Architecture

SENSE operates between the science workflow agents/middleware and the automation Layer controlling the individual networks and end-site resources. Its core mission is to enable customized end-to-end service provisioning and management across multi-domain, multi-resource distributed infrastructures. The SENSE architecture is designed to be both flexible and scalable, allowing for many-to-many relationships between Orchestrators and Resource Managers, as well as supporting multi-level Orchestrator hierarchies.

Within the SENSE architecture, there are two distinct functional roles: Orchestrator and Resource Manager (RM). The interaction of Orchestrator(s) and RM(s) follows a hierarchical workflow structure whereby the Orchestrator accepts requests from users or user applications, determines the appropriate RMs to contact, and coordinates the end-to-end service request. The RMs are (administrative or technology) domain specific and are responsible for configuring and managing local resources.