Anagram is a prototype framework designed to ease the development of the many diverse data servers which will be needed as the community moves towards distributed data processing. It provides a collection of reusable components that address the needs common to high-performance scientific data servers. In particular, Anagram can greatly facilitate the development of new servers that support the OPeNDAP subsetting protocol on a diverse range of back-end data storage formats.
Developed at COLA (the Center for Ocean Land Atmosphere Research), Anagram is the basis for version 1.2 of the GDS (GrADS Data Server), which currently handles over 2 million hits per month at various sites.
This paper will explain the motivations for a common server framework, describe the functionality provided by Anagram's modular Java- and XML-based design, and explain how to extend and adapt it for specific applications, such as developing a new flavor of OPeNDAP server.
Supplementary URL: http://www.iges.org/anagram