NinfG is an open source grid middleware which provides a programming framework for grid-based remote procedure calls (GridRPC). It is a reference implementation of the GridRPC API (application programming interface), allowing programmers to create applications that can call procedures/executables installed on remote computers. In particular, it provides client library APIs that can be used to control the execution of remote executables, running these executables remotely when necessary.
NinfG 5.0 is the latest version of NinfG. Unlike previous versions where the Globus Toolkit is required, NinfG 5.0 can now work with non-Globus grid environment. One of its new features is the ability to use SSH to do remote procedure calls via the invoke server mechanism. This is very handy since most Linux systems have already SSH in the default installation, so there is no need to install additional packages to use NinfG. The following paragraphs outline the installation of NinfG on a system running Linux.
Secure Shell or SSH is a network protocol allowing secure data exchanges between two networked devices. It is designed to replace Telnet, which sends information over the network in plain text making it susceptible to interception or eavesdropping. SSH, on the other hand, provides secure communication by encrypting the data sent over the network. It is typically used to login to a remote computer and to execute commands remotely. Aside from this, SSH can also be used to securely transfer files using scp or sftp, forward TCP ports, SSH tunneling, among others.
The following is my outline on how to use SSH for passwordless remote login. Of course, this is far from being complete and some of the things below may not work perfectly with your setup. There are many howtos regarding this topic and you should be able to find the one that is appropriate for your system.
