Processing Manager for Science Gateways

In this paper, we define the concept of Processing in the context of science gateways (SGs), and the necessary management layer that is needed to handle it. A Processing captures the execution/run of a scientific Application, the Data consumed and produced during that run, and the User that performs it. The properties that define Application, Data and User are different across various layers, from the scientific domain to the infrastructure. We describe a software layer, the Processing Manager (PM), that manages the translation of a Processing from the domain level to the infrastructure level and back. The PM offers a homogeneous abstraction layer over heterogeneous execution platforms and data services for various infrastructures, thus simplifying the development, maintenance and operation of SGs. Finally, the PM enables external high-level control and monitoring of the execution process and naturally captures the provenance of each processing.