An architecture for remote monitoring-management of distributed applications

Computationally intensive applications often require the employment of parallel/distributed solutions in order to strongly reduce execution times. Workstations and PCs connected by a fast local network provide effective, low-cost, and general purpose solutions that are quickly replacing special purpose proprietary architectures for a wide spectrum of disciplines. The issue to monitor the performance (fundamental to check the efficiency of a distributed application) of cluster architectures is addressed in this work. This paper presents a multi-channel architecture for remote monitoring-management tailored to display information on PDA devices. Users can remotely monitor the system critical activities and cluster resources utilization; moreover, we provide the possibility to perform some management tasks (for instance, shutdown and reboot) useful for maintaining the integrity of the system and to harness the full cluster potential.