations, a flexible advance scheduling model can provide better overall resource utilization and user experience than a rigid scheduling scheme.

In this thesis I propose a Flexible Advance Reservation Model (FARM) and describe how to apply this model to the cross-domain lightpath reservation problem by incorporating Routing and Wavelength Assignment algorithms. Next, I present the architecture, implementation and services of a coordinated Interdomain and Intradomain optical control plane called AR-PIN / PDC, which is capable of flexible advance reservations, and provides web services. The simulation results show that by relaxing the reservation time constraint, the acceptance rate and resource utilization can be improved dramatically. Through simulations, I also analyze the impact of advance reservations on immediate reservations and conclude that both AR and IR requests need admission control algorithms in order to let both types of reservations coexist and use resource properly. The AR-PIN / PDC software has been deployed in an international photonic testbed consisting of four domains. Over the testbed, I measure the components of end-to-end signaling latency during inter-domain reservation and claim processes. The results show that the major latency component during claim processes is the optical switching time and domain level parallelism can effectively reduce the claim latency. And the time slot granularity is the major factor affecting the reservation latency.

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He, D., A Flexible Advance Reservation Model for Multi-Domain WDM Optical Networks (PhD Thesis), Thesis as partial fulfillment of the requirements of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Computer Science of the University of Illinois at Chicago, September 23rd, 2006.