Grids rely on a number of core services to operate, including methods of communication, exchanging data, executing remote applications and even monitoring the systems on which you are executing your grid. The easiest way to provide power and flexibility to your grid is to standardize on the way you access and use these services. One such toolkit is available from the Grid Research and Innovation Laboratory at the San Diego Computer Center and the Department of Computer Science and Engineering at the University of California in San Diego.

The systems they provide are split into a number of toolkits and they've made a series of Python Extensions to the Grid (PEG) to make them accessible from within your Python grid applications. In this tutorial I look at each toolkit, how to build it and how to build the Python interface to it. We also take a look at the internals of each kit, how to use them and build some basic Python applications to help demonstrate how they can be used.

Building grid applications can be complicated - there are so many different aspects and components to the system that it's impossible to simply leap in the process. However, there are toolkits out ther and available that can help you. The most mature and best known of these grid toolkits is the Globus Toolkit. But usig the toolkit can be complex, so using a nice, easy to use language like Python can make the process significantly easier.

In this tutorial I start with the basics of the Globus system and show how to build the Globus kit, the Python interface, and and how to use the interface to build basic Python grid servbices and applications.

Grid services are undergoing a veritable explosion of growth at the moment. But how do you choose a grid solution? Do you look for standards, Web services compatibility, development environment compatibility, or just marketing hype? With so much conflicting information out there on grid services and platforms, it can be difficult to identify whether a specific company is providing a service or a toolkit for building your own service. In this article I'm going to look at the various grid development platforms available, and some grid initiatives and companies that provide ready-to-run grid services.

One of the problems with distributing work around a group of machines is that it can become difficult to track the distribution of work, which can lead to problems with bandwidth. This doesn't mean bandwidth in terms of network performance, although that can be an issue, but in terms of the distribution of work to clients and providers, the overall bandwidth performance of the grid, how work is distributed, and the servers that handle the distribution. In this article I look at how to get the best performance out of your grid.

If you are serving professional websites you're probably using one of the two most popular web serving platforms out there - either IIS or Apache. Are you sure you made the right choice? If you are planning a new web site, have you chosen a web serving platform?

In this article over on ServerWatch I take a look at the two web platforms, whilst trying to keep a level head on the issue of which is 'the best'.

Two of the hottest technologies at the moment are Grid computing and Web services, but are the two compatible? In this article, I look at how the two systems are actually very compatible and describe the benefits of using Web services in grid applications.

Grid Computing has come a long way since the early days, but to move forward and become a more effective environment for solving the computing power and resourcing needs of companies we need to have a standardized way of developing, supporting, providing, publishing and working with grid components.

That's what this article is all about - the standardization of the grid computing platform, how things have worked in the past, how they work now and how standards are driving the new grid environments through the Open Grid Services Architecture (OGSA), the Open Grid Services Infrastructure (OGSI) and the first implementation of the standards, the Globus toolkit.

If you manage a number of Apache servers then you'll already be aware of the issues surrounding compiling and installing Apache. If you use third party modules, you'll also know how vital it is to make sure that everything is working. But how do you test the configuration and modules within Apache withou a lot of manual and time-consuming testing?

The HTTPD-Test system comes with a Perl Framework specially designed to do just this. You can use it to verify your Apache installation and to ensure that when your system and environment changes that your existing Apache installation still works.

So you've set up your server and users are accessing your Web site; the last thing you want are performance problems with the site. If only you could have tested for them before going live. With the Flood component of the Apache HTTP Project's HTTPD-Test (so named because it floods an HTTP server with requests to test its response times) you can. In this article I look at how to install, configure and run tests with Flood, and how to turn Flood results into information about configuration and performance issues with your server.

Looking to add Java functionality to your Apache Web server? The tool of choice from the Apache Foundation is the Tomcat Java server. But did you know you can combine Apache and Tomcat? In this article I look how to install and configure Tomcat to work with your Apache server.

WebDAV -- Distributed Authoring and Versioning -- is turning into an important tool on Apache-based servers. WebDAV allows users to colloborate and contribute articles and content to your web server in a secure and efficient way, without requiring special content management systems or complex security environments. In this article I show you how to enable WebDAV on your Apache server and offer services like Apple's iCal to your users.

The next article in my look at migrating applications from Perl to Python starts the look at variables which in Python are really objects. The first article on the path to variables looks at the basic variable types in each language, and how they relate to each other. We also take a look at how Python variables are actually just aliases for objects, rather than being real variables, which makes developing with Python like using references for all your Perl variables. Finally, we start to look at operators in Python, and how the same operator can be used to perform the same operation on a variety of objects.

You can go right ahead and read the article, Migrating from Perl to Python: Objects and Operators, or better still, just go and visit Linux Programming.

I've produced a new version of the C source and Makefile required to build a C application that embeds a Perl interpreter, first featured in my Visual C Developer's Journal. You can read about the changes and download the update by visiting the Embedding Perl Update page.

Moving on from the introductory article, we start to look at Python properly and learn the core differences between the Perl and Python languages, including the object-oriented approach, reusable module system, and the different module import and namespace semantics.

You can go right ahead and read the article, Migrating from Perl to Python: Objects and Operators, or better still, just go and visit Linux Programming.

The follow-up to the introductory looks at the core of all web sites - the production and design of a page that incorporates repetitive elements using template pages. This article concentrates on using Server Side Includes (SSI) supported by Apache for developing your sites. As well as the technical aspects, the article looks at how to divide up your page so that it can be used effectively with a template driven page.

You can go right ahead and read the article, E-Commerce Solutions, Template-Driven Pages, or better still, just go and visit Apache Today.

The first in a new series of articles looking at the differences, and how to migrate from using Perl for programming to using Python. The first article checks out the main architectural and philosophical differences between the two languages. In future articles I'll be looking at the basic mechanics of the two languages, and at how to turn your Perl scripts into Python scripts using a combination of straight conversions and the Python specific features.

You can go right ahead and read the article, Migrating from Perl to Python, or better still, just go and visit Linux Programming.

The first of a series of articles looking at the problems (and solutions) for E-Commerce websites. Although I'll be looking at the use of Apache technologies in combination with the likes of Perl, Python and Java, most of the principles could be applied to any web server combination.

The first article, looks at the main topics I'll be covering, although further tools and topics will be added as the series progresses. The series is bi-weekly, and new articles will be highlighted on this site.

You can go right ahead and read the article, E-Commerce Solutions, or better still, just go and visit Apache Today.

My latest article, which covers embedding Perl into Visual C projects has just been published in the Visaul C Developer's Journal (http://www.vcdj.com).The article looks at the issues surrounding the embedding of Perl, the basics of communication between the Perl interpreter and your Visual C projects, and how to compile the final project into an application.

Most recent first:

• Scripts from Perl: The Complete Reference 2ed released.
  
• CD Recordable Solutions on its way - the only guide you'll ever need for writing CDs under Windows, Unix and Mac OS.
  
• Perl: The Complete Reference 2ed released with more 50% of the content updated.
  
• Perl: I Didn't Know You Could Do That makes it to the bookshelves.
  
• New Debugging Perl title providing tips on avoiding, finding and fixing bugs in Perl has gone to the printers.
  
• The latest Perl offering is ActivePerl Developer's Guide.
  
• The new iMac FYI is released, and getting rave reviews.