1. Fotis Karayannis HellasGrid Scientific Coordinator GRNET
The National Grid Initiative in Greece
Fotis Karayannis HellasGrid Scientific Coordinator GRNET

2. Outline GRNET dual mission: The HellasGrid National Grid initiative
Research Networking and Grid infrastructure
The HellasGrid National Grid initiative
Infrastructure
Organisation
Applications communities
HellasGrid as part of the European efforts
Networking and Grid projects
Challenges/Experiences
EGI SEE Workshop
Athens, 19 April 2006

3. GRNET Dual Mission
The EU e-Infrastructure vision: Integrated Networking + Grid infrastructures
GRNET was one of the first NRENs* in Europe adopting the EU e-Infrastructure initiative:
Providing both networking and grid infrastructures
* NREN: National Research and Education Network
Being infrastructure-oriented and application-neutral serving all user eScience communities
Expanding its scope to e-Business and e-Government
Source: European Commission
Unit F3: Research Infrastructures
EGI SEE Workshop
Athens, 19 April 2006

4. GRNET strategic projects and funding
Research Network projects
GRNET2 project, , 20 MEuro
2,5 Gbps leased lambda backbone network
Pilot dark fiber acquisition projects (15 years lease) + optical equipment
Pilot Grid Demokritos (Isabella)
Access project (called “105”), , 10 MEuro
1 Gigabit Access for ~50 institutes
GRNET3 project, , 30 MEuro (recently approved!)
Dark fiber research back-bone network in Greece
Optical MANs for Athens, Thessaloniki (the rest to be covered by regional MANs (called “93”)
Optical equipment RFI already published
PanEuropean connectivity & integration project: GEANT2,
Regional Support Projects: SEEREN-SEEREN2, Eumedconnect
Grid projects
Hellasgrid Task Force, , (support money)
Hellasgrid Strategy Document
Pilot Grid Demokritos (0,5M by GRNET2)
Hellasgrid Project, , ~2 MEuro
~800 CPUs, ~ 90TB storage (30TB disks + 60 TB tape libraries), 4 advanced video-conferencing Access Grid nodes
Grid Applications Call, ,~0,5M
PanEuropean integration projects: EGEE Project, , 1,3MEuros EGEE-II, , 1,8M Euros
Supported operations, training, policies
Regional Support projects: SEEGRID, SEEGRID2, Eumedgrid, EuChinaGrid
Other projects: GridCC, e-IRGSP
EGI SEE Workshop
Athens, 19 April 2006

5. The GRNET Network
Backbone is currently based on 2,5 Gbps leased lambdas
Dark fiber has been acquired for 3 network spans (pilot phase)
Dark fiber tender for the whole backbone on-going (one offer received)
International connectivity 2 * 10 Gbps any day (currently 2* 2,5 Gbps)
EGI SEE Workshop
Athens, 19 April 2006

6. The HellasGrid National Grid Initiative
HellasGrid Task Force appointed by the Ministry of Economy and Finance at the end of 2002 (MNEC is running the national InfoSoc programme)
A strategy group supported by a scientific committee
Produced a strategy document
The Task Force prepared the National Integration Proposal
The HellasGrid MoU was signed at the end of 2003
Pilot Phase (Phase I):
GRNET Pilot Infrastructure installation
Isabella site: 64 CPUs, 10 TB SAN, 12 TB Tape Library
Participation in EGEE proposal, Coordination of SEE-GRID
Consolidation Phase (Phase II):
HellasGrid project implementation
Extension of Grid infrastructure (~800 CPUs, 30TB disks, 60TB tape libraries) – (~2 MEuros)
Integration in EGEE
The HellasGrid MoU was used to form a Joint Research Unit (JRU)
GRNET provided a recognition letter by the Ministry after EC request
Further application support (~0,5M – 1M Euros)
Investigation for further infrastructure support (~1 MEuros)
EGI SEE Workshop
Athens, 19 April 2006

