Grid Computing
Spring 2007
Tuesday/Thursday 11:00 am - 12:15 pm
Instructors
Dr. Barry Wilkinson
University of North Carolina, Charlotte
and
Dr. Clayton Ferner
University of North Carolina, Wilmington
Grid Computing, B. Wilkinson, 2007
Jan 22, 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.
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.
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Course credit
This 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 my approval and
your institution.
Graduate students can expect more demanding work.
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Course virtual organization
Current list of sites scheduled to
receive course with students:
• University of North Carolina at Asheville
• University of North Carolina at Charlotte
• University of North Carolina at Wilmington
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Course grid structure
Course portal
UNC-A
trc.cs.uncc.edu
UNC-C
coit-grid01.uncc.edu
coit-grid02.uncc.edu
coit-grid03.uncc.edu
coit-grid04.uncc.edu
3.4 Ghz dual Xeon processors
UNC-W
torvalds.cis.uncw.edu
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Class schedule
Each university has its own class schedule, see:
http://www.cs.uncc.edu/~abw/ITCS4146S07/academiccalender.html
UNC-C schedule:
First day of classes
Dr. Martin Luther King Day University Closed
Student Recess - no classes
Spring Weekend - no classes
Last day of classes
Reading Day
Final Examinations
January 8
January 15
March 5-10
April 6-7
May 1
May 2
May 3-10
It will be necessary for students at sites with breaks that do
not coincide with UNC-C's breaks to watch recordings of
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classes later.
Prerequisites
• Programming skills such as already acquired by a typical
junior/senior undergraduate Computer Science student.
It is expected that you have a computer (PC or mac)!
Some work best done on your own computer.
The grid computing platform is a Linux system.
Access to Grid is through:
a web-based portal, and
though an ssh connection.
You will need to be able to perform (simple) Linux system
commands.
Programs are either (simple) C programs or (simple) java
programs depending upon the context.
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Course Home Page
http://www.cs.uncc.edu/~abw/ITCS4146S07
for announcements, slides, assignments, reading
materials, tests dates, etc.
Visit regularly.
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Course Text
• There is no assigned course textbook.
• Materials and links are provided on the home
page.
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Outline of Topics
•
•
•
•
•
•
Introduction to grid computing
Grid computing system infrastructure design
Security
Job management, schedulers
Data management and workflow
High performance scientific programming,
MPI
• Portal design
• Grid Applications
More details of course home page
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Assignments and Grading
• Several “simple” 1-2 week
prewritten programming
assignments (tasks)
–
–
–
–
–
Grid services
Globus jobs
Job scheduling
Workflow editor
Portlet design
• Mini-project (grid application)
• Class tests (2)
• Final test
•
45%
15%
25%
15%
Small print: Subject to change. The instructor reserves the right to change the assignments and the grading to make it easier or harder.
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“Simple” 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, asked to extend the work - e.g.
add functionality to a service.
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Software
Course assignments require specific distributed
computing software from the NSF NMI package.
The software is installed on systems at each sites.
Student will access to a primary sites software through
remote ssh access and also access to all resources via
the course grid portal.
Certain software can easily be downloaded and installed
on your own PC, so that you can do some work at home.
Ideally students should install specified software on their
own system to do certain assignments.
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Class tests and assignment
submission
WebCT at UNC-C will be used for multiplechoice class tests and for submitting
assignments.
http://www.webct.uncc.edu/WCT_FACULTY/index.html
Everyone will be given an account on this
system.
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Instructors details
UNC-Charlotte
Barry Wilkinson
Department of Computer Science
University of North Carolina, Charlotte
Home page: http://www.cs.uncc.edu/~abw
Email: abw@uncc.edu
Office Hours
Monday: 11:00 am – 12 noon
Tuesday/Thursday: 12:30 am to 2:00 pm and 3:00 pm to 4:00 pm
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Instructors details
UNC-Wilmington
Clayton Ferner
Department of Computer Science
University of North Carolina Wilmington
Home page: http://people.uncw.edu/cferner
Email: cferner@uncw.edu
Office Hours
Monday/Wednesday/Friday
1 pm – 3 pm
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UNC-Asheville
Dean Brock
Department of Computer Science
University of North Carolina Asheville
Home page: http://www.cs.unca.edu/~brock/index.html
Email:brock@cs.unca.edu
Office Hours
??
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Expectations
• Print out slides before class, read them, and
annotate them during class.
• Read key papers and other materials
provided.
• 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.
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NCREN facility
continued
• 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 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:
http://www.mcnc.org/ncren/UNCC/
Click on class: ITCS 4146.
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 grant #0410667/0533334
and by
University of North Carolina, Office of the
President.
Their support is gratefully acknowledged.
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