Minutes for the
ITC-Research Computing Management Meeting
August 28, 2006 at
10:30AM
(2015 Ivy Rd, 2nd
floor Conference Room)
Members:
Alice, Hamp, Jim, Joe S., Mark, Robin, Terry, Tim S., Tom S., Tim T.
Attending: Alice, Bill, James H., Mike McP., Joe S.,
Mark, Steve L., Tang, Terry, Tim S., Tom S., Tim T.
Chair:
Tim T. Recorder: Alice Howard
I. Corrections to minutes from last
Management team meeting on July 24, 2006?
No.
II.
Ongoing Discussion Topics:
·
“Condo” Cluster #2 – aka Dogwood:
o
Update
on configuration and rollout from Bill Pemberton: have 200 nodes going and being tested; power is holding up
so far, but still need to see what happens when fully loaded – so will submit
some computational load tests
o
Katherine
and Ed working on “configuration” list for dogwood and OS updates of other
clusters.
o
Tim’s
group can set up a test queue on Dogwood.
o
Any
word from Mitch or SEAS faculty that wanted nodes or Infiniband cluster? Jim gave Mitch & faculty member
pricing, waiting on response.
o
Tom
S. reported that a HS faculty is interested in purchasing 8-16 of the existing
nodes.
·
Cedar
Cluster: schedule of OS update?
(based on dogwood rollout)
o
Can
do this once Dogwood has been rolled out and looks good – will aim for
right after October Reading Day (10/9)
– will do Cedar then Birch, and will need to schedule 3 days of downtime per
cluster
o
Avaki
gateway setup – new software version released yet?
o
Can
we set timeline for cedar becoming a 64-bit cluster? Winter Break would be best opportunity, otherwise we’re into
summer and needing to setup next new cluster. Getting growing number of applications and users for
it. Will need to set up test
64-bit nodes and see.
·
Aspen
& Birch Clusters: (schedule of
OS update to Birch ONLY in early August will be based on dogwood rollout)
o
Aspen
retirement this fall, announced cutoff will be November 20 (Thanksgiving
Break).
o
Other
issues/concerns?
·
Oak
Cluster: Did the round-robin login
get enabled on July 5? (Think it’s not implemented yet, but Tim T. will check
with Chip.)
·
Teal
Cluster: Any issues or concerns?
·
Andrew
Grimshaw’s request for Linux front-end to campus grid project – still waiting
on next version of AVAKI.
o
However
Marty Humphrey has almost finished a grid Windows client that does direct file
transfers and Katherine is experimenting with it.
·
Proposal
for Linux cluster support as ‘for-fee’ service. At December meeting, Hamp said he’d translate current hourly
Unix support rates into table/information showing cost for supporting cluster
of X size for Y years.
·
Update
on transition from clear text passwords to Eservices for Unix
logins/connections to blue.unix, HSM, & Longtmp?
o
This
transition will involve a major user education issue – especially for blue.unix
users.
o
No
timeline for this project yet – it has to wait until the password
synchronization web site is up.
Think this is also waiting to synch up with another project – will check
with Jim or Robin.
·
Mitch
Rosen’s IT – Infrastructure Supporting Research Task Force. (https://www1.seas.virginia.edu/itrtf). (Maillist is itrtf@virginia.edu) Final draft is circulating for
input. Katherine is doing the
final editing. Ed did most of the
appendices that detail comparisons to other institutions.
o
CI-Team
NSF proposal funded! Not official yet, but
Andrew emailed team that it will be funded.
o
Mitch
sent an update about our participation in ORNL’s response to NSF RFP for next
generation/iteration of Supercomputing Centers: the Oak Ridge Associated Universities core
universities: U Tennessee, Duke,
Florida State, Georgia Tech, NC State, U. Va., Vanderbilt and Virginia Tech;
and others including U Oklahoma and Rice have agreed to team with Oak Ridge
National Lab on a grant submission for NSF’s Petascale supercomputer
program. It is listed as one award
of $200 million dollars over a four year period, beginning in 2010. The preliminary proposal is due at NSF
September 8. We are in touch with
the consortium schools, discussing potential roles and contributions from the
participating universities. He
will update us further as more details emerge.
·
“Priority”
access for participants in condo clusters: Katherine’s proposal for PBS “Service Units.”
o
See
Katherine’s document “PBS Service Units Proposal.”
·
Update
on CSS Research Computing support staff and services relocating to Brown
Science & Engineering Library and Alderman Library fourth floor in summer
2006.
o
Katherine
and Ed moved to Brown on 7/17.
Called the “Research Computing Lab” in Brown Library. Fully functional by the start of
classes, 8/23. Phone number
(243-8799).
o
Nancy
and rest of RCSC moved to Alderman 8/7-8/9. Space in Alderman called the
“Scholars’ Lab.” Phone number
(243-8800); staff phone numbers stay the same.
o
Kathy
remaining in Wilson until office space in Alderman ready, hopefully
mid-October. It’s adjacent
to Scholars’ Lab in former ILL offices.
o
Details
about the move and space available at:
http://www.itc.virginia.edu/research/rcsc-moves.html
o
Tim’s
office remains in Wilson.
III.
New Business
·
Mitch
Rosen & John Hawley’s concerns about ITC Research Computing support
degradation vis-à-vis move to Brown Library. Martha Sites met with Mitch & John on Friday (8/25),
when/where they voiced their grave concerns.
o
There
was some discussion about the rationale for this move (e.g. Wilson no longer
“central”, Library has space and history of collaboration with faculty, Brown
Library focuses on Science and Engineering and is ramping up their support,
etc.).
o
Followed
by discussion of the pros/cons of having full-time specialized staff vs.
wage/students working on service desks.
o
Looks
like the CI-Team proposal has been funded, and therefore that project will get
0.25 of Ed’s and Katherine’s time for 2 years.
o
From
one perspective it looks like a location change, but that not much else has
changed – but the perceptions and expectations of Mitch, John, etc., are
different.
o
Will
meet with Mitch and John, Martha Sites and Library staff, on Wednesday (9/30) –
discuss future plans, ideas, priorities, etc. – and tour the space.
o
James
will send email to Mitch and John and offer to meeting with them after the
Wednesday meeting. The bottom line
is that we need to partner with them and find solutions.
·
Provost’s
“10 Year Plan for BOV” – Specific items and general topics that need to be
included and emphasized related to research computing support, particular for
science and engineering. Pull
recommendations from ITRTF report?
o
James
is working with Karin on a 3 page IT and Library section for the BOV 10 Year
Plan – and this includes recommendations for a Center for Digital Humanities
and a Center for Advanced Computational Support. (Note: the
group that worked on the ITRTF report is becoming an advisory group for James.)
Next
Scheduled Meeting of ITC ResComp Management team: Monday, September 25, 2006,
10:30 AM in ITC-2015 Ivy Road, Room #220.
Go to: ITC Research Computing Standing Committee Home Page