Information Grid - Next Generation Information Service Platform
From B / S / S to the information grid Now, most companies have established intranet systems with mature web technology, placing the various data, information, and documents within the company in web databases and servers, facilitating corporate employees and customers. The sharing and communication between, and also connects the Intranet system and the outer Internet world to establish an external information release window. Whether it is employee or a customer, just open the browser, simply move the mouse to get any information he wants. This is the B / S / S structure we often say. Compared with the C / S system, the B / S / S system has low development costs, easy to maintain, easy to manage, greatly simplifies the client's support work, so it has gradually replaced the C / S system.
However, we are facing an era of information explosions, and various information is rapidly growing in an index, and the existing web information server is like an INTERNET in the world in the island. Although these "small islands" temporarily have sufficient bandwidth resources, but a lot of information is still "lock" in the central database of each small island, the "island" cannot be meaningful in accordance with the user's instructions. Communication. The best way to solve this problem is to establish information distribution and integrated application logic across the web - information grid.
The progress of the information grid serves as the third wave of Internet, which has attracted an unprecedented concern and values in the world, and the world-class large companies in the computer have attached to the glue technology basic platform and related protocol standards.
Microsoft's .NET technology claims to be a revolutionary new technology that transcends browsers, surpassing the website, its basic idea is: no longer paying attention to a single website and a single device connected to the Internet, but let all computers, related equipment and services Merchase works, providing a wider range of and rich solutions, enabling people to control information and transfer it to themselves in the specified manner at the specified time.
IBM's advocated Web Services is a more mature business computing service sharing solution that allows buyers, suppliers and trading markets worldwide to share commercial services in low price.
Sun uses its advantages in cross-platform language, launched the corresponding J2EE platform specification with Java as the core. Oracle introduces a new Oracle Portal (portlets) technology in its latest version of the application server Oracle9ias. These are new generation technology and solutions for information grids.
At the same time, key protocols for support information grids are gradually matured and become a basic protocol supported by various platforms.
my country has also made a lot of fundamental and forward-looking research in this regard. Since 1995, the Chinese Academy of Sciences has established a special grid research team, began researching with grid-related technologies, and developing a number of versions of information integrated platforms.
research focus
The information grid is to use existing network infrastructure, protocol norms, web and database technology to provide users with integrated intelligent information platform, and its goal is to create an Internet-based new generation based on OS and Web. Information platform and software infrastructure. On this platform, the processing of information is distributed, collaborative, and intelligent, and users can access all information over a single entry. The ultimate goal pursuing information grid is to be able to do service on demand and one-click service (One Click Is Enough).
The architecture, information representation of the information grid, information representation, information communication and consistency, security technology are the focus of current information grid research.
1. Architecture
From C / S to B / S / S is a leap in the architecture. In order to reuse business processing logic and interface representation logic, improve system scalability, the current architecture has gradually developed to the N-layer structure, including the client's display, the server's representation logic, the server processing logic, the background database system, etc. Supporting the information grid from the top-level unified service interaction protocol until UDDI, SOAP, XML, HTTP, constitutes a multi-level protocol stack from top to bottom, and each level of collaboration services implements information distribution and integration applications across the web. Program logic. At present, the focus of the information grid architecture research is the underlying information storage, indicating that the external release, presented to the user's various application logic specific layers, implementation, and integration of the intermediate layer, interface interface, communication mechanism etc.
2. Information representation and meta information
The representation of information is reflected in two aspects: one is a representation of information stored in a database or other storage medium; the second is to present it to the user.
Information grid is the application layer's software infrastructure. All walks of business have issued data information on the industry to the grid, so there is a variety of information species in the information grid, including structured, Semi-structural and unstructured data, how to map them into databases or other storage mechanisms (such as file systems), is the primary problem to address information grids. Met information abstracts the description of the data object, so that various information can be expressed by the relationship between elementality attributes and values. We call this meta-information indicated intermediate layer. In general, the representation of data can establish multiple intermediate layers, and there is a corresponding data intermediate layer in each application logic layer.
XML implements the content of the content and data representation of the web file, which is a valid data page representation and description language. The combination of XML and meta will enable the interface representation and data storage.
3. Connection of information
The connection between information is relative to information "island". Information "Island" refers to simply stacked information to find them only by searching programs or fixed channels; while the connection between information is logically connected to data with a certain relationship (including semantics and logic). Together, any other information sources that can be reached from one source can be reached without considering security restrictions. Although this information may be stored in a different location, they are like being stored in the same location, and the visitor does not have to care about their actual storage location. To really resolve the connection between information, the information grid must solve the definition and implementation of the information connectivity model associated with the information representation and the user's personalization.
4. Intelligent characteristics of information grid
The information stored from information to the user's browsing service, and the information grid provides an integrated scheme for the user. It does not require a programmer to carry out secondary development, only need administrators to make a simple configuration, you can establish a service platform. The intelligent characteristics of the information grid are related to whether the user accepts, and is also an embodiment of its vitality.
Intelligent includes convenient use, consistent interface, "active" characteristics, user input and operation, flexibility and flexibility and convenient personalization services.
5. safety technology
The goal of the information grid is to connect the site to the Internet to provide information services, so that all users can enjoy this information service. On the other hand, these sites may be divided into different organizations, and organizers can independently manage their own network nodes. In practical applications, the information grid must provide access control and other security management mechanisms for site managers, and managers can freely decide which information can be shared, shared to who and which information cannot be shared. Of course, this permission control must be easy to maintain and independent of the data source itself, and should also provide different secure management hierarchical and control granularity.
