Distributed Virtual Supercomputers
Sheraton Charleston — Charleston, SC
March 30 – April 1, 1998
Presentations
- Overview of Sandia activities and plans – Camp, Hale.
- Overview of Swiss activities and plan – Gruber, Frey, Kuonen.
- Overview of ORNL activities and plan
- Kliewer
- ORNL Heterogeneous Distributed Computing Research – Geist
- DEC – Alpha and interconnect plans. Kaufmann
- Giganet – VIA – Dave Wells
- Hippi ST – Ian Philp
- Interconnects
- Distributed computing infrastructure – Al Geist
- Distributed storage, data management, and visualization – Phil Heermann
- Applications
Attendees
Plus a few folks who wished to attend but could not actually attend.
Oak Ridge National Laboratory
- Buddy Bland
- Randy Burris
- Jack Dongarra (unable to attend)
- Al Geist
- Ken Kliewer
- Philip LoCascio
- Tim Sheehan
- Ross Toedte (unable to attend)
- Jack Wells
Swiss (EPFL, ETHZ, SCS)
- Roberto Car (unable to attend)
- Michel Deville
- Martin Frey
- Benoit Gennart
- Ralf Gruber
- Anton Gunzinger
- Michel Jaunin
- Pierre Kuonen
- Randy Paffenroth
- Michel Reymond
- Marie-Christine Sawley (unable to attend)
- Damien Tappy
Sandia National Laboratories
- William Camp
- David Greenberg
- Grant Heffelfinger (unable to attend)
- Art Hale
- Philip Heermann
- Vic Holmes
- Jack Jones (unable to attend)
- Mike Koszykowski (unable to attend)
- Juan Meza
- Tom Pratt
- Rolf Riesen
- Mark Sears
- Jim Tomkins
- Michael Vahle (unable to attend)
- Pete Wyckoff
Guests
- Dave Wells, Giganet
- Ivan Sipos, DEC
- Richard Kaufmann, DEC
- Guy Cormier, U. Puerto Rico
- Michael Levine, PSC
- J. Ray Scott, PSC
- Charlie McMillan, LLNL
- John May, LLNL
- Pete Beckman, LANL
- Ian Philp, LANL
Working Groups
During the workshop the following working groups were established:
- Interconnects. Leaders = Hale, Gunzinger. Participants = Riesen,
- Distributed computing infrastructure. Leader = Geist. Participants = Michel Jaunin, Martin Frey, Guy Cormier, Juan Meza
- Distributed storage, data management, and visualization. Leader = Heermann. Participants = Kliewer, Levine, Scott, Gennart, Burris, Sipos, May,
- Applications. Leader = Sears. Participants = Wells, Tomkins, Camp,
At the conclusion of the workshop we decided to form the following on-going working groups.
- Parallel File Systems. Co-chairs Art Hale and David Greenberg
- Benchmarks and Evaluation of Systems. Chair Ralf Gruber. Participants: Jack Wells, Philip LoCascio
- Resource Management and Security. Chair J. Ray Scott, PSC. Participants: Art Hale
- MPI-lite and MPI-2 priorities. Chair Martin Frey.
- RAS (Reliability, Availibility, and Servicability) of clusters and issues in production operation. Chair Buddy Bland. Participants: Art Hale
- Definition of joint projects. Chair Juan Meza. Participants: Tim Sheehan
- New ideas for discussion. Chair David Greenberg.
