13 July 2017 Version: Draft
Memorandum of Understanding
between
EGEE and EDGeS
1. Purpose of this MoU1
The purpose of this Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) is to facilitate and strengthen the
collaboration between EGEE and EDGeS projects. This can be achieved by identifying areas of
collaboration, clarifying roles and commitments from both parties and agreeing on a joint programme
of work.
2. Background
The EGEE (Enabling Grids for E-sciencE) project2 provides a production quality Grid infrastructure
for a myriad of applications from various scientific domains, including earth sciences, high energy
physics, bioinformatics and astrophysics. The project brings together scientists and engineers from
more than 240 institutions in over 45 countries providing around 50K CPUs and 5 PB disk storage.
The EDGeS (Enabling Desktop Grids for e-Science) project3 aims to interconnect the EGEE
infrastructure with existing Desktop Grid (DG) systems to enable mutual enhancement of capacity
and target user communities that require large computing power not available or accessible in current
scientific e-Infrastructures. Presently EDGeS offers 125K CPUs and X disk storage from BOINC and
XtremWeb-based DG systems it federates.
Institutions common to both projects are MTA SZTAKI, CIEMAT and CNRS/IN2P3.
The executive summaries of EGEE and EDGeS are in Annexes 1 and 2, respectively.
3. Joint Workplan
The specific goals of this collaboration are:
1. To enhance the capacities of both infrastructures;
2. To allow EGEE users access to EDGeS resources;
3. To establish an EDGeS VO within the EGEE infrastructure and allow EDGeS users access to
EGEE resources via this VO.
The specific activities detailed in this MoU are:
1
An MoU is a written agreement that clarifies relationships and responsibilities between two or more parties that share services, clients, and
resources.
2
http://www.eu-egee.org
3
http://www.edges-grid.eu
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A.1
Parties Involved4: EDGeS (name); EGEE NA4 (Name, TBC)
Description of work: Identify EGEE applications that will run in the EDGeS infrastructure.
EDGeS will lead this activity which involves setting up a validation procedure, support the
porting of EGEE applications in EDGeS, and maintain a repository of ported EGEE applications
within the EDGeS system. EDGeS will provide a clear guide as to what types of applications are
appropriate to run on the EDGeS infrastructure and enumerating constraints that could affect
application selection (for example, EGEE client software is not available on EDGeS worker
nodes, inability to connect to outside services, and the like). EGEE NA4 will support this activity
via the Steering Committee, proposing applications appropriate for porting. The EGEE
applications groups involved will liaise with the EDGeS porting group.
Expected outcome: A repository of ported EGEE applications maintained within the EDGeS
system.
To be discussed:
* Clarify meaning of ‘repository’
A.2
Parties Involved: EGEE NA4 (Name, TBC); EGEE NA1 (E.Laure); EDGeS (name)
Description of work: Provide EGEE users access to EDGeS resources. The supported EGEE
applications are identified in A.1. EDGeS will guarantee these applications will be accepted by
the DG systems it federates. EGEE NA4 will lead this activity which involves setting up a usage
plan (identify users, applications, metrics) and monitoring the progress of the
activity. EGEE
NA1 will actively encourage its users to run their applications in the EDGeS infrastructure.
Expected outcome: EGEE users access to EDGeS resources.
Milestone M1: EGEE users access to EDGeS resources. This milestone is met upon completion
of A.2 and submission of report on the usage plan and statistics.
A.3
Parties Involved: EDGeS (name); EGEE NA4, SA1 (RAG5 M.Barroso Lopez); EGEE NA1
(E.Laure)
Description of work: Setup EDGeS External VO6 in the EGEE infrastructure. EDGeS will lead
this activity which involves VO registration, configuration and integration, and will assume full
operational responsibilities during the lifetime of this VO. EGEE will provide access to a limited
set of seed resources for a limited period of time. After that the EDGeG VO will bring its own
resources. EGEE will actively mediate via the RAG the sharing of resources with other resource
providers.
Expected outcome: An EDGeS External VO is created in the EGEE infrastructure .
To be discussed:
* Which EGEE infrastructure will host the EDGeS VO – PPS, Prod, Gilda?
4
Party leading the activity is underlined.
5
EGEE NA4 with SA1 will ensure that initial resources are deployed for new VOs via the Resource Access Group (RAG)
run jointly by SA1, which will facilitate negotiations on resource usage with resource providers.
External VO – A registered VO which is supported by a separate funding. These VOs are expected to participate directly in the evolution
and management aspects of the infrastructure.
6
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A.4
Parties Involved: EDGeS (name); EGEE NA4, SA1 (RAG M.Barroso Lopez); EGEE NA1
(E.Laure)
Description of work: Provide EDGeS users access to EGEE resources via the EDGeS VO.
EDGeS will lead this activity and assume full responsibility in the integration of EGEE sites with
the EDGeS resources with no modification to the gLite stack. EDGeS will also setup a usage plan
(identify users, applications, metrics) similar to A.2 and monitor the progress of the activity.
EGEE will support this activity by…
Expected outcome: EDGeS users access to EGEE resources via the EDGeS VO.
Milestone M2: EDGeS users access to EGEE resources via the EDGeS VO. This milestone is
met upon completion of A.4 and submission of report on the usage plan and statistics.
4. Timeline and Reporting
The EGEE Collaborating Projects Liaison Office (CPLO) will coordinate the periodic review of the
progress of the activities defined in this MoU, follow-up the milestones and distribute reports to both
projects.
Date
Task/Milestone Additional Information
A.1
A.2
Milestone1
Requires report.
A.3
A.4
Requires report.
Event1
EGEE Conference – Joint Workshop?
Event2
EGEE User Forum - Joint Workshop?
Event3
EDGeS event
Publication
Joint publication
5. Administrative Procedures/ Considerations
5.a Communication
The coordinators of both projects will maintain regular contact to discuss any high-level issues related
to the cooperation described in this MoU.
The principal point of contact who will act as primary technical channel of behalf of each project is:
EGEE: CPLO [email protected]
EDGeS: <Name> <email>
5.b Rights and Responsibilities
* Draft pending checks with LS; inclusion of EGEE Acceptable Use Policy
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Each project will maintain full responsibility for its own activities, including the fulfilment of its
obligations under its Grant Agreement with the European Commission and provides no warranty,
express or implied, with respect to its contribution to any activity agreed by the projects under this
MoU, including but not limited to those of fitness for a particular purpose and the infringement of
third-party proprietary rights.
Any proprietary rights relating to the results of activities undertaken by the projects under this MoU
shall be jointly held by the projects, and each project herewith grants the other project a free,
irrevocable and perpetual license to use such rights, including the granting of sub-licenses to such
rights, for its own purposes, including the right for each project to place the results of such activities
in the public domain, in its own name and under its own responsibility.
(Taken from other MoUs – existing IP, licensing, which license to use for joint developments, access
rights, liability, settlement of dispute)
5.c Effective date, Duration and Modification
This MoU will become effective when signed by the coordinators of EGEE and EDGeS. It may be
modified in writing by mutual consent of both projects and amendments shall be valid only if signed
by the coordinators of both projects. It will remain in effect until completion of activities identified in
Sections 3 and 4, or when either of the projects is complete, or when either project gives notice of
termination to the other, in which case a minimum notice of three months will be given.
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Memorandum of Understanding between EGEE and EDGeS
The following agree to the terms and conditions of this MoU:
________________________________
Bob Jones
EGEE Project Director
________________________________
Peter Kacsuk
EDGeS Project Coordinator
________________
Date
________________
Date
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Annex 1 – EGEE
EGEE-III has two complementary objectives that are essential for European research infrastructures:

