1. S CICOM P, IBM, and TACC: Then, Now, and Next Jay Boisseau, Director Texas Advanced Computing Center The University of Texas at Austin August 10, 2004

2. Precautions This presentation contains some historical recollections from over 5 years ago. I can’t usually recall what I had for lunch yesterday. This presentation contains some ideas on where I think things might be going next. If I can’t recall yesterday’s lunch, it seems unlikely that I can predict anything. This presentation contains many tongue-in-cheek observations, exaggerations for dramatic effect, etc. This presentation may cause boredom, drowsiness, nausea, or hunger.

3. Outline 1.Why Did We Create S CICOM P 5 Years Ago? 2.What Did I Do with My Summer (and the Previous 3 Years)? 3.What is TACC Doing Now with IBM? 4.Where Are We Now? Where Are We Going?

4. Why Did We Create SCICOMP 5 Years Ago?

5. The Dark Ages of HPC In late 1990s, most supercomputing was accomplished on proprietary systems from IBM, HP, SGI (including Cray), etc. –User environments were not very friendly –Limited development environment (debuggers, optimization tools, etc.) –Very few cross platform tools –Difficult programming tools (MPI, OpenMP… some things haven’t changed)

6. Missing Cray Research… Cray was no longer the dominant company, and it showed –Trend towards commoditization had begun –Systems were not balanced Cray T3Es were used longer than any production MPP –Software for HPC was limited, not as reliable Who doesn’t miss real checkpoint/restart, automatic performance monitoring, no weekly PM downtime, etc.? –Companies were not as focused on HPC/research customers as on larger markets

7. 1998-99: Making Things Better John Levesque hired by IBM to start the Advanced Computing Technology Center –Goal: ACTC should provide to customers what Cray Research used to provide Jay Boisseau became first Associate Director of Scientific Computing at SDSC –Goal: Ensure SDSC helped users migrate from Cray T3E to IBM SP and do important, effective computational research

8. Creating S CICOM P John and Jay hosted workshop at SDSC in March 1999 open to users and center staff –to discuss current state, issues, techniques, and results in using IBM systems for HPC –SP-XXL already existed, but was exclusive and more systems-oriented Success led to first IBM SP Scientific Computing User Group meeting (S CICOM P) in August 1999 in Yorktown Heights – Jay as first director Second meeting held in early 2000 at SDSC In late 2000, John & Jay invited international participation in S CICOM P at IBM ACTC workshop in Paris

9. What Did I Do with My Summer (and the Previous 3 Years)?

10. Moving to TACC? In 2001, I accepted job as director of TACC Major rebuilding task: –Only 14 staff –No R&D programs –Outdated HPC systems –No visualization, grid computing or data-intensive computing –Little funding –Not much profile –Past political issues

11. Moving to TACC! But big opportunities –Talented key staff in HPC, systems, and operations –Space for growth –IBM Austin across the street –Almost every other major HPC vendor has large presence in Austin –UT Austin has both quality and scale in sciences, engineering, CS –UT and Texas have unparalleled internal & external support (pride is not always a vice) –Austin is a fantastic place to live (and recruit)

12. Moving to TACC! TEXAS-SIZED opportunities –Talented key staff in HPC, systems, and operations –Space for growth –IBM Austin across the street –Almost every other major HPC vendor has large presence in Austin –UT Austin is has both quality and scale in sciences, engineering, CS –UT and Texas have unparalleled internal & external support (pride is not always a vice) –Austin is fantastic place to live (and recruit)

13. Moving to TACC! TEXAS-SIZED opportunities –Talented key staff in HPC, systems, and operations –Space for growth –IBM Austin across the street –Almost every other major HPC vendor has large presence in Austin –UT Austin is has both quality and scale in sciences, engineering, CS –UT and Texas have unparalleled internal & external support (pride is not always a vice) –Austin is fantastic place to live (and recruit) –I got the chance to build something else good and important

14. TACC Mission To enhance the research & education programs of The University of Texas at Austin and its partners through research, development, operation & support of advanced computing technologies.

15. TACC Strategy To accomplish this mission, TACC: –Evaluates, acquires & operates advanced computing systems –Provides training, consulting, and documentation to users –Collaborates with researchers to apply advanced computing techniques –Conducts research & development to produce new computational technologies Resources & Services Research & Development

16. TACC Advanced Computing Technology Areas High Performance Computing (HPC) numerically intensive computing: produces data

17. TACC Advanced Computing Technology Areas High Performance Computing (HPC) numerically intensive computing: produces data Scientific Visualization (SciVis) rendering data into information & knowledge

18. TACC Advanced Computing Technology Areas High Performance Computing (HPC) numerically intensive computing: produces data Scientific Visualization (SciVis) rendering data into information & knowledge Data & Information Systems (DIS) managing and analyzing data for information & knowledge

19. TACC Advanced Computing Technology Areas High Performance Computing (HPC) numerically intensive computing: produces data Scientific Visualization (SciVis) rendering data into information & knowledge Data & Information Systems (DIS) managing and analyzing data for information & knowledge Distributed and Grid Computing (DGC) integrating diverse resources, data, and people to produce and share knowledge

20. TACC Activities & Scope Research Development Services Resources EOT 20042005 HPCSciVisDGCDISNetwork Since 1986 Since 2001!

