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Grid Computing

Spring 2007

Tuesday/Thursday 11:00 am - 12:15 pm

Instructors

Dr. Barry WilkinsonUniversity of North Carolina, Charlotte

andDr. Clayton Ferner

University of North Carolina, Wilmington

Grid Computing, B. Wilkinson, 2007 Jan 22, 2007

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Grid ComputingUsing geographically distributed and interconnected computers together for computing and for resource sharing.

“The grid virtualizes heterogeneous geographically disperse resources” from "Introduction to Grid Computing with Globus," IBM Redbooks

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Virtual OrganizationUsually, grid computing involves teams working together on a common goal, sharing computing resources and possibly experimental equipment.

The geographically distributed grid computing team and their resources is called a virtual organization.

The resources shared include software and experimental data.

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Interconnections

Usually grid computing employs the Internet to interconnect the computers.

Standard Internet protocols are used.

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Course credit

This course can be taken by students at any university connected to the NCREN, for credit at their institution.

Course number assigned by the institution.

Listed as an undergraduate course but can be taken for graduate credit with my approval and your institution.

Graduate students can expect more demanding work.

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Course virtual organization

Current list of sites scheduled to receive course with students:

• University of North Carolina at Asheville

• University of North Carolina at Charlotte

• University of North Carolina at Wilmington

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Course grid structure

UNC-W

UNC-A

UNC-C

coit-grid01.uncc.educoit-grid02.uncc.educoit-grid03.uncc.educoit-grid04.uncc.edu3.4 Ghz dual Xeon processors

Course portal

trc.cs.uncc.edu

torvalds.cis.uncw.edu

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Class scheduleEach university has its own class schedule, see:

http://www.cs.uncc.edu/~abw/ITCS4146S07/academiccalender.html

UNC-C schedule:First day of classes January 8Dr. Martin Luther King Day University Closed January 15 Student Recess - no classes March 5-10Spring Weekend - no classes April 6-7Last day of classes May 1Reading Day May 2Final Examinations May 3-10

It will be necessary for students at sites with breaks that do not coincide with UNC-C's breaks to watch recordings of classes later.

 

 

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Prerequisites• Programming skills such as already acquired by a typical junior/senior undergraduate Computer Science student.

It is expected that you have a computer (PC or mac)!Some work best done on your own computer.

The grid computing platform is a Linux system.Access to Grid is through:

a web-based portal, andthough an ssh connection.

You will need to be able to perform (simple) Linux system commands.Programs are either (simple) C programs or (simple) java programs depending upon the context.

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Course Home Page

http://www.cs.uncc.edu/~abw/ITCS4146S07

for announcements, slides, assignments, reading materials, tests dates, etc.

Visit regularly.

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Course Text

• There is no assigned course textbook.

• Materials and links are provided on the home page.

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Outline of Topics• Introduction to grid computing• Grid computing system infrastructure design• Security• Job management, schedulers• Data management and workflow• High performance scientific programming, MPI• Portal design• Grid Applications

More details of course home page

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Assignments and Grading

• Several “simple” 1-2 week prewritten programming assignments (tasks)– Grid services– Globus jobs– Job scheduling– Workflow editor– Portlet design

• Mini-project (grid application)• Class tests (2)• Final test• Small print: Subject to change. The instructor reserves the right to change the assignments and the grading to make it easier or harder.

45%

15%25%15%

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“Simple” Prewritten Programming Assignments

• Detailed instructions provided on achieving a task (creating a grid service, running a GT 4 job, etc.)

• Simply follow instructions.

• At end, asked to extend the work - e.g. add functionality to a service.

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SoftwareCourse assignments require specific distributed computing software from the NSF NMI package.

The software is installed on systems at each sites.

Student will access to a primary sites software through remote ssh access and also access to all resources via the course grid portal.

Certain software can easily be downloaded and installed on your own PC, so that you can do some work at home. Ideally students should install specified software on their own system to do certain assignments.

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Class tests and assignment submission

WebCT at UNC-C will be used for multiple-choice class tests and for submitting assignments.

http://www.webct.uncc.edu/WCT_FACULTY/index.html

Everyone will be given an account on this system.

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Instructors details

UNC-CharlotteBarry Wilkinson

Department of Computer ScienceUniversity of North Carolina, Charlotte

Home page: http://www.cs.uncc.edu/~abwEmail: abw@uncc.edu

Office HoursMonday: 11:00 am – 12 noon

Tuesday/Thursday: 12:30 am to 2:00 pm and 3:00 pm to 4:00 pm 

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Instructors details

UNC-WilmingtonClayton Ferner

Department of Computer ScienceUniversity of North Carolina Wilmington

Home page: http://people.uncw.edu/cferner Email: cferner@uncw.edu

Office HoursMonday/Wednesday/Friday

1 pm – 3 pm 

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UNC-AshevilleDean Brock

Department of Computer ScienceUniversity of North Carolina Asheville

Home page: http://www.cs.unca.edu/~brock/index.html

Email:brock@cs.unca.edu

Office Hours?? 

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Expectations

• Print out slides before class, read them, and annotate them during class.

• Read key papers and other materials provided.

• Ask questions during class and participate in class discussion.

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NCREN facility(North Carolina Research and

Education Network)

Site interaction

Each site will be using their NCREN facility, which provides microphones for individuals to speak.

Please feel fee to speak at suitable times but remember that NCREN needs to be able to recognize the site and speaker, so first announce your institution.

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NCREN facilitycontinued

• Since most microphones are turned on all the time, any sound will be heard across all sites unless a site turns their microphones off, so try to avoid unnecessary sounds.

• Fans from laptop can be especially disturbing, so move laptop away from a microphone.

• Turn cell phones off.

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NCREN Video Class Recording

The lectures are available after 24 hours at:  

http://www.mcnc.org/ncren/UNCC/

Click on class: ITCS 4146.

Username: ITCS4146

Password: Wilkinson

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Acknowledgements

Partial support for this work was provided by the National Science Foundation’s Course, Curriculum, and Laboratory Improvement program under grant #0410667/0533334and byUniversity of North Carolina, Office of the President.

Their support is gratefully acknowledged.