Grids and Portals

1

• Grids and Portals
• at NERSC
• Presented by Steve Chan ltsychan_at_lbl.govgt

2
Globus and The Grid

• The Grid is a generic term for collection of
  resources across the Net
• Resources share a common platform so that
  applications can make use of them through uniform
  interfaces
• Resource collections put together in virtual
  fashion based on scientific collaborations (not
  based on physical location)
• See http//www.gridforum.org/
• Globus Toolkit is middleware package from The
  Globus Project
• De Facto standard for Grid platform
• Consists of tools for
• Data Management (grid ftp)
• Resource Management (job schedulers)
• Information Management (directory services)
• See http//www.globus.org/

3
NERSC Grid Efforts

• All main NERSC production systems Grid Enabled
• HPSS
• Seaborg
• Escher
• PDSF (linux cluster)
• IBM/NERSC Collaboration
• Cactus Simulation on Seaborg
• Centralized Authorization
• LDAP Based solution
• Evaluating CAS (Community Authorization Server)
• Service that authorizes users to access resources
• Grid Single Sign On evaluation
• Based on PKI and Central Authorization
  infrastructure
• NERSC PKI Infrastructure
• Integration with NIM database
• Developing infrastructure to simplify credential
  management
• Grid Access to HPSS
• Grid Security work
• Supported Globus work on Firewall configuration
  recommendations

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NERSC Grids and Portals
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What does it do today?

• Third party file transfers between NERSC systems
  (HPSS, Seaborg)
• Batch job submission (on PDSF)
• Visualize datasets using AMR renderer and
  Visapult (VisPortal)
• Run applications that span clusters (VisPortal)
• Browse HPSS via web browser (VisPortal)

6
VisPortal

• Visportal.lbl.gov is a web-based grid portal that
  provides visualization tools for analysis and
  visualization of scientific data to users of
  NERSC's high-performance compute resources.
• Through a single login the portal
• brokers the selection of Grid resources
• launches multiple components of distributed
  visualization software.
• displays results w/custom client(if necessary)
• First portal application targets are
• Visapult
• parallel AMR volume rendering
• visualization "spreadsheets
• MPEG generation
• third party file transfer.

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Visapult
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HPSS Web Access

• Web interface to HPSS and any other GridFTP
  enabled server
• Will Allow
• Browsing of directories via web
• Uploading/downloading files between local machine
  and HPSS
• Third party transfers of files between GridFTP
  servers
• Reliable File Transfer (offline, automated file
  transfers)
• Status
• Prototypes developed by Mass Storage and Vis
  group
• Mass Storage is developing dedicated, production
  service

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NERSC Portal

• Single entry point for web enabled services on
  NERSC machines
• Will interface to HPSS and VisPortal
• Potential applications
• Batch job submission via web
• Monitor status of jobs and queues
• Complete workflows that include file staging and
  job submission
• Soliciting user community for applications to
  improve usability of NERSC systems

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NERSC Grid - planned

• Strategic Implementation Plan includes commitment
  to Grid rollout
• Comprehensive plan for Grid technology that
  includes system services, support for Grid
  applications and integration with existing
  systems
• Support for Grid job scheduling environments in
  2004
• Support for Grid collaboration environments in
  2005
• Planning stages for Grid Portals
• Web based interface for parameterized batch job
  submission
• Additional Visualization applications
• Integrating storage access, computation and
  presentation in a web based interface
• Grid workflows spanning multiple platforms
• HPSS for storage
• Seaborg and PDSF for analysis
• Escher for visualization/rendering/image analysis
• Actively recruiting potential applications
• Streamlining usability problems with Grid
  authentication
• NIM integration
• Centralized key/certification management