Agent-based Grid Data Replication Management

Grid computing, which integrates worldwide Internet resource into virtual supercomputer, accomplish every kind of resources to full share in global. Data replication management in the grid can reduce the communication cost on solitary service site. It also has good effect on reducing the bandwidth consumption caused by frequent remote access and balancing the load of global grid.Agent is a kind of intelligent entity and is autonomous, social, active and adaptable. Agent technique can provide an ideal approach to solve question in the grid computing. At present, agent technique is seldom well used in data replication management on Grid associated with Globus technology.Many problems need to be solved.This paper discusses how to apply agent technique on data replication management on Grid associated with Globus technology. It proposes several ideas on keeping the Consistency between original file and it's copies, application of replication strategies and catalog setting. And based on these ideas, it designs a data replication management system on Grid by the use of agent technique. After discussing the implementation of Agent and the calling of Base Services in Globus Toolkit 3.0,the paper show the feasibility of the system and how to bring it to pass. At the end of the paper, we simulate the procedures of data replication managed by the designed system, in an assumed Grid environment. And the replication management system designed was analyzed based on these simulate procedures.