DRAFT Agenda, Version VI
Monday, March 30
| Time | Event |
|---|---|
| 8:00 | Continental breakfast and registration |
| 9:00 | Discussion of workshop agenda, goals, procedures, and expectations Ralf Gruber Bill Camp Ken Kliewer |
| 9:30 | Overview of activities and current plans James Tomkins, SNL Swiss-Tx Ralf Gruber Martin Frey Pierre Kuonen |
| 10:30 | Break |
| 11:00 | Overview continues Bill Camp and Art Hale, SNL Al Geist and Ken Kliewer, ORNL |
| 12:00 | Lunch |
| 1:00 | State-of-the-art presentations |
| 1:00 | DEC – Alpha and interconnect plans |
| 1:45 | Tandem – interconnect plans |
| 2:30 | Giganet – VIA |
| 3:15 | Break |
| 3:45 | Organize workshop groupsInterconnects Leaders: Anton Gunzinger and Art HaleSuggestion: a strategy for incorporating VIA and ST into future XANs (SAN/LAN/WAN). At a minimum this group should produce a list of gaps and preferably some strategies for filling them.Distributed computing infrastructure (conferencing, electronic notebooks, security, scheduling, middleware, fault tolerance, checkpoint, accounting, monitoring, …=>resource management) Leader: Al GeistDistributed storage and data management Leader: unknownSuggestion: explore the roles of DFS, NFS, and HDF in detail. Identify common name space strategies. Backup.Applications Leaders: Grant Heffelfinger, Tim SheehanSuggestion: applications requirements group draw up as specific a possible set of requirements as they can. The requirements should include at a minimum compilation, job launch (interactive and batch), debugging, performance monitoring, libraries (math and system), I/O needs, and checkpointing. In each case the group should be challenged to think about what is different in serial vs. MPP vs. distributed systems.Visualization Leader: UnknownSuggestion: develop a proposal for some standard standard interfaces between visualization services (rendering, etc.) and data whether it be meshes, experimental data, or simulation data. The interface should allow for data to be on tape, disk, or in memory and allow for efficient pre-fetch and caching over networks.General questions to be addressed in all groups:Where are we?What are our targets?What is needed to get from a to b?Define specific tasks and time tables. |
| 5:30 | Adjourn |
Tuesday, March 31
| Time | Event |
|---|---|
| 7:30 | Breakfast |
| 8:30 | Workshop groups continue |
| 10:30 | Break |
| 11:00 | Workshop groups continue |
| 12:30 | Lunch |
| 1:30 | Reports from working groups |
| 1:30 | Interconnects |
| 2:00 | Distributed computing infrastructure |
| 2:30 | Distributed storage and data management |
| 3:00 | Break |
| 3:30 | Applications |
| 4:00 | Visualization |
| 4:30 | General discussion of all the reports: emphases correct? |
| 5:30 | Adjourn |
Wednesday, April 1
| Time | Event |
|---|---|
| 7:30 | Continental breakfast |
| 8:30 | General discussion of planned systems in their entirety Capabilities Scalability Impact Attractive features Problems Specific systems for specific niches? |
| 10:00 | Break |
| 10:30 | Summary of system discussion David Greenberg |
| 11:00 | Decisions on tasks for the future Ralf Gruber and Bill Camp |
| 12:00 | Lunch |
| 1:00 | Adjourn |
Registration for second workshop
March 30 – April 1, 1998
The organizers intend the workshop to produce requirements documents and active collaborations. As such workshop participation is by invitation only and primarily limited to the sponsoring organizations and current research collaborators. If you wish to attend the workshop please send email to Ken Kliewer. Attendees will be responsible for their own travel and lodging expenses.
The Charleston International Airport provides airline support to the Charleston area. It is serviced by the following airlines:
- Delta,
- American,
- American Eagle
- Air
- United Express
The Sheraton Charleston does not provide shuttle service from the airport; however, there is an Airport Limo which provides transportation at a cost of $8 one-way. Taxi service is ~$15 one-way. Distance from the airport is ~12 miles, 20 minutes.
Sheraton Charleston
170 Lockwood Drive
Charleston SC 29403
(803) 723-3000 reservations
(803) 723-0276 fax
Transportation
Low Country Limousine Service is the preferred carrier of the Sheraton Charleston Hotel for individual and group transportation. Upon arriving at the Charleston Airport, please visit the Low Country Limousine Service desk (conveniently located inside the airport’s baggage claim area and open 24 hours daily) before retrieving your luggage. The one-way fare is $15.00 per person or $10.00 for two or more people, plus driver gratuity. The Airport Authority requires that all passengers requiring limousine service have prior reservations. Airport transportation reservation forms are available or call 1-800-222-4771.
The Charleston Dash, provided by the city, stops by the Sheraton Sunday-Saturday at thirty-minute intervals beginning 6:30 a.m. – 11p.m. daily, March – November and 6:30 a.m. – 5 p.m. December – February. Guests can enjoy the trolley ride through the historical streets of Charleston.
Taxi-Type Service: Low Country Limousine at $5.00 for one person and only $4.00 if sharing each way! Reservations can be made through 803-760-6060.
Parking
Ample complimentary parking is provided for our guests.
Features and Recent Renovations
A few important updates on our reservations and improvements at the Sheraton Charleston Hotel:
- Located on the beautiful Ashley River across from Brittlebank Park overlooking marinas with Charleston’s greatest view!
- Beautiful-appointed rooms and suites, the newest in Charleston
- Full service Ashley’s restaurant and lounge/room service
- Fitness room and jogging path. Outdoor pool and courtyard.
- In-room voice mail – King rooms feature business workstation, two phone lines with a data report.