CSU HPC (High-Performance Computing) Study

Ricky Yu–Kwong KwokCo-Chair, Research Advisory Committee

ISTeCRicky.Kwok@colostate.edu

November 10, 2008Presented to ISTeC IAC

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Outline

1. Motivation for the Study2. Interpretations of Findings3. Summary of Findings4. HPC Forum (9/3/2008)

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Motivation for the Study

HPC is a 3rd way of conducting research and discovery

To assess current activities and future opportunities

To look at current systems at CSU

To make CSU more competitive in the research arena

Study Motivation

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Summary of Findings [1]

37 responses 26 departments, 31 research areas

HPC is “hot” at CSU!

1/3 of users have no immediate access to HPC resources rely on other departments within CSU OR other organizations outside CSU may be subject to strict resource restrictions

Interpretations of Findings

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Summary of Findings [2]

Scattered resources

Majority of users pessimistic about their HPC needs being met in future

Advanced visualization needs require enhancement

Need to “advertise” GRAD 510/511 courses

Space limitations for HPC hardware???

Consultancy?

Affinity groups?Interpretations of Findings

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HPC Open Forum (9/3/2008)Agenda:

1. Introduction and ISTeC Overview: HJ

2. Background on CSU’s HPC History and Activities: Pat Burns

3. Findings from ISTeC’s HPC Survey: Ricky

4. Advanced Networking Capabilities at CSU: Scott Baily, Director of ACNS

5. Educational Activities in HPC: Sanjay Rajopadhye and Wim Bohm (Computer Science)

6. Plan for an ISTeC Visualization Facility: HJ

7. NERSC and the INCITE Program as a Viable Alternative: Josh Ladd (Mathematics)

8. Open Discussion – Faculty Needs and Directions

Attendance: >50 colleagues from more than 18 departments/units on campus

HPC Open Forum

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Summary of HPC Forum Recommendations

1. Lack of HPC resources on campus impairing competitiveness

2. A large centralized computing facility with consultancy support would be nice

3. A campus scale system, instead of “big iron”, would be more suitable for CSU

Possibly implemented by linking up existing machines

Incentives for sharing have to be provided top-down

4. Over-provisioning of resources to individual researcher is needed to cater for uncertainties in usage

5. Synergies could be derived by pairing up “science” students with IS&T students in joint projects

6. Using NERSC could be a good interim solution to enhance HPC

7. ISTeC could play an important role in enabling interdisciplinary collaborations by providing “social networking” (physically and in cyberspace) for different researchers

Recommendations from HPC Open Forum

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Summary of Proposed Measures to Enhance HPC

ISTeC Director (HJ), CSU VP-IT, and Ricky met with VP-R (Farland) on 11/6/2008 to come up with the following measures:

Hardware:

1. Encourage CSU people to use NERSC

2. Submit a campus wide bid to NSF for tier-3 funding to acquire a large scale HPC platform

3. Consider building a centralized HPC facility:Seeded by CSU central, possibly with donations from companies such as AMD, HP, SunScale the system up incrementally, possibly with startup package funds from VP-R

Software:

1. Identify pro-actively HPC “users” that are in need of help

2. Organize workshops and “crash-courses” for such users, as pre-requisites for GRAD 510/511

Summary of Proposed Measures