NCSA Symera Distributed System

NCSA Symera
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Symera Overview

Symera is a distributed object system which is built upon the Microsoft Distributed Component Object Model (DCOM). Structurally, it consists of two lines of development. First, it is an object management system for a cluster of NT workstations which allocates resources, schedules processes/jobs, implements fault tolerance/object migration and provides user interfaces/API's for controlling and observing distributed processes. Second, Symera is a set of object libraries which enable developers to create objects which inherently support the interfaces that are required to interact with the management system. The libraries are built using scaleable levels of base class support giving the developer support flexibility. Symera can be used to develop and run parallel, distributed applications exploiting the high availablity and low cost of NT workstations.
Latest Version

A current version of Symera is now available at our Symera Support site.
We plan to upload a new version at the beginning of every month. This monthly update will include our upgrades/fixes that we decide to implement for that month. Decisions will be based upon our own goals and user feedback. We will have a message board available, a mailing list and we will be compiling a FAQ. We encourage people to download the latest versions, try it out and give us your opinions and suggestions. We realize that much work is left to be done such as resource scheduling and fault tolerance provisions. For now, we want to focus upon "ease of use" and the general architecture.
NCSA NT Cluster Consortium

NCSA has formed a consortium (NCSA NT Cluster Consortium) for support of and participation in our research and development of NT technology, including Symera and our NT SuperCluster. For a base price, the consortium member receives such benefits as early release of the Symera software, early access to information about our research in these areas, technical support and assistance in porting applications to the NT environment. If your company is interested in learning more about the program, see http://symera.ncsa.uiuc.edu/NTConsortium1022.html, or contact John McKelvey at mckelvey@ncsa.uiuc.edu.