The goal of this integration was to add the Grid-functionalities of the Globus Toolkit to the existing TENT solutions for resource selection, application starting and data transfer, and in some cases to replace them entirely. A major advantage of this integration is that it allows TENT to use the security mechanisms in Globus. Globus integration turns TENT into a grid computing environment, i.e. an application that gives users access to the resources of computational grids for their daily work.
Globus Toolkit features were added to TENT in these areas:
TENT permits multiple users to work on the same simulation while the simulation is running.
A central simulation data server keeps the files for a given project consistent, so that any user from any location can access the current version of the desired file.
By granting or denying access rights to user groups, the 'owner' of a simulation can prevent unauthorized users from downloading or editing simulation data.
If a user is a member of a group with edit access to a simulation component, he or she can edit the parameters of the component and save the changes for subsequent simulation runs. Simulation parameter edits are immediately displayed in all linked GUIs, so that every user is updated on the status of the simulation.