A proposal to dynamically manage virtual environments in heterogeneous batch systems

In modern distributed computer systems for scientific computing (clusters and computing GRIDs) a new class of problems, due to the increasing heterogeneity of users’ requests, have to be tackled by the administrators. One possible solution is to create on-demand virtual working environments tailored on the user’s requirements. Hence the need for an architecture to manage dynamically such environments. In this work we propose a possible solution based on the use of Virtual Machines (Xen) and the implementation of a Virtual Machine Manager, capable of creation, destruction and migration of the virtualized working environments. The informations will be collected using a client-server mechanism, to allow the manager to deploy preconfigured Virtual Machines on the available hardware resources. When a new environment became active, it is automatically recognized by the Batch System Manager and is then ready to be used. Some scalability tests performed on the prototype will be reported.