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Cactus Project & Collaborative Working

This document discusses the Cactus Project & Collaborative framework for large scale scientific computing. Cactus is a modular, collaborative, parallel, and portable framework composed of application modules that plug into a core system. It was developed to meet the needs of large numerical relativity simulations involving distributed collaborations and data. Features include simulation monitoring, steering, streaming data for visualization, and distributed simulations. Requirements for remote visualization, event handling, security, notifications, reproducibility, and collaborative interfaces are also outlined.

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Ankit Singh
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50 views

Cactus Project & Collaborative Working

This document discusses the Cactus Project & Collaborative framework for large scale scientific computing. Cactus is a modular, collaborative, parallel, and portable framework composed of application modules that plug into a core system. It was developed to meet the needs of large numerical relativity simulations involving distributed collaborations and data. Features include simulation monitoring, steering, streaming data for visualization, and distributed simulations. Requirements for remote visualization, event handling, security, notifications, reproducibility, and collaborative interfaces are also outlined.

Uploaded by

Ankit Singh
Copyright
© Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PPT, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Cactus Project & Collaborative

Working
Gabrielle Allen

Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics,


(Albert Einstein Institute)
Cactus
 Modular, collaborative, parallel, portable framework for large scale
scientific computing: http://www.cactuscode.org
 Application/Infrastructure Thorns (modules in Fortran/C/C++ etc) plug
into core Flesh (glue in ANSI C)
 Driven by needs of Numerical Relativity community (very large scale
simulations, really need (right now) resources/flexibility promised by grid
computing), large distributed collaborations, lots and lots of data,
visualization crucial for physics understanding, …
 Can do now: simulation monitoring, steering (web server thorn),
streaming data for visualization (HDF5), readers for many different viz
clients, developing simulation portal (ASC), distributed simulations,
focus on making it transparent for users (VizLauncher: automatic
visualization from web browser interface).
Cactus Computational Toolkit
Your Science + AMR, HDF5,MPI, Globus,
Elliptic, Steering, etc.

User has Composes/Builds code


science components using portal …
idea...

Selects Appropriate
Resources...

Collaborators log in to Steers simulation,


monitor, steer, monitors performance...
Add more
Dynamic Grid Computing resources

SDSC
Queue time over,
Free CPUs!! find new machine
RZG
SDSC
Clone job with
LRZ Archive data steered parameter Calculate/Output
Invariants

Found a horizon,
try out excision

Calculate/Output
Look for Grav. Waves
horizon

Find best
resources
Go!
NCSA
Collaborative Scenarios
 Collaboration consists of geographically distributed researchers with
access to different sets of resources (supercomputers, Idesks, Caves,
Visualization software, highspeed networks, …).
 Limited number of high resolution simulations taking place at unknown
times and places (queuing systems).
 Important to use this run-time effectively … need to monitor that
everything is running properly (steer output dir, switch of expensive
analysis, …) … and learn as much physics as possible (steer analysis,
output variables, physics parameters, …).
 Everyone in collaboration needs to be able to interact (in different ways)
with the simulation.
 Any everyone also needs to be able to interact together to see what
other people are seeing (Access Grid, Collaborative Visualization).
Requirements I
 Remote Visualization
 Visualize data from simulation in realtime using best available tools
on local machine
 Data streamed directly from simulation across network, or accessed
from various local filesystems
 Downsampling, zooming, …
 Shouldn’t slow down simulation (separate data server needed)
 Each user should be able to customize what they are seeing
(variables, downsampling parameters etc) …
 … or see exactly what someone else is seeing!
 Need viz on all platforms (laptop, PDA, phone, Windows, Mac, …)
and integrated in same way.
Requirements II
 Event Description and Transportation
 E.g. Remote Steering requests
 Protocols/APIs
 Focused on grid aware visualization systems, including distributed
collaborative environments. (CaveLib getting close, but not flexible
enough)
 Data Description
 Remote, distributed in different ways across different machines/file
systems/archives, scientific data (multidimensional-arrays, different
geometrical objects)
 With visualization in mind (clients should be able to extract enough
info to recognize what the data is and what to do with it).
 Along the lines of OpenDX data model (general RDF/XML not
enough)
Requirements III
 Security and Security Policies
 Who can interact in which way with the simulation (monitor, access
data, steer [physics and/or analysis,output data]).
 How to implement this? Hierarchies, associations …
 Information
 What simulations are running now, which ones are already queued
(want to be able to check/amend parameters for these), what is
estimate for when queued jobs will be running.
 Notification
 Jobs running/finished, significant events (disk space nearly full,
event horizon formed).
 Email, SMS, Fax, …
Requirements IV
 Be able to reproduce simulations
 Need detailed log of all events to know what happened.
 Scripting language for Cactus to be able to do it again.
 Collaboration
 Project portal for shared simulation configurations (thorn lists,
machine configuration files, parameter files)
 Access to data/configurations for past runs
 Interactions across Access Grid etc.
 User Interfaces
 Need to be intuitive, easy-to-use, but also flexible.
 Suitable for users, developers, physicists, mathematicians,
computer scientists, …
Requirements V
 System
 At the moment, everyone in the collaboration has personal access
to each different resource (disk space, inodes, number of jobs
allowed on queues, everyone has to get local environment in sync
…).
 More useful if these resources were accessed on a
group/collaborative basis.
GridLab Project (EU in Negotiation)
AEI, Poznan, ZIB, Lecce, Cardiff, VU, Brno, Sztaki, Sun,
Compaq, ISI, Argonne, Wisconsin, Athens

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