To expand and optimise Europe’s largest production Grid infrastructure, namely EGEE, by
continuous operation of the infrastructure, support for more user communities, and addition of
further computational and data resources; and

To prepare the migration of the existing production European Grid from a project-based
model to a sustainable federated infrastructure based on National Grid Initiatives for multidisciplinary use.
Background to EGEE-III
The Grid concept involves establishing an infrastructure that allows existing IT installations to connect
and share their computing power and storage capacities. For a wide range of applications, this
enables dispersed groups of users to collaborate on common challenges. This concept has been
implemented in a variety of ways, including 'Capability' Grids combining supercomputers (e.g.
DEISA), ‘Capacity' Grids, comprising clusters of commodity computers (e.g. EGEE), 'Enterprise' Grids
linking together resources of a single company, and 'Volunteer' Grids, linking individual home
computers (e.g. BOINC). Of these, ‘Capacity’ Grids offer a general purpose, dependable, costeffective and pervasive infrastructure, suitable for the needs of collaborative European science.
The concept of a European Grid Infrastructure emerged in 2000. In Framework 5, the EUDataGrid
project and related initiatives proved a European Grid system was capable of supporting different user
communities. In Framework 6, the EGEE project built on these results to establish a continuously
available production quality Grid infrastructure. Since 2006, EGEE-II focuses on consolidating the
operating procedures, expanding the resources, enlarging the Grid to more countries and attracting
more user communities. EGEE-II has improved the scalability of the Grid, and its reliability in
supporting a wide range of applications.
EGEE has become a critical infrastructure for a range of top European scientific undertakings. Most
European countries have Grid infrastructures, at varying levels of maturity. A limitation of national
Grids is their lack of access provision to international science communities. Beyond the national level
standards become important to allow ease of connectivity and sharing of applications. EGEE ensures
that the European Grid infrastructure does not fragment into national and thematic Grid
infrastructures, with less coherence at a European level. EGEE-III will provide a world class, coherent
and reliable European Grid, ensuring Europe remains at the forefront of scientific excellence.
Details of EGEE-III
The focus of EGEE-III is:

