The CanonicalProducer: An Instrument Monitoring Component of the Relational Grid Monitoring Architecture (R‐GMA)

We describe how the R‐GMA (Relational Grid Monitoring Architecture) can be used to allow for instrument monitoring in a Grid environment. The R‐GMA has been developed within the European DataGrid Project (EDG) as a Grid Information and Monitoring System. It is based on the Grid Monitoring Architecture (GMA) from the Global Grid Forum (GGF), which is a simple Consumer‐Producer model. The special strength of this implementation comes from the power of the relational model. It offers a global view of the information as if each Virtual Organisation had one large relational database. It provides a number of different Producer types with different characteristics; for example some support streaming of information. We describe the R‐GMA component that allows for instrument monitoring, the CanonicalProducer. We also describe an example use of this approach in the European CrossGrid project, SANTA‐G, a network monitoring tool.