7. The HellasGrid members
Coordinator
National Research and Education Network, GRNET –
Universities (10)
Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, AUTH
Athens University of Business, AUEB
National Technical University of Athens, NTUA
University of the Aegean
University of Athens, UoA
University of Crete, UoC
University of Ioannina, UoI
University of Macedonia, UoM
University of Patras UPATRAS
University of Pireus UNIPI
Research Centres (8)
Research and Academic Computer Technology Institute, CTI
Centre for Research and Technology Hellas, CERTH
Institute of Computer Science – FORTH,
Institute of Accelerator Systems and Applications, IASA
Institute of Communication and Computer Systems, ICCS
National Meteorology Service, EMYwww.emy.gr
National Observatory of Athens, NOA
Research Centre Demokritos, DEMOKRITOS
EGI SEE Workshop
Athens, 19 April 2006

8. HELLASGRID infrastructure
HG-01 Demokritos: 64 CPU, 10TB FC SAN, 12TB Tape Library, EGEE LCG2 middleware
HG02-HG06 clusters located in:
Athens (NDC/EKT, IASA)
Thessaloniki (AUTH)
Crete (ICS-FORTH)
Patras (CTI)
~800 CPUs (x86_64, 2 GB RAM, 80GB HDD, 2x Gbit)
~30 TBytes total raw SAN storage capacity
~80TBytes Tape Library
4 Access Grid nodes
EGI SEE Workshop
Athens, 19 April 2006

9. HG organisation: Teamwork!
Overall coordination: GRNET headquarters
Cooperation with HellaGrid partners:
Main site + ROC operator : HG-01-GRNET (Isabella,
HG-02…HG-06 sites + operation centers (NDC, IASA, AUTH, FORTH, CTI)
5 smaller private sites (AUTH, UoM, FORTH, Demokritos, HEP-NTUA)
HG CA and VOMS (GridAUTH, Dept. of Physics, AUTH)
HG helpdesk (CTI)
Regional monitoring tools (ICS-FORTH)
HG user support/apps (Demokritos + all site teams)
4 AccessGRID sites
HG membership: ~18 members (10 Universities + 8 Research Institutes)
6 HellasGrid+5 private sites > 900 CPUs in total
EGI SEE Workshop
Athens, 19 April 2006

10. HG-01-GRNET Isabella
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11. HellasGrid Infrastructure, Phase II, EKT (2/2006)
National Documentation Center (EKT)
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12. HG Local Users distribution per Discipline
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13. CPU Hours per Site
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14. HellasGrid CA statistics:
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15. CPU time: distribution of overall EGEE VOs usage of HG infrastructure
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16. HellasGrid as part of European efforts
Scale
> 170 sites in 39 countries
> CPUs
> 5 PB storage
> concurrent jobs per day
> 60 Virtual Organisations
EGI SEE Workshop
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17. SEE Europe promoting the NGI/EGI model
NGI: National Grid Initiative
Infrastructure oriented & application neutral
Not driven by applications
GRNET acts as an early champion for the SEE area
One partner per country since EGEE Phase I!
EGEE-SEE and SEE-GRID countries adopted the same model!
EGI SEE Workshop
Athens, 19 April 2006

18. Challenges/Experiences/Conclusions
Building the HG infrastructure proved difficult
Housing, SLAs with local institutes are slow, tedious and expensive!
Getting applications /users to exploit the infrastructure is slow!
Training/education and dissemination is important
Application projects and funding are essential!
Received 45 proposals in last Grid-Applications call!
Sustainability of the infrastructure and services
Equipment will need to be changed after 3-5 years
Local “incubators” for GRID technology needed:
Experts in local sites
Operators should have appropriate mentality (shifts, support)
Gained a lot from networking experience (NOCs, NOC-ROC cooperation)
Regional, Pan-European and International collaborations are vital
Our European friends lead the way: Middleware, VOs, support projects
EGI SEE Workshop
Athens, 19 April 2006

19. www.hellasgrid.gr www.egee-see.org For more: mailto:fkara@grnet.gr
EGI SEE Workshop
Athens, 19 April 2006