21. TACC Applications Focus Areas TACC advanced computing technology R&D must be driven by applications TACC Applications Focus Areas –Chemistry -> Biosciences –Climate/Weather/Ocean -> Geosciences –CFD

22. TACC HPC & Storage Systems STK PowderHorns (2) 2.8 PB max capacity managed by Cray DMF IBM Power4 System 224 CPUs (1.16 Tflops) ½ TB memory, 7.1 TB disk IBM Linux Pentium III Cluster 64 CPUs (64 Gflops) 32 GB memory, ~1 TB disk LONGHORN TEJAS ARCHIVE Cray-Dell Xeon Linux Cluster 1028 CPUs (6.3 Tflops) 1 TB memory, 40+ TB disk LONESTAR Sun SANs (2) 8 TB / 4 TB to be expanded SAN

23. ACES VisLab Front and Rear Projection Systems –3x1 cylindrical immersive environment, 24’ diameter –5x2 large-screen, 16:9 panel tiled display –Full immersive capabilities with head/motion tracking High end rendering systems –Sun E25K: 128 processors, ½ TB memory, > 3 Gpoly/sec –SGI Onyx2: 24 CPUs, 6 IR2 Graphics Pipes, 25 GB Memory Matrix switch between systems, projectors, rooms

24. TACC Services TACC resources and services include: –Consulting –Training –Technical documentation –Data storage/archival –System selection/configuration consulting –System hosting

25. TACC R&D – High Performance Computing Scalability, performance optimization, and performance modeling for HPC applications Evaluation of cluster technologies for HPC Portability and performance issues of applications on clusters Climate, weather, ocean modeling collaboration and support of DoD Starting CFD activities

26. TACC R&D – Scientific Visualization Feature detection / terascale data analysis Evaluation of performance characteristics and capabilities of high-end visualization technologies Hardware accelerated visualization and computation on GPUs Remote interactive visualization / grid- enabled interactive visualization

27. TACC R&D – Data & Information Systems Newest technology group at TACC Initial R&D focused on creating/hosting scientific data collections Interests / plans –Geospatial and biological database extensions –Efficient ways to collect/create metadata –DB clusters / parallel DB I/O for scientific data

28. TACC R&D – Distributed & Grid Computing Web-based grid portals Grid resource data collection and information services Grid scheduling and workflow Grid-enabled visualization Grid-enabled data collection hosting Overall grid deployment and integration

29. TACC R&D - Networking Very new activities: –Exploring high-bandwidth (OC-12, GigE, OC-48, OC192) remote and collaborative grid-enabled visualization –Exploring network performance for moving terascale data on 10 Gbps networks (TeraGrid) –Exploring GigE aggregation to fill 10 Gbps networks (parallel file I/O, parallel database I/O) Recruiting a leader for TACC networking R&D activities

30. TACC Growth New infrastructure provides UT with comprehensive, balanced, world-class resources: –50x HPC capability –20x archival capability –10x network capability –World-class VisLab –New SAN New comprehensive R&D program with focus on impact –Activities in HPC, SciVis, DIS, DGC –New opportunities for professional staff 40+ new, wonderful people in 3 years, adding to the excellent core of talented people that have been at TACC for many years

31. Summary of My Time with TACC Over Past 3 years TACC provides terascale HPC, SciVis, storage, data collection, and network resources TACC provides expert support services: consulting, documentation, and training in HPC, SciVis, and Grid TACC conducts applied research & development in these advanced computing technologies TACC has become one of the leading academic advanced computing centers in years I have the best job in the world, mainly because I have the best staff in the world (but also because of UT and Austin)

32. And one other thing kept me busy the past 3 years…

33. What is TACC Doing Now with IBM?

34. UT Grid: Enable Campus-wide Terascale Distributed Computing Vision: provide high-end systems, but move from ‘island’ to hub of campus computing continuum –provide models for local resources (clusters, vislabs, etc.), training, and documentation –develop procedures for connecting local systems to campus grid single sign-on, data space, compute space leverage every PC, cluster, NAS, etc. on campus! –integrate digital assets into campus grid –integrate UT instruments & sensors into campus grid Joint project with IBM

