Research Technologies Presentations
Star-P
Star-P is a software platform that links high performance computational resources with programming languages such as Matlab and Python. Star-P extends and parallelizes these high level languages, converting their code so they can engage multiple processors simultaneously. This month's Roundtable will include discussions of how Star-P extends Matlab, optimizing Matlab code by incorporating Star-P data types, and Star-P availability on the IU campuses.
Dr. Stuart Broson, a senior development engineer at Interactive Supercomputing (a Star-P vendor), will also provide information on Star-P support for Python, plans for Star-P support for R, and the under-the-hood details of Star-P.
March 27, 2008 Optimizing source code
Why optimize code that already works? This month's Research Technologies Roundtable centers on the time-versus-gain trade-offs of optimizing source code. Discussion will also include case examples from Big Red users, as well as simple tricks and possible pitfalls related to coding.
Optimizing Code Powerpoint Slides
February 28, 2008 Grid Tools
Accessing today's computer systems requires new paradigms beyond simply logging in and using the computer. The power of modern computing technology lies in its diverse and distributed nature. Tying together this vast cyberinfrastructure are the grid tools. Research Technologies will offer a brief introduction to these grid tools to stimulate discussion about ways to use these tools to increase our users' research productivity.
January 31, 2008 Meet the High Performance Applications Group
The High Performance Applications (HPA) group (formerly HPC) will present an overview of their activities and welcome questions from the audience. The mission of the HPA group is to help promote scholarly research through the use of high performance computing and communication environments. The HPA group works closely with the High Performance Systems (HPS) group to fulfill this mission. A sampling of HPA activities include: user support for IU faculty, staff and students who want to get started using our supercomputers, longer term 1-on-1 consulting, support for our NSF TeraGrid users, benchmarking new or upgraded systems, and (in the future) developing services that hide the complexity of using high performance applications. Please visit us at http://rtinfo.uits.iu.edu/hpa/ .
November 1, 2007 Experiences implementing Big Red - a 30.72 TFLOPS IBM BladeCenter Cluster
IU's Big Red, a 20.4 TFLOPS IBM e1350 BladeCenter cluster, was ordered on 7 April 2006; on 28 June 2006, it appeared in the 27th Top500 list as the 23rd fastest supercomputer in the world. We have now expanded this system to 30.7 TFLOPS. In this talk, Dr. Craig Stewart, Associate Dean, Research Technologies, will discuss the basic architecture of Big Red, its implementation, and management systems. In addition, he will describe the performance characteristics of the system in some detail. Even prior to the upgrade, Big Red was one of the largest supercomputers integrated into the US TeraGrid. We will discuss the challenges of supporting and using a very large Linux cluster based on IBM's Power architecture within the context of the TeraGrid, which is heavily dominated by Linux clusters running Intel instruction sets. Dr. Stewart will also describe some of the science results obtained with Big Red, including weather prediction and protein structure prediction.
September 26, 2007 Research Data Complex (RDC) Migration
For our September presentation, we'll discuss the recent Research Data Complex (RDC) migration to a new platform. The RDC is dedicated to faculty, graduate students with a faculty sponsor, and staff needing a research databases. The RDC infrastructure supports primarily Oracle database applications and is well-suited for data-intensive applications. The RDC staff in High Performance Systems provides database hosting, administration, and consulting services to assist researchers with gaining access to data, managing data, determining the right data-related tools and processes, and database design and implementation. Our presentation will explore what benefits the new hardware and Oracle database support bring to IU researchers.
RDC Migration Powerpoint Slides
August 28, 2007 The Research File System (RFS)
Kurt Seiffert, manager of the UITS Research Storage group, will talk about the Research File System (RFS). Based on OpenAFS, the Research File System allows researchers to store and access files from a wide range of platforms, from desktop systems to supercomputers. Recently RFS was upgraded, to increase both storage capacity and the number of simultaneous users supported. This talk will discuss these enhancements, and the various uses of RFS.
Research File Systems Powerpoint Slides
July 25, 2007 IU's Participation in the TeraGrid
For our July presentation, we'll review IU's participation in the TeraGrid, the NSF's flagship effort to build a national cyberinfrastructure to support scientific research. This will include an overview of the project and progress to date, and a look at IU's unique contribution.
The TeraGrid provides academic researchers nationwide with access to some of the most powerful computing, storage, and network resources available, and continues to develop tools to integrate these resources and make them easier to use. Our presentation will look at how innovations under development at IU and other TeraGrid partner sites are transforming the way big science is done.
IU & the TeraGrid Powerpoint Slides
June 27, 2007 Research Technologies Systems Update
As we head into midsummer, we'll take an updated look at Research Technologies' research compute systems and where we are headed through the second half of 2007. By the time we meet in June, the Indiana Economic Development Corporation's expansion to Big Red will have occurred, the Libra expansion will be close to complete, the migration of the Research Database Complex will be well underway, and the new Intel X86_64 cluster should be newly delivered and awaiting installation.
It's important that we hear from the users of Research Technologies' compute systems in these round table discussions. As a result of January's meeting, we were able to justify a new X86_64 system. Your input is important and we encourage you to continue to participate in these valuable discussions.
Research Systems Update Powerpoint Slides
May 30, 2007 -- UITS Advanced Visualization Lab
Do you have a project that might benefit from visualization but you don't know where to start? Staff from the UITS Advanced Visualization Lab will describe the many advanced visualization technologies available to the IU community. The discussion will include the existing hardware in the IT building on the IUPUI campus as well as the new display opening soon in Lindley Hall on the IUB campus. Bring your ideas and let's talk vis!
April 25, 2007 -- Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder
Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) is a term used to describe the range of disabilities caused by prenatal exposure to alcohol. The Collaborative Initiative on FASDs (CIFASD)'s mission is to inform and develop effective interventions and treatment approaches for FASD, through multidisciplinary research involving basic, behavioral and clinical investigators and projects.
The Scientific Data Services group contributes to this initiative by providing custom software, support, as well as a Central Repository for research data. Michel Tavares, FASD Technical Architect, will introduce the FASD project, describe the different technologies that support it, and discuss how similar projects could benefit from this approach.
March 28th -- IU's Data Capacitor
Indiana University's Data Capacitor is a 535 TeraByte filesystem capable of receiving data at an aggregate rate exceeding 14.5 GigaBytes per second. Architected for short to mid term storage of large data sets, the Data Capacitor goes into production at the beginning of April. Stephen Simms, Data Capacitor project manager, will introduce the Data Capacitor, explain the technology that supports it, and discuss its many uses.
Data Capacitor Powerpoint Slides
February 28th -- What you need to know about Massive Data Storage Service
Learn about recent changes and enhancements made to the Massive Data Storage Service (MDSS) at this month's meeting. Hear about access methods that have been added or modified, and changes needed to access the new version of MDSS.
January 31 -- AVIDD's Pending Retirement
The topic for Janurary will be AVIDD's pending retirement and options for migrating to new systems, including local and TeraGrid migration options. Bring your lunch and your concerns about migrating to the newer, higher performance platforms.
AVIDD's Retirement Powerpoint Slides
