D10.1: First Annual Report of WP10

The major aim of Work Package 10 (WP10) ‘Advancing the Operational Infrastructure’ is promoting the software technology and services needed for the operation of the integrated infrastructure inherited from the DEISA project and the PRACE preparatory phase. After finalization of the PRACE-1IP project, WP10 is also continuing the work of the technology task T6.3 of the work package WP6 of PRACE-1IP. This activity is split into three tasks which cover different aspects of the goal to be achieved. The first one is focused on the existing infrastructure. The second one concentrates on data services, which go beyond the already existing ones, because access to data is an essential need for all scientists doing computations within PRACE. The third task deals with the remote visualization of data. This can help in reducing the amount of data to be transferred and also enable users to adapt parameters for future computations according to the outcome of the visualization.
The first task, enhancing the existing infrastructure, is aligned with the different services provided, while currently the main focus is related to authentication and authorization, accounting, monitoring and interfaces to the infrastructure. In order to stay aligned with other important projects in these fields, a sub-task is taking care of collaborations with other technological oriented projects. Some of the activities started only after the respective work of T6.3 in WP6 of PRACE-1IP has ended and will now be continued and completed in WP10 of PRACE-2IP. The unification of the users’ view on the Tier-0 and the Tier-1 infrastructure, especially for the submission of proposals and their different review processes is a main goal in the DECI-portal activity part of this task. The requirements figured out by WP2, caring for the DECI calls, the needs of AISBL responsible for the Tier-0 calls, and the wish for a common tool for both, Tier-0 and Tier-1 calls, implied an intensive investigation in the possible solutions. It is planned for the PRACE all-hands-meeting in Paris in September to achieve a decision based on technical and non-technical arguments, which tool to select on which then the adjustment and development work will start.
For the second task, data services, it turned out, that there is a need for a strategic planning, on how to deal with data in PRACE in general. The current model assumes all input and output data related to computations performed in Tier-0, but also in most cases in Tier-1, to be transferred into and out of the PRACE systems in a relatively short time frame. Considering the ever increasing amount of such data and the limited external network capabilities this way of data handling encounters more and more problems, although improvements in the file transfer technologies are achieved. Thus the management agreed that WP10 will collect options and summarize them as possible methods for the treatment of data in PRACE. Beside these general considerations the evolution of file transfer technologies are continuously followed. Reflecting already existing users’ requests in the latest DECI-calls, iRODS was selected as the repository-technology to investigate. Concerning the evaluation of file systems the main focus was set on hierarchical storage management for long-term storage needs.
The third task, remote visualization, has made progress in collecting information about state-
of-the-art remote-visualization technologies and surveying their deployment at PRACE
partner sites. Selected technologies, as well as specific software tools for the visualization and
analysis of scientific data were presented to an audience of scientific users at a summer
school. Furthermore, a pilot project, which addresses some of the shortcomings of existing,
out-of-the-box remote visualization infrastructures has been implemented at one partner site.
The project aims at improving the scalability of the visualization infrastructure and in
particular the ease-of-use for scientific users end-users concerning client setup and connection
handling. It is being prepared for export to other sites collaborating within this task for their
further assessment concerning suitability for the corresponding production environments.