This is the July 2003 newsletter of the ITC Research Computing Support Group. If you have any questions or concerns regarding the information presented here, please contact the ITC Research Computing Support Group via e-mail to res-consult@virginia.edu, or at the Research Computing Support Center (RCSC), 244 Wilson Hall, 243-8800. The RCSC is open 9 AM to 5 PM, Monday through Friday.
Software and Hardware..........
The Aspen cluster (lc0.itc, aspen.itc) will be taken down on Tuesday, August 5, at 8:00 AM for two days to upgrade the system. While we hope that the upgrade can be completed in one day, we are announcing a two-day downtime in case there are any problems completing the upgrade.
A new version of the operating system will be installed on all nodes as well as on the frontend. All running jobs will be stopped at the time of the upgrade. Users should plan ahead to be sure that their jobs are finished before Tuesday, August 5, at 8:00 AM.
The main user-visible change when the system returns will be a move to the use of modules, as is currently the case with the Birch cluster (lc1.itc, birch.itc). Modules are a mechanism for setting the paths, environment variables, etc. To gain familiarity with the modules system, users should review the Web page at
http://www.itc.virginia.edu/research/linux-cluster/modules/
We apologize for any inconvenience this downtime might cause. If you have any questions or concerns about it, please contact the ITC Research Computing Support Center by telephoning 243-8800 or e-mailing Res-Consult@Virginia.EDU
The IBM SP will be retired from service at the end of the fall semester, December 15, 2003. The IBM SP has reached the end of its life cycle. It is no longer cost-effective to keep such old hardware in reliable service to support your research.
Two years ago, the faculty Research Computing Task Force recommended that ITC begin acquiring new, state-of-the-art computing platforms to serve as replacements to the IBM SP. (See the Final Report of March 2001 posted at http://www.itc.virginia.edu/rctf/.) ITC has done so over the last two years and the time has come to turn off the aged IBM SP.
The ITC Research Computing Support Group wants to insure that all users of the SP have migrated their code to newer High Performance Computing platforms well before December 15, 2003. There are several computing platforms to which you can migrate. These include two High Performance Computing Linux clusters, one with 64 nodes each with 1 GB of memory and 2 CPUs and one with 32 nodes each with 2 GB of memory and 2 CPUs. Details of these two clusters, including how to get started using them are available on the following Web pages:
http://www.itc.Virginia.EDU/research/linux-cluster/aspen/
http://www.itc.Virginia.EDU/research/linux-cluster/birch/
In addition, we have an IBM p640 Model B80 Symmetric Multi-Processor (SMP) computer. It has four 450 MHz Power3 II Processors, and 12 GB of total memory that is available to any processor. This system is intended as bridge system for those researchers whose local computational needs in software or libraries are tied to AIX. Currently it is accessed via the splogin as "huge class" of LoadLeveller; however, by the fall semester, it will be available as a separate computing platform using the same batch queuing system as the HPC Linux Clusters, PBSPro.
For some runs with less demanding memory requirements and no more than a one-hour CPU run time, the existing blue.unix AIX cluster may also be a suitable host system.
ITC's Research Computing Support group is available to assist you with this migration. We can help you determine the most appropriate platform for your computing work as well as answer questions or concerns during your migration. We encourage you to contact us by e-mailing us at Res-Consult@Virginia.EDU or calling the ITC Research Computing Support Center at 243-8800.
ITC is now distributing LabView version 7.0, the data acquisition/analysis and control software system, for all computer platforms. This latest version of LabView dramatically simplifies the creation of measurement and automation applications and extends LabView to a wider range of targets. A detailed description of this upgrade can be found online at
http://volt.ni.com/niwc/common.jsp?page=labview_last_upgraded
Further information on how to obtain LabView at U.Va. can be found on the Research Computing Services Web page at http://www.itc.virginia.edu/research/labview.
Specific questions about the upgrade as well general questions concerning as the use of LabView should be directed to res-consult@virginia.edu.
Please note: ITC will host two days of LabView 7 hands-on seminars at the end of July as announced later in this newsletter and at http://www.itc.virginia.edu/research/news/index.html.
The Home Directory Service, a central repository for personal file storage, can now be accessed conveniently and easily through a web browser. Users can now connect to their accounts through either the login program available for download on Software Central or via the new web interface at https://www.virginia.edu/homedir.
Students, faculty, and staff may find the new web interface an easy solution to difficulties they encounter when trying to get to their home directory files using dial-up through an Internet service provider. Those using a computer on-Grounds or with a high-speed connection at home may find the original Home Directory Login program both faster and more convenient.
Since the web interface utilizes a java applet to ensure that the files you upload or download are not corrupted during transfer, it will be important to have Java Runtime Environment (Windows) or Java Applet Launcher (Macintosh OS X and above) installed on your computer.
