Systems-Facing Track

The Systems-Facing track of the People Network will focus on aspects relevant to the execution of research computing and data systems.

Topics include:

  • Architecture (hardware solutions, cloud integration, VMs, container integration, …)
  • Storage systems (file systems, SAN, NAS, NVMe, Burstbuffer, …)
  • Networking (data transfer solutions, Infiniband, campus-wide, …)
  • Cluster management and configuration (scheduling, accounting and reporting, …)
  • Accelerators (GPU, FPGA, …)
  • Security (auditing, compliance, policies, procedures, …)
  • User environment (Modules, CUDA, …)

We connect via monthly calls, on slack and an email list.

Join Us!

Join Us! Fill out our membership form to let us know who you are and what you’re interested in. We’ll add you to the email list. Visit the People Network page to join other tracks.

Monthly Calls

Monthly calls are on the third Thursday of the month, 1pm ET.  Connection information and links to any materials are distributed via email.

Upcoming Plans & Calls

October Topic: Containerizing HPC

October 19, 2023, 1p ET/ 12p CT/ 11a MT/ 10a PT (*50 minute call length)

In the rapidly evolving landscape of High-Performance Computing (HPC), the quest for portable, reproducible, and maintainable software is ongoing. As HPC systems grow in complexity and diversity, traditional methods often grapple with the unique demands posed by these environments. Enter the realm of containerized HPC — a confluence of traditional HPC systems and modern container technology. For this meeting we’ll hear two presentations that stem from the insights shared at PEARC’23. Our first presentation offers a pioneering strategy for building containers tailored for HPC applications, emphasizing software quality assurance through layering. Contrastingly, the second presentation provides a tangible glimpse into the real-world implementation of HPC with container technology.

Speakers: 

  • Matthew R. Sgambati – Idaho National Laboratory
  • Shin Leong & Craig Pohl – Washington University in St. Louis

Also please note the complimentary presentation this month that the Emerging Centers Track will be hosting on, “Containers and CASC Fall meeting highlights”.

Previous Call Topics

CaRCC Systems-Facing YouTube playlist of past calls

Google Drive folder (includes a sub folder for each month’s call with call doc with notes and Q&A as well as the zoom recording files)

Track Coordinators

Systems-Facing Coordinators email contact link

Brian Haymore, Sr IT Architect – HPC, Center for High Performance Computing, University of Utah

Matthew Smith, Manager – Research Systems, Advanced Research Computing, University of British Columbia

Betsy Hillery, Director, Research Computing, Purdue University

Steering Committee

  • Sai Pinnepalli, Chief Technologist, Center for Computation and Technology, Louisiana State University
  • Jim Leous, Office of the Associate CIO for Research, Penn State
  • John Blaas, HPC Systems Engineer at the National Center for Atmospheric Research and active member in the ACM SIGHPC Syspros community
  • Jason Wells, Founder, Builder, Admin, Facilitator of Research Computing at Bentley University
  • <Open Spot Seeking Volunteer> – (Contact S-F Coordinators for more info)
  • <Open Spot Seeking Volunteer> – (Contact S-F Coordinators for more info)
  • <Open Spot Seeking Volunteer> – (Contact S-F Coordinators for more info)

Wall of Thanks – (Former Track Leadership)

Former Track Co-Coordinators:

  • Alan Silver, IT Professional, UW-Madison
  • Troy Baer, Senior HPC Systems Engineer, Ohio Supercomputer Center

Former Track Steering Committee Members:

  • Betsy Hillery, Director, Research Computing, Purdue University
  • Matthew Smith, Manager – Research Systems, Advanced Research Computing, University of British Columbia