1. CCPR Workshop Introduction to the Cluster March 2, 2005

2. Outline Overview –What is a “cluster”? –What tools are available on CCPR’s cluster? –How will the cluster benefit your research? Cluster Tutorial –Connecting from Windows –Submitting jobs –Managing jobs –Job output –Website

3. What is a cluster? The first “cluster” was motivated by the need for cheap, high-performance computing Off-the-shelf computers/processors were successfully connected to create a “super- computer” Great success; idea spread rapidly Cost-effective and scalable

4. What is a cluster? Think of a cluster as having two parts: –Hardware: a collection of computers –Cluster management system: software for coordinating hardware with a collection of computational tasks (batch jobs)

5. CCPR’s Cluster: Hardware Front-end Job submission Cluster management Administrative tools lexis.ccpr.ucla.edu or “lexis” for short Back-end All processing and “heavy-lifting” 4 “worker” nodes Specs 2 x AMD Opteron Model 248, 64bit 8 gigs RAM on node 1 2 gigs RAM on nodes 2-4 8 “slots”

6. CCPR’s Cluster: Management System Jobs are submitted to the cluster via the cluster management system –An advanced batch system –Efficiently allocates resources to jobs –Remembers job requirements –Remembers node specs and availability –Schedules jobs according to requested resources and priority –Users can easily view jobs

7. Software and Data on the Cluster Stata SAS Matlab Stat/Transfer R Editors: emacs, pico, vi, and more Various compilers (C, Fortran) Scripting languages Suggestions? Ready-data archive –HRS –CPS (Unicon version) –AddHealth –IFLS –Susenas Lots more to come… Suggestions?

8. Other features Personal disk space provided Access to additional disk space available Interactive use of software available Quick comparison to Whitney, nicco, ts1, ts2, Hoffman cluster Cost-effective and scalable

9. How does this help your research? Easy access to software and data Faster processors More RAM Easy to share data, programs, etc. with colleagues via the cluster More advanced users: parallel processing, compilers, etc. Continued…

10. How does this help your research? (continued) Your pc is available for other work when you submit a job to the cluster Submit a job and forget about it As an early user, you will have all our ears for requests and questions. It’s EASY.

11. Questions/Comments

12. Tutorial Connecting from Windows Submitting jobs Managing jobs Job output Website