Modeling grid workflows with colored Petri nets

Abstract. Grid computing refers to the deployment of a widely distributed architecture for the execution of computationally challenging tasks. The grid provides a set of distributed resources which can be used for "computing on demand " or for constructing a "virtual supercomputer". Recently, several researchers started to look at the relation between workflow management and grid computing. The flow of work through a grid can be seen as a classical "workflow". However, as opposed to the classical workflows, the resources are not humans and are not managed by some centralized client-server architecture. Instead, the grid is highly distributed and the resources are computing power, memory, etc. Currently, there is no conceptual framework for grid computing and the role of workflows in grids is unclear. This paper provides initial steps towards a conceptual framework expressed in terms of Colored Petri Nets. CPN Tools is used to model grids while focusing on the workflow aspects. The resulting model can be analyzed to detect deadlocks, etc. The framework is illustrated using process mining as an application.

[1]  Ian Foster,et al.  The Grid 2 - Blueprint for a New Computing Infrastructure, Second Edition , 1998, The Grid 2, 2nd Edition.

[2]  Ian T. Foster,et al.  The anatomy of the grid: enabling scalable virtual organizations , 2001, Proceedings First IEEE/ACM International Symposium on Cluster Computing and the Grid.

[3]  Ami Marowka,et al.  The GRID: Blueprint for a New Computing Infrastructure , 2000, Parallel Distributed Comput. Pract..

[4]  Wil M. P. van der Aalst,et al.  The Application of Petri Nets to Workflow Management , 1998, J. Circuits Syst. Comput..

[5]  Boudewijn F. van Dongen,et al.  Workflow mining: A survey of issues and approaches , 2003, Data Knowl. Eng..

[6]  Chuang Lin,et al.  Grid Service Workflow Models and Their Equivalent Simplification Methods , 2006, 2006 Fifth International Conference on Grid and Cooperative Computing Workshops.

[7]  Kees M. van Hee,et al.  Workflow Management: Models, Methods, and Systems , 2002, Cooperative information systems.

[8]  Kurt Jensen,et al.  Coloured Petri Nets: Basic Concepts, Analysis Methods and Practical Use. Vol. 2, Analysis Methods , 1992 .

[9]  Andreas Hoheisel,et al.  User tools and languages for graph‐based Grid workflows , 2006, Concurr. Comput. Pract. Exp..

[10]  Boudewijn F. van Dongen,et al.  ProM 4.0: Comprehensive Support for Real Process Analysis , 2007, ICATPN.

[11]  Matthew R. Pocock,et al.  Taverna: a tool for the composition and enactment of bioinformatics workflows , 2004, Bioinform..

[12]  Ian T. Foster,et al.  Globus Toolkit Version 4: Software for Service-Oriented Systems , 2005, Journal of Computer Science and Technology.

[13]  Edward A. Lee,et al.  Implementing BPEL4WS: the architecture of a BPEL4WS implementation: Research Articles , 2006 .

[14]  Geoffrey C. Fox,et al.  Workflow in Grid Systems , 2004 .

[15]  Kees M. van Hee,et al.  Scheduling-free resource management , 2007, Data Knowl. Eng..

[16]  Jinjun Chen,et al.  Key research issues in grid workflow verification and validation , 2006, ACSW.

[17]  Wil M. P. van der Aalst,et al.  Workflow Patterns , 2004, Distributed and Parallel Databases.

[18]  Kurt Jensen,et al.  Coloured Petri Nets , 1997, Monographs in Theoretical Computer Science An EATCS Series.

[19]  Wil M.P. van der Aalst,et al.  YAWL: yet another workflow language , 2005, Inf. Syst..

[20]  A. Stephen McGough,et al.  Workflow Deployment in ICENI II , 2006, International Conference on Computational Science.

[21]  Wil M. P. van der Aalst,et al.  A Rule-Based Approach for Process Discovery: Dealing with Noise and Imbalance in Process Logs , 2005, Data Mining and Knowledge Discovery.

[22]  Yolanda Gil,et al.  Pegasus: Mapping Scientific Workflows onto the Grid , 2004, European Across Grids Conference.

[23]  Sergei Gorlatch,et al.  A Grid Workflow Language Using High-Level Petri Nets , 2005, PPAM.

[24]  Wil M. P. van der Aalst,et al.  Let's Go All the Way: From Requirements Via Colored Workflow Nets to a BPEL Implementation of a New Bank System , 2005, OTM Conferences.

[25]  Wil M. P. van der Aalst,et al.  Workflow mining: discovering process models from event logs , 2004, IEEE Transactions on Knowledge and Data Engineering.

[26]  Wil M. P. van der Aalst,et al.  Genetic Process Mining: A Basic Approach and Its Challenges , 2005, Business Process Management Workshops.

[27]  Wil M. P. van der Aalst,et al.  Workflow Patterns , 2003, Distributed and Parallel Databases.