Visualization as a Science Discovery Tool Issues and Concerns Kelly Gaither Director of Visualization/ Sr. Research Scientist Texas Advanced Computing Center September 8, 2011

Issues and Concerns –Maximizing Scientific Impact –Managing Data at Scale –Providing Resources at Scale –Ensuring Broad Accessibility/Developing Ubiquitous Tools

Visualization Mantra “The purpose of computing is insight not numbers.” -- R. W. Hamming (1961) “The purpose of computing is insight not numbers.” -- R. W. Hamming (1961) “The purpose of visualization is insight not pictures.” -- Ben Schneiderman (2005) “The purpose of visualization is insight not pictures.” -- Ben Schneiderman (2005)

Maximizing Scientific Impact Image: Greg P. Johnson, Romy Schneider, TACCImage: Adam Kubach, Karla Vega, Clint Dawson Image: Karla Vega, Shaolie Hossain, Thomas J.R., Hughes Greg Abram, Carsten Burstedde, Georg Stadler, Lucas C. Wilcox, James R. Martin, Tobin Isaac, Tan Bui-Thanh,and Omar Ghattas

Managing Data at Scale Large-Scale Visualization Resource Large-Scale Visualization Resource HPC System HPC System Data Archive Data Archive Display Remote Site Wide-Area Network Wide-Area Network Local Site Pixels Mouse

Where Does Technology Fit In? We have always used technology to create visualizations of what we see in our minds eye. What changes over time is the technology we use to do the visualization.

Longhorn First NSF XD Visualization Resource 256 Dell Dual Socket, Quad Core Intel Nehalem Nodes –240 with 48 GB shared memory/node (6 GB/core) –16 with 144 GB shared memory/node (18 GB/core) –73 GB Local Disk –2 Nvidia GPUs/Node (FX 5800 – 4GB RAM) ~13.5 TB aggregate memory QDR InfiniBand Interconnect Jobs launched through SGE ~6GB/s to scratch filesystem ~6GB/s to Ranger filesystem 256 Nodes, 2048 Cores, 512 GPUs, 14.5 TB Memory Kelly Gaither (PI), Valerio Pascucci, Chuck Hansen, David Ebert, John Clyne (Co-PI), Hank Childs

Hadoop on Longhorn PI: Weijia Xu (UT LIFT Grant) Local Storage Expansion – GB 7.2k drives are installed on 48 R610 nodes on Longhorn (96 usable TB) – GB 15k drives are installed on 16 R710 nodes on Longhorn. (16 usable TB) /hadoop file system Went in to production December early user projects (text mining and information retrieval) 142k core hours from Dec to Feb

Longhorn Usage Modalities: Remote/Interactive Visualization –Highest priority jobs –Remote/Interactive capabilities facilitated through VNC –Run on 3 hour queue limit boundary GPGPU jobs –Run on a lower priority than the remote/interactive jobs –Run on a 12 hour queue limit boundary CPU jobs with higher memory requirements –Run on lowest priority when neither remote/interactive nor GPGPU jobs are waiting in the queue –Run on a 12 hour queue limit boundary

Longhorn Queue Structure Example: qsub -q normal -P vis

Software Available on Longhorn Programming APIs: OpenGL, vtk (Not natively parallel) –OpenGL – low level primitives, useful for programming at a relatively low level with respect to graphics –VTK (Visualization Toolkit) – open source software system for 3D computer graphics, image processing, and visualization –IDL Visualization Turnkey Systems –VisIt – free open source parallel visualization and graphical analysis tool –ParaView – free open source general purpose parallel visualization system –VAPOR – free flow visualization package developed out of NCAR –EnSight – commercial turnkey parallel visualization package targeted at CFD visualization –Amira – commercial turnkey visualization package targeted at visualizing scanned medical data (CAT scan, MRI, etc..)

Longhorn Visualization Portal portal.longhorn.tacc.utexas.edu Developed to provide easy access to Longhorn and abstract away complexities involved with command line access Leverages TeraGrid user portal codebase and employs a fraction of TGUP developers to ensure continuity Used for all in-person Longhorn training

Longhorn Visualization Portal portal.longhorn.tacc.utexas.edu >3000 jobs submitted through the portal

Longhorn Visualization Portal portal.longhorn.tacc.utexas.edu Specify type of session Specify resolution of vnc session Specify number of nodes needed and the wayness of the nodes Provides graphic of machine load

Longhorn Visualization Portal portal.longhorn.tacc.utexas.edu Vnc session opens up in java enabled browser Behaves as if user had gotten a remote desktop into Longhorn.

EnVision Greg Johnson, Brandt Westing Web-based visualization software that allows researchers to develop interactive visualizations intuitively. Currently integrated into the Longhorn Visualization Portal but can run independently. Began collaborations with ParaView team.

Summary Close collaborations with the science partners are key –User support Minimize data transfers if possible –Data stays in single location Scale resources effectively based on use cases Easy accessibility to and interaction with technologies encourages diverse communities participation

Questions?