Gregory D. Laib

System management in the BlueGene/L supercomputer

The BlueGene/L supercomputer will use system-on-a-chip integration and a highly scalable cellular architecture to deliver 360 teraflops of peak computing power. With 65536 compute nodes, BlueGene/L represents a new level of scalability for parallel systems. As such, it is natural for many scalability challenges to arise. In this paper, we discuss system management and control, including machine booting, software installation, user account management, system monitoring, and job execution. We address the issue of scalability by organizing the system hierarchically. The 65536 compute nodes are organized in 1024 clusters of 64 compute nodes each, called processing sets. Each processing set is under control of a 65th node, called an I/O node. The 1024 processing sets can then be managed to a great extent as a regular Linux cluster, of which there are several successful examples. Regular cluster management is complemented by BlueGene/L specific services, performed by a service node over a separate control network. Our software development and experiments have been conducted so far using an architecturally accurate simulator of BlueGene/L, and we are gearing up to test real prototypes in 2003.

Extending graphics standards to meet industry requirements (panel session)

The presentation describes the plans for the National Weather Service central collection of radar products and distribution via the RPCCDS to allow the termination of the NEXRAD Information Dissemination Service (NIDS) agreements with three private sector vendors. The NIDS will be replaced by the RPCCDS and the NOAAPORT satellite broadcast. The NIDS agreements have been extended until December 31, 2000. A 30-day operational demonstration will be conducted to certify the operational readiness of the RPCCDS. The agreements will be further extended in 90-day increments only if the RPCCDS is not operational by that date. The central radar servers will offer both a multicast broadcast service of all radar products or a FTP access. Dedicated access to either requires a T1 line. Users of either service will be required to sign a Family of Services agreement for the new Radar Product Service and pay a one-time and annual fee (waived for Federal government users). The FTP server will also be accessible over Internet. No agreement or fees apply to Internet access.