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Workshop on

Operating Systems, Tools and Methods for High Performance Computing on Linux Clusters

Organized by EDF "Le printemps de la recherche" and IRISA-INRIA Rennes

with the ORAP support

 

October 7th, 2003


EDF R&D - Clamart (France)

Program

(abstracts and biographies)

9:00 Welcome coffee

9:30 Introduction (Jean-Yves Berthou, EDF R&D)

Session 1: Which OS for Cluster High Performance Computing ?

Chairman: Yvon Jégou, IRISA/INRIA

Clusters are now attractive for executing high performance applications. However cluster programming is difficult as clusters suffer from a lack of a dedicated single system image operating system providing the illusion of a single powerful and highly available computer. In the first talk, the issues raised when designing a single system image operating system for high performance computing on clusters will be addressed and will be illustrated by the research work, carried on at IRISA/INRIA on the design and implementation of Kerrighed single system image cluster operating system. In the second talk, OSCAR, a cluster software stack providing an infrastructure for cluster computing, will be presented. In the last talk, a leader of the Linux development community will discuss the evolutions of Linux towards clustering.


9:45 Single System Image OS for Clusters: Kerrighed approach (Christine Morin, INRIA)


10:30 Open Source Cluster Application Resources (OSCAR) (Stephen Scott, Oak Ridge National Laboratory)


11:15 Evolution of Linux towards Clustering (Andrea Arcangeli, Suse)


12:00 Lunch


Session 2: Tools and methods for efficient use of Linux clusters

Chairman: Jean-Louis Vaudescal, EDF R&D

The afternoon session will be dedicated to presentations of tools and methods for efficient use of Linux clusters. The first talk will be devoted to HA-Linux project aiming at intégration high availability machnisms in Linux. The ID project at ENSIMAG will present state of the art tools for installation, exploitation and use of Linux clusters. The integration of Linux clusters into industrial environment will be illustrated be current practices at CGG (Compagnie Générale de Géophysique) and at EDF.


14:00 High availability in Linux Clusters (Alan Roberson, Linux-HA)

14:30 Deploying Clusters at Electricité de France (Jean-Yves Berthou, EDF)


15:00 CLIC project (Yves Denneulin, ENSIMAG & Erwan Velu, MandrakeSoft)


15:30 Cluster Computing at Compagnie Générale de Géophysique (Jean-Yves Blanc, CGG) (slides not available for public distribution)

16:00 Coffee break


Panel: LINUX Evolution Towards Clusters

Moderator: Thierry Priol, IRISA/INRIA

Panelists: Andrea Arcangeli (Suse), Jean-Yves Berthou (EDF R&D), Jean-Yves Blanc (CGG), Romaric David (Université de Strasbourg), Christine Morin (IRISA/INRIA), Alan Roberson (IBM), Stephen Scott (ORNL), Erwan Velu (MandrakeSoft)


Clusters are now more and more widely used for high performance computing. Several clusters used in the scientific and research communities run Linux operating system on each node to support various programming environments such as PVM or MPI. However, Linux offers a very limited support for cluster management and use. For the last 20 years, numerous research groups have studied operating system mechanisms to ease cluster programming and management. Prototypes of cluster operating systems are available such as Mosix, Open Mosix, Genesis or Kerrighed.

This panel aims at debating what an operating system for cluster should be, what is the architecture of such an operating system and how it can fit within Linux. This panel will be an opportunity to confront the point of view of researchers working on cluster OS, of the leaders of the community of Linux developers, of the industrial users and of the promoters of alternative approaches such as the Oscar initiative.

16:30 Panel discussion

18:00 End of workshop

Registration

There will be no registration fee but advanced registration will be required. The registration covers lunch and coffee breaks.

Deadline for registration was September, 22nd, 2003.

Transportation

The workshop will be held in Pierre Ailleret room at EDF R&D in Clamart (France).

Map and transportation information

Hotels

Hôtel Victor Hugo
166 AVENUE VICTOR HUGO CLAMART
01 46 42 04 68

HOTEL " LA BRECHE DU BOIS " 2*
7 Place Jules Hunebelle - 92 140 CLAMART
Tél : 33 (0)1.46.42.29.06 - Fax : 33 (0)1.46.42.00.05

Contact

Christine Morin (christine.morin@irisa.fr)
IRISA/INRIA
PARIS project-team

Jean-Yves Berthou
Head of the Applied Scientific Computing Group
Dept SINETICS, EDF R&D