STATE-WIDE UNDERGRADUATE
GRID COMPUTING COURSE
Barry Wilkinson
University of North Carolina, Charlotte
Clayton Ferner
University of North Carolina, Wilmington
NSF CCLI Showcase
SIGCSE 2007
Friday, March 9, 2007
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Grid Computing

Using
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 Organization
Usually, grid computing
involves teams working
together on a common
goal, sharing computing
resources and possibly
experimental equipment.
Geographically distributed grid computing team
called a virtual organization.
The resources shared include software and
experimental data.
Crosses multiple administrative domains.
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Applications

Originally e-Science applications
– Computational intensive
– Data intensive.
– Experimental collaborative projects

Now also e-Business applications to improve
business models and practices.
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Grid Computing Course

Taught on North
Carolina Research and
Education televideo
network that connects
all 16 state campuses
and also private
institutions
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Grid Computing Course Participants
14 North Carolina institutions (Total 2004 - 2007):
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Appalachian State University
Elon University
North Carolina Central University
North Carolina State University
University of North Carolina at Asheville
University of North Carolina Chapel Hill
University of North Carolina at Charlotte
University of North Carolina at Greensboro
University of North Carolina at Pembroke
University of North Carolina at Wilmington
Western Carolina University
Winston-Salem State University
Lenoir Rhyne College,
Wake Technical Community College.
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Participating Sites
VIRGINIA
Appalachian State University
TENNESSEE
UNC Asheville
Western Carolina University
NC Central University
UNC Greensboro
Lenoir Rhyne
College
NC State University
Winston-Salem State
University
Wake Tech. Comm.
College
Elon
University
UNC Chapel Hill
UNC Charlotte
NORTH CAROLINA
UNC Pembroke
GEORGIA
UNC Wilmington
SOUTH CAROLINA
© World Sites Atlas (sitesatlas.com)
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Spring 2007 Course Home Page
http://www.cs.uncc.edu/~abw/ITCS4146S07
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Grid Infrastructure

Grid infrastructure set up using computing
resources at several campuses.

Required Globus and associated software
installed and fairly significant administrative
work.
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Fall 2005 Course grid structure
ASU
UNC-C
CA
CA
NCSU
WCU
CA
CA
UNC-W
UNC-A
CA
CA
MCNC
CA
Backup
facility, not
actually used
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Course portal (OGCSE2/Gridsphere)
Portal provides single sign-on to all grid resources.
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User Registration portlet (PURSe)
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Getting an account
Go to portal and select “register”
Course on-line registration form
Fill in form
Provide
password and
other
information
New User
Email
• Request Confirmation
• Acknowledgement
Contact other grid
resource
administrators if
users requests
account on their
resource
CA/System
Administrator
Create accounts, set access
control, sign certificate, …
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Programming Assignments (Spring 2007)
Assignment 1
Assignment 2
Assignment 3
Assignment 4
Assignment 5
Assignment 6
Assignment 7
Mini-project
Using grid computing portal
Using the grid through a command line.
Using a scheduler (Condor-G)
Installing GT4 core. Creating, deploying,
and testing a GT4 Grid service.
Installing and using GridNexus workflow
editor to create and execute workflows.
Implementing a portlet with
OGCSE2/Gridsphere portal.
MPI assignment on grid
Developing grid computing assignment
Assignments 4, 5, and 6 require students to install
significant software packages on their computer.
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GridNexus Workflow Editor

Developed
by UNCWilmington
www.gridnexus.org
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GridNexus
Workflow
using Grid Services
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Guest Speakers (2004)

Professor Daniel A. Reed, Chancellor's Eminent Professor,
Vice Chancellor for IT and CIO, UNC-Chapel Hill, Director of
Institute for Renaissance Computing, UNC Chapel Hill, Duke
University, and NC State University:
–
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“Grid computing: 21st Century Challenges.”
Dr. Wolfgang Gentzsch, Managing Director, MCNC Grid
Computing and Networking Services:
–

“Grid Computing in the Industry”
Chuck Kesler, Director, Grid Deployment and Data Center
Services, MCNC:
–

“Security Policy, Legal, and Regulatory Challenges in Grid
Computing Environments”
Professor Ian Foster, Argonne National Laboratory and
University of Chicago:
–
“The Grid: Beyond the Hype.” Taped presentation (originally given
at Duke University, Sept. 14th, 2004).
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Guest Speakers (2005)

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Jeff Schmitt, genesismolecular.com
Jim Jokl, University of Virginia, Art Vandenberg, Georgia
State University, Mary Fran Yafchak, SURA:
–
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"Development and Implementation of an Inter-Institutional Multipurpose Grid”
Lavanya Ramakrishnan, The Renaissance Computing
Institute (RENCI), UNC Chapel Hill, NC State University,
and Duke University:
–
"Leveraging the Grid: Application Perspective”
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Challenges - Technical Issues
(Grid computing)

Providing students with a stable distributed
grid computing platform

Moving students quickly through detailed
programming assignments in the face of
system and student problems.
Relies heavily on faculty contacts at each site.
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Successes

This course was first offered in Fall
2004 and is probably the first such
course in the country, and possibly in
the world, to involve undergraduate
students and so many distributed sites
using a televideo system such as
NCREN and a truly distributed grid
infrastructure.
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Acknowledgements
Support for the work described here was
provided by the National Science Foundation,
and University of North Carolina Office of the
President.
• National Science Foundation, “Introducing Grid Computing into the Undergraduate
Curricula,” ref. DUE 0410667, PI: A. B. Wilkinson, co-PI’s Mark Holliday and D.
Luginbuhl, 2004-2007, Additional Funding,” ref. DUE 0533334, PI: B. Wilkinson, 20052007
• University of North Carolina Office of President, “A Consortium to Promote
Computational Science and High Performance Computing,” PI: B. Kurtz (Appalachian
State University) co-PIs: B. Berg, W. Campbell, W. Hightower, M. Holliday, J.
Hollingworth, R. Hull, D-H Hwang, S. Lea, Y. Li, S. V. Providence, D. Powell, R. Shore,
S. Suthaharan, R. Tashakkori, and B. Wilkinson, 2004-2006.
• University of North Carolina Office of President, “Fostering Undergraduate Research
Partnerships through a Graphical User Environment for the North Carolina Computing
Grid,” PI: R. Vetter (UNC-Wilmington), co-PIs: L. Bartolotii, D. R. Berman, R. Boston,
J. Brown, C. Ferner, T. Hudson, T. Janicki, N. Martin, M. McClelland, J. Porter, A.
Stapleton, and B. Wilkinson, 2004-2006.
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Questions?
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