A JEE-based Architecture for Distributed Multi-Domain Resource Accounting

Many different accounting systems currently exist for the European Grids and for other distributed systems in general. Even though they often share equivalent technical approaches, concerning accounting metrics and batch-system log access, there are lots of different data formats, accounting-database layouts, communication- and implementation details that hinder a consistent and comprehensive accounting of distributed resources. An eventual technical convergency is even more required, as the National Grid Initiatives move forward to constitute a European Grid that comprises the national infrastructures. We present EEGAS, a Java Enterprise based grid accounting system, that addresses the current problems. Our system makes use of standard building blocks, where possible, to achieve high scalability and application server console-based configurability. It serves as an integration point for existing accounting systems and uses the OGF-UR data format, which we use to generate a Java domain model and a database schema. We also present sensor components for CPU and storage accounting, resource capacity discovery, as well as different message- and service-based transport components that support a fault-tolerant operation of a distributed accounting network that features different administrative domains rather than a single centralized accounting authority.