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Grid Computing

Spring 2010

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

Instructors

© 2010 B. Wilkinson/Clayton Ferner. Modification date: Dec 20, 2009

Dr. Clayton FernerUniversity of North Carolina

Wilmington

Dr. Barry WilkinsonUniversity of North Carolina

Charlotte

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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.

Grid Course

• Rather unique - combine distance learning techniques with distributed computer systems creating both a virtual organization of students and a distributed Grid computing platform.

• Provides hands-on experiences of Grid computing software and the underlying techniques

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Course creditThis 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 approval of your institution.

More expected from graduate students.

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Course virtual organization

Nine sites scheduled to receive course:

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Course grid structure - primary sites

UNC-WUNC-C

coit-grid01.uncc.edu *coit-grid02.uncc.edu *coit-grid03.uncc.edu *coit-grid04.uncc.edu *coit-grid05.uncc.edu **

Course portal

torvalds.cis.uncw.edu

* 3.4 Ghz dual Xeon processors** 2.93 Ghz 4 quad-core Xeon processors

6 Dell PowerEdge 1850 Servers 2.8 Ghz quad-core processors 9 Sunfire X4100 servers 2.6 Ghz quad-core processors

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Class scheduleEach university has its own class schedule, see:

http://www.cs.uncc.edu/~abw/ITCS4146S10/academiccalender.html

Classes will start on Tuesday Jan 12, 2010 and will end on Thursday April 22, 2010.

to accommodate different schedules. 

 

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It may 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 as acquired by typical junior/ senior undergraduate Computer Science student.

• Programs either (simple) C programs or (simple) Java programs depending upon context.

It is expected that you have a computer (PC or mac)!

Some work best done on your own computer.

Grid computing platform is a Linux system.

You will need to be able to perform (simple) Linux system commands. We provide documentation.

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Course Home Page

http://www.cs.uncc.edu/~abw/ITCS4146S10

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

Visit regularly.

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Course Text

Grid Computing: Techniques and Applications

Barry WilkinsonUniversity of North Carolina, Charlotte

Chapman & Hall/CRCTaylor and Francis Group LLC, 2009

ISBN: 978-1-4200-6953-2

Find at: CRC Press, Routledge, Amazon

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Outline of Topics• Introduction to Grid computing• Job management, schedulers• Workflow• Grid computing system infrastructure design• Security• Portal design• Grid-enabling applications

More details of course home page

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Assignments and Grading• Seven assignments covering:

– Job submission thro portal– Job submission on command line– Job scheduling– Workflow editor– Grid services– Portlet design

Detailed assignment write-ups in each case, see course home page.

• Class tests/on-line quizzes (2)• Final test/on-line quiz• Small print: Subject to change. The instructor reserves the right to change the assignments and the grading to make it easier or harder.

60%

25%15%

Small print

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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, typically asked to extend the work – e.g. add functionality to a service.

• Write a report of what you did and submit through Moodle, see later for details.

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Systems and SoftwareTwo types of systems used:

• Grid computing servers

- Will be used for some assignments, most notably to schedule and run jobs.

- Access:• Through a web-based portal, or • Though an ssh connection.

depending upon assignment

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• Lab or personal PCs

• Will be used for some assignments. • Require specific open-source software packages

installed. • Packages can easily be downloaded and

installed on your own PC, so that you can do the work at home.

• Ideally students should install these software packages on their own system as directed in assignments to do assignments. You will learn so much!

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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 HoursTuesday/Thursday: 2:00 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 HoursMWF: 1:00 pm to 3:00 pmTR: 1:00 pm to 2:00 pm 

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Expectations

• Read all materials provided.

• Read slides before class. Take additional notes during class

• 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 and name.

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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 a 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:

 

Link to follow

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 grants #0410667/0533334

and #0737318/0737269/0737208 and by University of North Carolina, Office of the President.

Their support is gratefully acknowledged.

Questions

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Questions

What is Grid Computing?

a)Using geographically distributed and interconnected computers together for computing and for resource sharing

b)Using the Internet

c)Using distance computers

d)Using computers geographically distributed

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Questions

What is a virtual organization?

a)A grid computing team and their resources

b)A geographically distributed team

c)The geographically distributed grid computing team and their resources

d)A geographically distributed set of resources

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Questions

What should you do if you miss a class?

a)Drop the courseb)Forget about itc)Ask a classmate what you missedd)View the video of the lecture