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Cardiff UniversityAdvanced Research Computing

Suppliers Briefing

Dr Hugh Beedie(INSRV and ARCCA CTO)

Dr Chris Dickson (SRIF3 HEC Programme Coordinator)

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Cardiff University Supplier Briefing

• Purpose– Inform Suppliers of CU requirement and vision– Supplier to outline Technology Roadmap and

Service capabilities

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Morning Session

• 11:00 to 11:40– Presentation from CU staff (30-35 minutes)– Questions from supplier (5-10 minutes)

• 11:40 to 12:40– Presentation from supplier (45-50 minutes)– Questions from CU staff (10-15 minutes)

• 12:40 to 13:00– Closed session for CU staff (20 minutes)

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Afternoon Session

• 14:00 to 14:40– Presentation from CU staff (30-35 minutes)– Questions from supplier (5-10 minutes)

• 14:40 to 15:40– Presentation from supplier (45-50 minutes)– Questions from CU staff (10-15 minutes)

• 15:40 to 16:00– Closed session for CU staff (20 minutes)

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An Overview:Past, Present and Future

Dr Chris Dickson

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Cardiff University History

• Founded by Royal Charter in 1883

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Cardiff University Mission and Vision

• Mission: To pursue research, learning and teaching of international distinction and impact

• Vision: To be a world class university and to achieve the associated benefits for its students, staff and stakeholders

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Cardiff UniversityScale and Scope

• 26,000 Students– 21,000 Undergraduates– 5,000 Postgraduates– 35,000 Applications for 4,500 Places

• 5,500 Staff– 2,500 Academic & Research

• 28 Academic Schools– 15 Schools RAE 5, 7 Schools RAE5*

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Cardiff University Standing

• A member of the Russell Group of leading research universities

• Research Excellence– 7th UK University

Ranking• Research Assessment

Exercise 2001– Most Recent RAE

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Cardiff UniversityStanding

• 1 Cambridge• 2 Imperial College• 3 Oxford• 7 Cardiff• 8 Manchester• 10 Southampton• 14 Edinburgh• 15 Bristol• 16 York• 21 Birmingham

Cardiff's RAE performance since 1992

1992 1996 2001

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Advanced Research ComputingCurrent Applications

• High Speed Cluster– Galaxy Formation– Gene Sequencing– Mantle Simulation– Molecular Simulation– Orthodontic Modelling– Protein Sequencing

• Gigabit Cluster– Gravitational Waves

• Shared Memory – Computational Fluid

Dynamics– Environmental

Engineering– Star Formation

• Condor– Protein Structure

Determination– Radiotherapy

Simulation

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Advanced Research ComputingCurrent Schools

• Architecture• Biosciences• Business• Chemistry• Computer Science• Dentistry• Earth, Ocean and

Planetary Sciences• English, Communication

and Philosophy

• Engineering• History and Archaeology• Mathematics• Medicine• Optometry and Vision

Sciences• Pharmacy• Physics and Astronomy• Psychology

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Cardiff HEC Strategy

• World class facility for the university

• Adopt a more coordinated approach

• University investment – New organisation - Advanced Research

Computing @ Cardiff (ARCCA)– Staff accommodation and machine room

• SRIF3 investment in equipment and supporting infrastructure

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Offices and Machine Room

• Machine Room– Area 175 sq m– Ground Floor– False Flooring & Ceiling

• Power, Cooling, Network

• Power– Separate Bus-Bar + Meter

• Cooling– Separate Bus-Bar + Meter – Rack-based Cooling– Room-based Cooling

• Security– Key Card Access– Closed Circuit TV

• Fire + Water Damage– Smoke Detection– Water Detection– Automated Shutdown

• Office space for >12 staff

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ARCCA Vision

– To build and sustain a position which takes the university to the forefront of leading research universities in the UK and internationally in this field

– To work very closely with all of the relevant academic schools and administrative directorates

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ARCCA Objectives

– To transform the University’s approach to advanced research computing

– To bring together the advanced research computing community

– To introduce and encourage the use of new techniques and technologies

– To encourage and enable new user communities and new applications

– To encourage new and interdisciplinary research using advanced research computing techniques

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ARCCA Organisation

– Director (TBC)– Chief Technology Officer (Hugh Beedie)– Application Specialists– Infrastructure Specialists– e-Research facilitation– Administrative Assistant

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Timeline

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Tender Requirements

Dr Hugh Beedie

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Cardiff’s Journey

• Separate research projects with project-based HEC facilities

• Some collaborations (e.g. Helix)

• Strategic decision to provide University level solution– SRIF3 grant– ARCCA organisation– Select strategic partner

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Partnership

• State of the art of your technical offerings now and in Autumn 2007?

