HASSLE (Distributed Execution System) Release 4 available

[Reinhard Doelz]

The following is a software product description and availability announcement. 





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D4-0***************************************************************************


D E S I G N    G O A L S 
------------------------

           *  bidirectional file transfer 
           *  on-the-fly compression and encryption 
           *  security for individuals (no system passwords) 
           *  asynchronous mode of operation to allow load sharing/queing
           *  "anonymous" mode for service providers
           *  accounting possibility for service providers
           *  flexibility to implement any new service in short time 
           *  Redundancy by failover and redirect mechanisms 
           *  portable on UNIX and VMS flavours 
           *  simple and short code for clients 
           *  server implementation for collaborating sites 


I M P L E M E N T A T I O N 
----------------------------

           *  Customer software runs as both client and server 
           *  Service provider software splits server and client 
           *  "Application tools" format input data for HASSLE 
           *  "Parsing shells" prepare input for application 
           *  Queuing and load sharing as well as prioritization 
           *  On-the-fly compression and encryption 
           *  Account / Authorisation schema for frequent users
           *  GUEST and DEMO are defaults for (limited) anonymous access


F E A T U R E S
---------------

Network access plays a key role in utilizing remote resources. 
However, both synchronous and asynchronous  access require tools 
which are either unavailable or  insufficient  in  today's 
implementation of standard software. Additionally, information 
discovery of today frequently focuses on centers rather a 
hierarchically interconnected facilities. HASSLE, based on the idea 
of an  Hierarchical Access System for Sequence Libraries in Europe 
is the first general, platform-independent implementation of a 
user-transparent access communication tool which is not targeted 
to a single application. The following prerequisites help to make 
HASSLE effective: 

Remote jobs can be started after data transmission 
             (i.e., batch processing)
Remote jobs like database retrieval and database search
             require no interaction after query is formulated
For a given job, multiple redundant servers exist

The number of servers is small compared to clients

Remote temporary files can be erased after job finished


HASSLE Version 4 is released and available, with extensive documentation, 
via ftp from nic.switch.ch in the mirror/embnet-ch/bioftp-sw directory. The 
protocol supports file transfer and submission of remote jobs in the framework
of services. Accounting, on-the-fly compression and encryption are built 
into the protocol. New in Version 4 are load balancing, redirection upon 
failure, and a much larger range of supported operating systems. 

CUSTOMERS (i.e. end-users) are currently supported on 

o Convex Computer 9.x and 10.x OS 
o Digital Equipment ULTRIX 4.x on RISC systems
o Digital Equipment ULTRIX 4.x on VAX systems
o Digital Equipment OSF/1
o Digital Equipment VAX/VMS with either 
          UCX 1.3
          UCX 2.0
          Multinet 3.0 and higher
          TCPware 3.1 and higher
o Digital Equipment AXP/VMS with either 
          UCX 3.0 
          Multinet 3.2
          TCP 3.2 
o Silicon Graphics 4.x IRIX
o Silicon Graphics 5.x IRIX
o Sun Microsysnetms 4.x Sun OS 

PROVIDERS (i.e. service providers running the full suite) have been 
successfully implemented on nearly all of the systems mentioned above. 



The product development was supported by Basel University, the Swiss 
National Science Foundation, Digital Equipment, and Silicon Graphics. 


-- 
+----------------------------------+-------------------------------------+
|    Dr. Reinhard Doelz            | RFC     doelz at urz.unibas.ch         |
|      Biocomputing                | DECNET  20579::48130::doelz         |
|Biozentrum der Universitaet       | X25     022846211142036::doelz      |
|   Klingelbergstrasse 70          | FAX     x41 61 261- 6760 or 267- 2078     
|     CH 4056 Basel                | TEL     x41 61 267- 2076 or 2247    |   
+------------- bioftp.unibas.ch is the SWISS EMBnet node ----------------+
                     ftp mirror at nic.switch.ch 
               -----------------------------------------