35. Building a Grid Together UT Grid: Joint Between UT and IBM –TACC wants to be leader in e-science –IBM is a leader in e-business –UT Grid enables both to Gain deployment experience (IBM Global Services) Have a R&D testbed –Deliverables/Benefits Deployment experience Grid Zone papers Other papers

36. UT Grid: Initial Focus on Computing High-throughput parallel computing –Project Rodeo –Use CSF to schedule to LSF, PBS, SGE clusters across campus –Use Globus 3.2 -> GT4 High-throughput serial computing –Project Roundup uses United Devices software on campus PCs –Also interfacing to Condor flock in CS department

37. UT Grid: Initial Focus on Computing Develop CSF adapters for popular resource management systems through collaboration: –LSF: done by Platform Computing –Globus: done by Platform Computing –PBS: partially done –SGE –LoadLeveler –Condor

38. UT Grid: Initial Focus on Computing Develop CSF capability for flexible job requirements: –Serial vs parallel: no diff, just specify Ncpus –Number: facilitate ensembles –Batch: whenever, or by priority –Advanced reservation: needed for coupling, interactive –On-demand: needed for urgency Integrate data management for jobs into CSF –SAN makes it easy –GridFTP is somewhat simple, if crude –Avaki Data Grid is a possibility

39. UT Grid: Initial Focus on Computing Completion time in a compute grid is a function of –data transfer times Use NWS for network bandwidth predictions, file transfer time predictions (Rich Wolski, UCSB) –queue wait times Use new software from Wolski for prediction of start of execution in batch systems –application performance times Use Prophesy (Valerie Taylor) for applications performance prediction Develop CSF scheduling module that is data, network, and performance aware

40. UT Grid: Full Service! UT Grid will offer a complete set of services: –Compute services –Storage services –Data collections services –Visualization services –Instruments services But this will take 2 years—focusing on compute services now

41. UT Grid Interfaces Grid User Portal –Hosted, built on GridPort –Augment developers by providing info services –Enable productivity by simplifying production usage Grid User Node –Hosted, software includes GridShell plus client versions of all other UT Grid software –Downloadable version enables configuring local Linux box into UT Grid (eventually, Windows and Mac)

42. UT Grid: Logical View Integrate distributed TACC resources first (Globus, LSF, NWS, SRB, United Devices, GridPort) TACC HPC, Vis, Storage (actually spread across two campuses)

43. UT Grid: Logical View Next add other UT resources in one bldg. as spoke using same tools and procedures TACC HPC, Vis, Storage ICES Data ICES Cluster

44. UT Grid: Logical View Next add other UT resources in one bldg. as spoke using same tools and procedures TACC HPC, Vis, Storage ICES Cluster PGE Cluster PGE Data

45. UT Grid: Logical View ICES Cluster PGE Cluster PGE DataBIO Instrument BIO Cluster GEO Instrument Next add other UT resources in one bldg. as spoke using same tools and procedures GEO Data TACC HPC, Vis, Storage

46. UT Grid: Logical View Finally negotiate connections between spokes for willing participants to develop a P2P grid. TACC HPC, Vis, Storage ICES Data ICES Cluster PGE Cluster PGE DataBIO Instrument Bio Cluster GEO Data GEO Instrument

47. UT Grid: Physical View TACC Systems Research campus Main campus TACC Vis NOC Ext nets GAATN ACES Switch TACC PWR4 CMS TACC Storage Switch TACC Cluster

48. UT Grid: Physical View Add ICES Resources Research campus Main campus TACC Vis NOC Ext nets GAATN ACES Switch ICES Cluster ICES Data ICES Cluster NOC TACC PWR4 CMS TACC Storage Switch TACC Cluster

49. UT Grid: Physical View Add Other Resources Research campus Main campus TACC Vis NOC Ext nets GAATN ACES Switch ICES Cluster ICES Data ICES Cluster PGE Cluster PGE Data PGE Cluster Switch PGE NOC TACC PWR4 CMS TACC Storage Switch TACC Cluster

50. Texas Internet Grid for Research & Education (TIGRE) Multi-university grid: Texas, A&M, Houston, Rice, Texas Tech –Build-out in 2004-5 –Will integrate additional universities Will facilitate academic research capabilities across Texas using Internet2 initially Will extend to industrial partners to foster academic/industrial collaboration on R&D

51. NSF TeraGrid: National Cyberinfrastructure for Computational Science TeraGrid is world’s largest cyerinfrastructure for computational research Includes NCSA, SDSC, PSC, Caltech, Argonne, Oak Ridge, Indiana, Purdue Massive bandwidth! Each connection is one or more 10 Gbps links! - TACC will provide terascale computing, storage, and visualization resources - UT will provide terascale geosciences data sets

