Jasp developing team
NAKANO Junji
(The Institute of Statistical Mathematics)
YAMAMOTO Yoshikazu
(Tokushima Bunri University)
KOBAYASHI Ikunori
(Tokushima Bunri University)
FUJIWARA Takeshi
(Tokyo University of Information Science)
HONDA Keisuke
(Open Technologies Corporation)
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Distributed computing in Jasp
Distributed computing in Statistics
Today, as we can use many powerful computers connected by network, it is natural to perform calculations simultaneously on them (Nakano, 1998). Although some distributed computing technologies for this purpose are available, for example, MPI (Message Passing Interface) and PVM (Parallel Virtual Machine), they are too general and difficult to use for statisticians.

We realize simple commands for distributed computing mainly for executing calculations independently on remote computers. We have to note that Java applet can communicate only with programs on the computer from which Java applet was transferred. This means that client UI applet can use only the server on the Web server computer. We call the server to which the client connects firstly as a main server, and let a main server communicate with other remote servers. Thus communications are performed among servers and between a client and a main server. Functions we realize for this purpose are simple ones: a function to copy data between servers and a function to execute functions on a specified remote server. They are easy to use and sufficient for statistical work such as grid search for maximizing complicated functions or large simulation experiments. We use Java RMI to implement these functions.


Compiling Jasp
  • On Unix/Linux/Solaris
    1. Expand the Jasp archive file 'jasp???.zip' using 'jar' command, then 'jasp' directory will be created in the current directory. For example, type
             % jar xf jasp0_7_1.zip    
      If "jar" command is not available, "unzip" can be used instead of "jar" (above "jar xf" can be replaced by "unzip").
    2. Go into jasp directory and compile Jasp using Apache Ant by
             % cd jasp
             % ant
    3. Add the "bin" directory of Jasp in the command search path.
  • On Microsoft Windows 2000/XP/Vista
    1. Expand the Jasp archive file 'jasp???.zip' using 'jar' command on the command prompt window, then 'jasp' directory will be created in the current directory. For example, type
             C:¥> jar xf jasp0_7_1.zip
    2. Go into jasp directory and compile Jasp using Apache Ant by
             C:¥> cd jasp
             C:¥ jasp> ant
    3. Add the "bin" directory of Jasp in the command search path.

Try distributed computing facilities
  1. Start the JavaSpaces service on the arbitrary computer. It is necessary that this computer is reached from other computers in the same network by the forward lookup and the reverse lookup.
    • On the Linux operating system:
      Run the shell-program "bin/JiniPrograms.sh".
    • On the Microsoft Windows operating system:
      1. Edit the configure file of the JavaSpaces service "bin¥start-blitz.config". Selete "C:" and change "¥" to "/", i.e.
        • private static rootPath = "C:¥...¥...¥.../trunk/lib/jini2_1/";
        should be changed in to
        • private static rootPath = "C:/.../.../.../trunk/lib/jini2_1/";
      2. Run the the batch-program "bin¥JiniPrograms.bat".
  2. Start Jasp server programs on sevral computers
    • On the Linux operating system:
      Run the shell-program "bin/DJaspServer.sh".
    • On the Microsoft Windows operating system:
      Run the batch-program "bin/DJaspServer.bat".
  3. Start the Jasp client program on the client computer
    • When you wish to use the Jasp server program on the same computer as the Jasp Main Server,
      • On the Linux operating system:
        • Run the shell-program "bin/Jasp.sh".
      • On the Microsoft Windows operating system:
        • Run the batch-program "bin/Jasp.bat".
    • When you wish to use the Jasp server program on another computer which host name is "foo" as the Jasp Main Server,
      • On the Linux operating system:
        • Run the shell-program "bin/Jasp.sh -s foo".
      • On the Microsoft Windows operating system:
        • Run the batch-program "bin/Jasp.bat -s foo".
  4. Load example files ("examples/distBootstrapLibrary.jasp" and "examples/distBootstrapTest.jasp") and run them in this order.
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