Resources
caGrid Services Without a Relational Data Store: Google App Engine
(July/Aug 2009)
This project explored the feasibility of deploying caBIG®- compatible services on the Google App Engine (AE). The existing COPPA / NCI Enterprise Services (NES), developed for the CTRP program, were modified to run on the Google cloud infrastructure. As the initial authors of the COPPA services, we were intimately familiar with their design, operation, and current deployment at NCI.
Challenges
The primary challenges for this project were
adapting a non-relational persistent store (Google's BigTable) to
the existing data model, and designing a REST API matching
currently exposed interfaces. We examine the impact of
architectural choices made by Google AE on application design,
and the interplay of these choices with the CQL and QBE models
present in current caBIG® Compatibility Standards. Using the
NCI Enterprise Conformance and Compliance Framework (ECCF)
as our guideline, we highlight how the relational approach drives
current caBIG® service design and where non-relational data
stores fit in.
Continue: caBIG on the Cloud White Paper and Poster