52. Where Are We Now? Where are We Going?

53. The Buzz Words Clusters, Clusters, Clusters Grids & Cyberinfrastructure Data, Data, Data

54. Clusters, Clusters, Clusters No sense in trying to make long-term predictions here –64-bit is going to be more important (duh)—but is not yet (for most workloads) –Evaluate options, but differences are not so great (for diverse workloads) –Pricing is generally normalized to performance (via sales) for commodities

55. Grids & Cyberinfrastructure Are Coming… Really! ‘The Grid’ is coming… eventually –The concept of a Grid was ahead of the standards –But we all use distributed computing anyway, and the advantages are just too big not to solve the issues –Still have to solve many of the same distributed computing research problems (but at least now we have standards to develop to) ‘grid computing’ is here… almost –WSRF means finally getting the standards right –Federal agencies and companies alike are investing heavily in good projects and starting to see results

56. TACC Grid Tools and Deployments Grid Computing Tools –GridPort: transparent grid computing from Web –GridShell: transparent grid computing from CLI –CSF: grid scheduling –GridFlow / GridSteer: for coupling vis, steering simulations Cyberinfrastructure Deployments –TeraGrid: national cyberinfrastructure –TIGRE: state-wide cyberinfrastructure –UT Grid: campus cyberinfrastructure for research & education

57. Data, Data, Data Our ability to create and collect data (computing systems, instruments, sensors) is exploding Availability of data even driving new modes of science (e.g., bioinformatics) Data availability and need for sharing, analysis, is driving the other aspects of computing –Need for 64-bit microprocessors, improved memory systems –Parallel file I/O –Use of scientific databases, parallel databases –Increased network bandwidth –Grids for managing, sharing remote data

58. Renewed U.S. Interest in HEC Will Have Impact While clusters are important, ‘non-clusters’ are still important!!! –Projects like IBM Blue Gene/L, Cray Red Storm, etc. address different problems than clusters –DARPA HPCS program is really important, but only a start –Strategic national interests require national investment!!! –I think we’ll see more federal funding for innovative research into computer systems

59. Visualization Will Catch Up Visualization often lags behind HPC, storage –Flops get publicity –Bytes can’t get lost –Even Rainman can’t get insight from terabytes of 0’s and 1’s Explosion in data creates limitations requiring –Feature detection (good) –Downsizing problem (bad) –Downsampling data (ugly)

60. Visualization Will Catch Up As PCs impacted HPC, so will are graphics cards impacting visualization –Custom SMP systems using graphics cards (Sun, SGI) –Graphics clusters (Linux, Windows) As with HPC, still a need for custom, powerful visualization solutions on certain problems –SGI has largely exited this market –IBM left long ago—please come back! –Again, requires federal investment

61. What Should You Do This Week?

62. Austin is Fun, Cool, Weird, & Wonderful Mix of hippies, slackers, academics, geeks, politicos, musicians, and cowboys “Keep Austin Weird” Live Music Capital of the World (seriously) Also great restaurants, cafes, clubs, bars, theaters, galleries, etc. –http://www.austinchronicle.com/ –http://www.austin360.com/xl/content/xl/index.html –http://www.research.ibm.com/arl/austin/index.html

63. Your Austin To-Do List Eat barbecue at Rudy’s, Stubb’s, Iron Works, Green Mesquite, etc. Eat Tex-Mex and at Chuy’s, Trudy’s, Maudie’s, etc. Have a cold Shiner Bock (not Lone Star) Visit 6 th Street and Warehouse District at night See sketch comedy at Esther’s Follies Go to at least one live music show Learn to two-step at The Broken Spoke Walk/jog/bike around Town Lake See a million bats emerge from Congress Ave. bridge at sunset Visit the Texas State History Museum Visit the UT main campus See movie at Alamo Drafthouse Cinema (arrive early, order beer & food) See the Round Rock Express at the Dell Diamond Drive into Hill Country, visit small towns and wineries Eat Amy’s Ice Cream Listen to and buy local music at Waterloo Records Buy a bottle each of Rudy’s Barbecue Sause and Tito’s Vodka

64. Final Comments & Thoughts I’m very pleased to see SCICOMP is still going strong –Great leaders and a great community make it last Still a need for groups like this –technologies get more powerful, but not necessarily simpler, and impact comes from effective utilization More importantly, always a need for energetic, talented people to make a difference in advanced computing –Contribute to valuable efforts –Don’t be afraid to start something if necessary –Change is good (even if “the only thing certain about change is that things will be different afterwards”) Enjoy Austin! –Ask any TACC staff about places to go and things to do

65. More About TACC: Texas Advanced Computing Center www.tacc.utexas.edu info@tacc.utexas.edu (512) 475-9411