Report author: David Walker
David Walker Event organiser(s):
Title of event:
Date of event:
Target Audience:
Workflow Optimisation in Distributed Environments
19 th
– 20 th
October, 2006 (2 days)
•
Researchers working in the field of workflow for distributed service-oriented applications, in particular those interested in optimising scientific workflows.
•
Distributed application developers who are interested in being early adopters of the techniques and software presented at the workshop.
•
Companies that might seek to exploit the intellectual property through appropriate partnerships
The aim of this workshop was to bring together researchers and practitioners interested in the area of workflow optimisation for scientific applications. The workshop covered the following topics:
•
Predictive
•
Performance-based
•
Semantic support for service selection
•
Web service discovery and optimisation
•
Workflow
•
Workflow
The workshop programme is given in the table below (the abstracts, talks, and related discussions for most of the presentations can be viewed by clicking on the embedded hyperlinks). The slides for all the talks can also be accessed online at the workshop web site: http://www.nesc.ac.uk/action/esi/contribution.cfm?Title=702 .
Thursday, 19 October
Session 1: Chaired by David W. Walker, Cardiff University
10:30 – 10:40 Welcome
10:40 – 11:20 Time and space optimizations for executing scientific workflows in distributed environments
Abstract : Talk : Discussion
11:20 – 12:00 Workflow management within DIET applied to multi-application scheduling
Abstract : Talk
12:00 – 13:30 Lunch
View all abstracts
David Walker, Cardiff University
Ewa Deelman, USC Information
Sciences Institute, USA
Raphael Bolze, ENS Lyon, France
Session 2: Chaired by Stephen McGough, Imperial College
13:30 – 14:10 Performance linked workflow composition for video processing - an ecological inspiration
Abstract : Talk : Discussion
Jessica Chen-Burger, University of
Edinburgh
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14:10 – 14:50 Workflow scheduling optimisation: the case for revisiting DAG scheduling
Abstract : Talk : Discussion
14:50 – 15:20 Tea/coffee break
Session 3: Chaired by Rizos Sakellariou, University of Manchester
15:20 – 16:00 Supporting the composition of distributed business processes
Abstract : Talk
16:00 – 16:40 Optimising the OGSA-DAI enactment model
Abstract : Talk : Discussion
16:40 – 17:30 Discussion
Friday, 20 October
Session 4: Chaired by Omer Rana, Cardiff University
9:10 – 9:50 Workflow optimisation through service selection
Abstract : Talk : Discussion
9:50 – 10:30 Workflow, performance and planning
Abstract : Talk : Discussion
10:30 – 11:00 Tea/Coffee break
Rizos Sakellariou, University of
Manchester
Paolo Traverso, ITC/IRST, Italy
Kostas Karasavvas, NeSC,
Edinburgh
David Walker, Cardiff University
David Walker, Cardiff University
Stephen McGough, Imperial
College
Session 5: Chaired by Ewa Deelman, USC Information Sciences Institute, USA
11:00 – 11:40 What is the impact of a priori knowledge?
Abstract : Talk : Discussion
11:40 – 12:20 Best practices in distributed workflows and web services
Abstract : Talk : Discussion
12:20 – 13:15 Lunch
Stephen Jarvis, Warwick
University
Rob Allan, Daresbury Laboratory
Session 6: Chaired by Rob Allan, Daresbury Laboratory
13:15 – 13:55 Average-based workload allocation strategy for
QoS-constrained jobs in a web service-oriented grid
Abstract : Talk : Discussion
13:55 – 14:35 Extending grid-based workflow tools with patterns/operators
Abstract : Talk : Discussion
14:35 – 14:50 Wrap-Up: Discussion and Future Actions
Yash Patel, Imperial College
Omer Rana, Cardiff University
David Walker, Cardiff University
The workshop presentations resulted in several useful discussions between participants, which have been captured in the above chronology. In the final workshop session several options for follow-on activities were discussed:
1. Should we set up a community Wiki?
2. Should we expand the scope of the community to cover other workflow topics, such as execution and composition, rather than just optimisation?
3. Should we seek to establish an eSI Theme?
4. Should we organise a special issue of a journal based on the talks presented at this workshop?
5. Should we discuss possible future collaborations (perhaps for an FP7 proposal)?
It was decided that a proposal should be made to establish an eSI Theme in the area of computational workflows. This Theme would be broader than the focus of the workshop, and would aim to cover all aspects of the use and theory of computational workflows used in the context of the Grid. A
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community Wiki could be established as one aim of the Theme. There is currently a call for eSI Theme proposal out ( http://www.nesc.ac.uk/esi/themes/call-for-themes-Dec-06.htm
) and it is intended to submit to this.
It was also decided to organise a special issue of the journal Scientific Programming and to invite workshop presenters to submit papers to it. Ewa Deelman and David Walker are the guest co-editors of the special issue, which is entitled “Dynamic Computational Workflows: Discovery, Optimisation and
Scheduling”. A call for papers has been disseminated and is available at http://users.cs.cf.ac.uk/David.W.Walker/WOSE/CFP.pdf
.
No specific plans were made to develop research proposals, other than to the eSI Theme call, but several links were made between the workshop participants that may lead to collaborations in the future.
The number of participants was less than originally anticipated, but the workshop was successful in providing a good forum for discussion and interaction, and resulted in two important future activities (a planned proposal for an eSI Theme and a journal special issue).
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