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Advanced Campus Services
Information Systems & Technology
Georgia State University
P. O. Box 3968
Atlanta, Georgia 30302-3968
Phone +1 404 463 9685
Email: avandenberg@gsu.edu

SURA NMI Integration Testbed Program

Intra-testbed Grid

Preliminary Status

February 16, 2004

University of Michigan

We have done some work for our campus within MGRID and are just now integrating numerous pieces (portal, ldap user authorization, AFS , NFS , monitoring, metascheduling, accounting). Our MGRID web page has some of this:

http://www.mgrid.umich.edu

University of Southern California

For resources: we have a Sunfire 15k, a Linux cluster, and a Condor pool made up of Solaris workstations -- all part of USCGrid (see http://www.usc.edu/uscgrid). We are also working to implement HotPage/GridPort. We have the SCEC folks working on an earthquake collaboratory, and the Claremont folks looking to fund a genomic collaboratory, using USCGrid resources . We have an operating USC PKI Lite CA that issues host and persistent-service PKI certs. We have sysadmin resources on a catch-as-catch-can basis.

Georgia State University

GSU grad student Nova Ahmed working on Genome Alignment algorithm with UAB Beowulf cluster as platform. Using MPICH is giving good results for algorithm, demonstrating benefit of grid based resources. Working on using MPICH-G2.

GSU grad student Imran Faridi is implementing GridPort and is targeting February to have first view of GSU resources (Initial Muon-Detector nodes; Sun X1s; PCs in Firewall lab & ACS department). NPACI Hotpage ( https://hotpage.npaci.edu/ ) is a model that we'd likely look to emulate for our Intra-Testbed, yes?

Initial success of UAB Beowulf work has several faculty more "Grid interested" (Dr. Pan in paper related to Nova's grid work; Dr. Harrison re putting his Beowulf on grid) in grid. This is a hoped for outcome: Intra-Testbed grid will be a demonstration of capability.

Texas Advanced Computing Center

UAB has made its Beowulf cluster available to GSU grad student Nova Ahmed working

University of Alabama at Birmingham

UAB has made its Beowulf cluster available to GSU grad student Nova Ahmed working on genome alignment algorithm.

Excerpted from Statement of Work in SURA-GSU contract:

In the final year of the initial Cooperative Agreement, the NMI Integration Testbed is further formalizing its evaluation of NMI Grids components and related integrating enterprise middleware. This will be accomplished through the building of an intra-Testbed site grid and related investigative activities to achieve the following broad objectives:

· Provide a mechanism for Testbed sites to explore grid capability with researchers and faculty at their institution and with others considering grids as a collaborative technology. For instance, several SURA and SURA member projects might access this grid to see an inter-institutional grid "in action" and possibly collaborate with the Testbed to explore particular features or issues. Such projects include SCOOP, the NC Biogrid and recently discussed NC statewide grid initiative, SURA PACS workshop development (focused on hands-on grid training), and existing inter-institutional projects such as SER- CAT ( http://www.ser.anl.gov ).

· Identify, address, and resolve unaddressed cross-campus authentication issues inherent in "true" (not project-specific) inter-institutional grids.

· Expand evaluation and real life usage of NMI components related to "plumbing" grid authentication to the campus enterprise infrastructure.

· Enable the Testbed to make a recognized and valuable contribution to the NMI with existing funding and within the final year of the current Cooperative agreement. This would benefit the NMI at a programmatic level and would also provide the Testbed and its participants with a foundation from which to propose and secure additional funding.

Art Vandenberg of Georgia State University will be responsible for the following aspects of the project plan:

1) GRID demonstration and enterprise integration -

Actions/Outcomes:

· Develop and publish a catalog of in-use and potential grid applications at NMI Testbed sites. This will be modeled after the GSU GRID Application Catalog that is already under development.

· Lead the deployment of an intra-testbed grid with a level of shared access that is adequate for demonstrating a persistent working grid to researchers at Testbed campuses and to outside researchers upon request. As part of this, collaborate with TACC to explore the use of emerging portal standards and software to enable user-friendly access.

· Catalyze progress in linking grid authentication to enterprise authentication for participating sites that are using applicable NMI components.

· Communicate to the Testbed at-large regarding progress, adding sites as collaborators when appropriate.