Now there's a one-stop Web page where you can check out all the many services provided by ITC. Got a specific need? Just do a keyword search to see how ITC can help you. The ITC Services Directory is located online at
http://www.itc.virginia.edu/services
In order to ensure a quick response to a number of issues that are emerging with computers connected to the U.Va. network, the University is asking - and will soon be requiring - you to register your computer. This simple process can be completed in a few minutes.
Please go to https://www.web.virginia.edu/microsys/register and follow the instructions.
Please register the computer(s) you normally use at your desk on Grounds. If you are registering a laptop computer, please connect to the Ethernet using a cable and disable your wireless card during the process by either pulling it out or turning it off.
You will need an account on Blue Unix, Home Directory, CMS, or HSC Exchange to register your system. (If you do not have a login and password on one of these services, there is no need to register your computer at this time.)
If you have any questions, please call the ITC Help Desk at 4-3731.
Every year in July you need to change the VPN password that you use to access either the Oracle Integrated System or the ITC Mainframe. The same VPN service and password enables access both to Oracle and the mainframe.
As with any other account, it is important to change your password periodically. You will have until July 31 to make this change. If you have not done so by then, you will not be able to access those resources you normally get to via this VPN account. To change your password, go to:
https://vpn-acct.admin.virginia.edu/cgi-bin/sign-up
Remember, in order to complete this action, you will also need to know either your current VPN password or your password for one of the following central services: Home Directory, Central Mail Service (i.e. Mulberry, Eudora), or HSC Exchange Mail.
If you have not changed your password before August 1, you will no longer be able to establish a VPN session until you have gone to the Web site listed above and changed your password. Note: after July 31 you will no longer be able to use your current VPN password to login to the Web site to set your new password. We'll send out occasional reminders through the rest of July.
If you have questions or need help, please call the ITC Help Desk at 924-3731.
If you'll be leaving the University this summer here are a few housekeeping tips for wrapping up computer accounts, data, and site-licensed software:
Software you got from the ITC Research Computing Support Center (RCSC)
such as SPSS, SAS, Matlab, or Mathematica require an additional step beyond
deleting if off your hard drive. You must also notify ITC that you're leaving
U.Va. and have removed the software from your computer and destroyed the
installation CDs or returned them to the RCSC in 244 Wilson. The easiest
way to notify ITC that you've removed the software is to go to the ITC software
licensing/registration database at
http://web.virginia.edu/rescomp/
| Tuesday, July 29 | 8:45-11:45am | LabView 7 Introduction and Hands-On |
| Tuesday, July 29 | 1:15-4:15pm | LabView 7 and DAQ |
| Thursday, July 31 | 8:45-11:45am | Expanding the Power of LabView Hands-On / LabView Family Hands-On |
| Thursday, July 31 | 1:15-4:15pm | LabView 7 Real-Time Module |
These sessions are FREE, but seating is limited. If you are interested in attending or have further querstions about these seminars, send mail to res-consult@virginia.edu.
Continuing what avid ANSYS users consider a CAE tradition, ANSYS Inc. has announced its Call for Papers for the 2004 ANSYS Users Conference and Exhibition to be held from May 24-26, 2004 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, U.S.A.
Preparations are underway for the biennial event, and ANSYS, ICEM, CFD and CFX-related technical paper abstracts are being accepted until August 15, 2003. The technical paper portion of the conference provides users the opportunity to tell their story to colleagues and showcase their organization.
In addition to the personal rewards, ANSYS distributes awards for the best paper in each technical session. The best overall conference technical paper author will be awarded conference travel compensation, hotel accommodations, and free admission to the conference, while second, third and fourth place authors will be awarded free admission to the conference.
All technical paper abstracts will be accepted electronically. To download the forms, please visit the website at
http://www.ansys.com/conf_2004/instructions.htm
The Ninth ACM SIGKDD
International Conference on Knowledge Discovery and Data Mining will take place
August 24 - 27, 2003 in Washington, DC. KDD is the leading international conference
on knowledge discovery and data mining, and provides a forum for academic researchers
and industry and government practitioners to share their research and experience.
It will feature keynote presentations, oral paper presentations, poster presentations,
workshops, tutorials, and panels, as well as the KDD Cup competition. For conference
details, visit http://www.acm.org/sigkdd/kdd2003/.
Now is the time to encourage your colleagues and students to join us and learn
about research computing support at U.Va. We only send out an e-mail once or twice
a month to this maillist. Anyone can subscribe to this "itc-research"
maillist by sending an e-mail to: majordomo@virginia.edu
with these two lines:
subscribe itc-research
end
Please encourage your colleagues to subscribe to our Research Computing maillist
today!
