TACC Selects Bright Cluster Manager for FutureGrid Project
Combines Dell hardware with advanced cluster management software to tackle complex challenges in grid and cloud computing
Bright Computing announced on December 6, 2010, that the Texas Advanced Computing Center (TACC) is using Bright Cluster Manager to manage its HPC Cluster in the FutureGrid project. Sponsored by the National Science Foundation (NSF), FutureGrid is a distributed test-bed for advanced computing – supporting some of the most innovative computing experiments in the country. The project provides a powerful infrastructure for tackling a multitude of complex challenges from authentication, authorization, scheduling, virtualization, middleware design, interface design and cyber-security, to the optimization of grid-enabled and cloud-enabled computational schemes, spanning astronomy, atmospheric science, biology, chemistry, engineering and epidemiology.
TACC’s role in the project is to host one of FutureGrid’s six HPC clusters, to contribute to the development of the user portal, and to provide an experimental management framework.
Tommy Minyard, Director of Advanced Computing Systems at TACC comments: “TACC always evaluates several vendors, and for this particular project Bright was the best choice. We were impressed with the Bright Cluster Manager demo at the SC’09 conference and decided to make a detailed evaluation here at TACC. Our findings confirmed to us that Bright was what we needed: a powerful cluster management solution that is easy to use, flexible and very capable. Bright met our demanding requirements straight out of the box.”
“This project calls for tremendous flexibility from the cluster management software,” said Dave Gignac, Operating Systems Specialist responsible for the FutureGrid cluster at TACC. “Aside from our own needs, we must meet the complex requirements of the FutureGrid community. For example, the Project calls for the ability to efficiently provision user-created software images for each experiment, without impairing productivity. Bright met this and all other challenges with ease.”
FutureGrid is an experimental grid and cloud test-bed comprised of about 1,400 advanced computer processing units distributed across the United States. The project comprises HPC installations at Indiana University-Bloomington, The University of Texas at Austin, the University of California San Diego, the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, the University of Chicago/Argonne National Lab, and the University of Florida in Gainesville. The goal of this project is to make it easier for scientists to conduct experimental computational science research that requires specific configurations and repeatable experiments.
FutureGrid will become part of the NSF’s TeraGrid high-performance cyber infrastructure. It will increase the capability of the TeraGrid to support innovative computer science research requiring access to lower levels of the grid software stack, the networking software stack, and to virtualization and workflow orchestration tools. Full integration into the TeraGrid is anticipated by October 2011.
For further information: http://www.futuregrid.org