• Form factor, heat management, power consumption and management?

• HEC landscape over the next 3-7 years ?

• How, over 3-7 years, you can help us to achieve our ambitions to offer "best-in-class" research computing capabilities and services on a par with world-leading campus-level centres?

• Innovative and leap-frogging steps you can help us to take whilst at the same time being able to offer a service to today's "classic" HEC users.

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Why Should You Partner Cardiff ?

• Research quality (7th in UK)• Condor leader (1500PCs by end 2006)• Completing and coordinating the HEC service

spectrum • Current breadth of academic involvement• WeSC involvement and NGS partner• Serious ambitions for

– More Interdisciplinary work– Wider research applications– New techniques

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The HEC Spectrum

HPCTightly Coupled

Supercomputers

NUMA Machines£ Million+

HTCLoosely Coupled

Small Clusters

Campus Pools£ Thousand

£ H Thousand

Large Clusters

SMP£ H Thousand

£ Million

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Tender Outline

• Lot 1. 2048 Core/512 Node Cluster with 4 Head Nodes, Interconnect Fabrics and Cluster S/W.

• Lot 2. Shared Memory Systems (8, 16 and 32-way SMP machines).

• Lot 3. 50TB+ Disk and 200TB+ Tape Storage Services for ARCCA facilities.

• Lot 4. (Optional). Specialist Hardware (FPGAs, accelerators, etc) with associated software

• Lot 5. (Optional) Other software tools (compilers, applications, application profiling & system management tools, other software, etc)

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Reference Design

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Lot 1- Head Nodes

• 16 cores / 4 nodes• 100% of nodes

– CPU Best value for money– RAM 4GB per core / 16GB per node– HDD 1TB per node– NIC 10GbE per node with TOE– NIC 4Gb dual-port fibre-channel

• 100% of nodes with– High Speed – Low Latency Interconnect

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Lot 1 - Cluster Nodes

• 2048 cores / 512 nodes• 100% of nodes

– CPU Best value for money– RAM 2GB per core / 8GB per node– HDD 72GB per node– NIC 2xGbE per node

• 50%, 75%, 100% of nodes– High Speed – Low Latency Interconnect

• Cluster Management and Job scheduling

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Lot 2 - Shared Memory Nodes

• 8, 16, and 32 way

• All systems– CPU Best value for money– RAM 2GB per core – HDD 1TB per system– NIC 2xGbE per system

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Lot 3 - Disk Storage

• 50TB+ Disk Storage– Usable storage space– RAID 0, 1, 5 ???– Hierarchical Storage Management

• FC disk, SATA Disk, Tape Storage ?• Currently using Tivoli

– Connected to Head Nodes • Via 4Gb dual-port fibre-channel• Via existing SAN switch

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Lot 3 - Tape Storage

• 200TB+ Tape Storage– Usable storage space– Hierarchical Storage Management

• Disk Storage• Currently using Tivoli

– Connected to Head Nodes • Via 4Gb dual-port fibre-channel• Via existing SAN switch

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Lot 4 - Specialised Hardware

R & D - Innovative Computational Methods

• Computational Accelerators• Field-Programmable Gate Arrays• Programmable Graphics Processors• Cell Processors

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Lot 5 - Other Software Tools

• We invite you to comment on the following – Extra Cluster Management Tools– Extra Cluster Diagnostic Tools– Other Development Tools

• Optimised Compilers & Libraries– Intel, Portland

• Debuggers– Parallel Debuggers

– Applications And Libraries• Profiling tools

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Support Issues

• We invite you to comment on the following – Spares stock vs guaranteed replacement time– Development/test nodes X 8– Numbers of technical cluster support staff

• Location• Skill sets

– Single point of contact and responsibility• Including direct access to 3rd party tech support

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Any Questions ?

Procurement contacts:

Beedie@cardiff.ac.uk Primary contact

Dickson@cardiff.ac.uk Secondary contact

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Notes