To migrate the existing European Grid Infrastructure from a European co-funded project to a
self-sustainable infrastructure that is under the governance of national initiatives;

To ensure the continuous provision of a production quality Grid infrastructure to European
eScience;

To expand the usage of the infrastructure in terms of new user communities;

To simplify the usability of the system for the end user;

To provide active contributions to standardisation efforts for adoption at European and
International levels;

To work closely with businesses to ensure commercial uptake of the Grid, key to
sustainability.
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Consortium:
The EGEE consortium consists of 43 beneficiaries, both academic and business. All EC co-funded
countries have grouped their academic partners on a national level via Joint Research Units or
National Grid Initiatives so that the 43 beneficiaries represent a total of more than 120 partners. This
has a structuring effect on the Grid communities across the European Research Area and is an
important milestone for the planning of a sustainable Grid Infrastructure model. Beneficiaries are
organized in regional federations, covering:

Asia Pacific (Australia, Japan, Korea, Taiwan)

Benelux (Belgium, the Netherlands)

Central Europe (Austria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia)

France

Germany/Switzerland

Italy

Nordic countries (Finland, Sweden, Norway)

South East Europe (Bulgaria, Cyprus, Greece, Israel, Romania, Serbia, Turkey)

South West Europe (Portugal, Spain)

Russia

United Kingdom/Ireland

USA
Collaboration with additional countries in the Asia Pacific region (China, Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia,
Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam) and in the Commonwealth of Independent States
(Armenia, Ukraine, Uzbekistan) is also foreseen.
Duration: 24 months
EC Contribution: 32,000,000 €
Total Budget: cca. 47,150,000 €, with a further estimated 50,000,000 € worth of computing
resources contributed by the partners.
Total Manpower: 9,010 Person Months, of which over 4,500 Person Months contributed by the
partners from their own funding sources.
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Annex 2 – EDGeS (Text taken from http://www.edges-grid.eu/)
Summary
The targets of the project are user communities that require large computing power not available or
accessible in current scientific e-Infrastructures. In order to support the specific needs of these
scientific and other communities The consortium will interconnect the largest European Service Grid
infrastructure (EGEE) with existing Desktop Grid (DG) systems in a strong partnership with the
EGEE consortium. Service Grids (SG) are more flexible and can accommodate a broader variety of
applications than Desktop Grids, however, their setup and maintenance require more efforts, highly
skilled IT specialist, and dedicated resources. On the other hand, Desktop Grids are currently
restricted solely to a subclass of compute-intensive applications but these easy-to-scale systems are
able to collect 1-2 orders of magnitude more compute power by utilizing the involved spare and
volunteer IT resources at a fraction of the cost. Making a bridge between these two types of Grid
systems will enable the users to transparently execute applications on any arbitrary platform involved
in the new infrastructure. Taking the advantages of both approaches the EDGeS infrastructure will
represent a major step towards a European wide scientific grid where extremely large number of
resources could be integrated to support grand-challenge scientific and other applications. The
involvement of low-cost volunteer Desktop Grids into the European scientific grid infrastructure will
contribute to the establishment of a sustainable European Grid infrastructure. The consortium is to
extend the potential user communities for both beyond traditional scientists and current volunteer
computing participants to further involve citizens, school students, and company employees, giving
them an opportunity to become involved in science and to apply Grid technology in their every day
life. In order to meet these objectives the project will connect Desktop Grid based city Grids, school
grids and enterprise grids with EGEE.
Project Objectives

Identify and involve new scientific communities that need large number of computing
resources beyond the size of existing service grids, and also involve new type of user and
resource provider communities beyond the scientific communities including citizens, school
students, and company employees.

Provide Grid application development interfaces and tools for the new scientific user
communities in order to adapt their applications for the EDGeS e-infrastructure.

Provide new trust mechanisms for the integrated e-infrastructure.

Establish international collaborations, procedures and standards for the integration of Service
Grids and Desktop Grids.

Contribute to the establishment of a sustainable Grid infrastructure in Europe by integrating
existing national and international service grids and desktop grids.
Action Plan
The consortium will create the integrated infrastructure in two phases. Phase 1 will establish a bridge
enabling Desktop Grid projects to send task to any Virtual Organisations of EGEE that are ready to
support such external projects. Phase 2 will create the reverse direction of the bridge extending EGEE
with the capacity of connected Desktop Grids, and enabling their user communities to transparently
utilize these new resources. During these phases the consortium will train both user communities how
to use the integrated infrastructure and will support them in gridifying and making their applications
desktop grid enabled for the new infrastructure.
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