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Brian Clayton Centre for Unified Computing: Moving to the Cloud

Discover the benefits of moving research data to the cloud at the Brian Clayton Centre for Unified Computing, including energy efficiency, dynamic provision of services, and enhanced compute power. Learn about steps to transition to a private cloud and considerations for choosing cloud software.

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Brian Clayton Centre for Unified Computing: Moving to the Cloud

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  1. Moving to the Cloud Brian Clayton Centre for Unified Computing Boole Centre for Research in Informatics Brian Clayton Centre for Unified Computing

  2. About the BCRI/CUC • 4 (small) clusters • All open source & open to all in the research community • Data management • E-INIS datastore • Research datastores • Hosting Brian Clayton Centre for Unified Computing

  3. Data Centre • Housed in Western Gateway building • State of the art • Uses chilled water from wells to cool servers • Heat exchange to WGB • Spare capacity • High speed links to UCC lan and HEAnet Brian Clayton Centre for Unified Computing

  4. Compute users • Researchers doing parallel programming (MPI) • High memory (SMP) • ‘long run’ computing (Mathematica) • Data storage (medical, long term, highly sensitive) • Grid users • Not HPC! Brian Clayton Centre for Unified Computing

  5. Compute users • Conference/paper based. High activity followed by periods of relative inactivity • Before deadlines major pressure on system • When conferences have the same deadlines … • Not always highly technical • Not always good at sharing resources Brian Clayton Centre for Unified Computing

  6. Datastore users • Non technical • ‘Z drive’ please – dropbox style • Don’t care how it works • Some data is highly sensitive • Long term storage, up to 15 years! • Data from instrumentation • Generally, low processing required Brian Clayton Centre for Unified Computing

  7. Hosting • Hosting servers for researchers • Take away need to retrofit cooling/networking across campus • Manage the servers properly • Reduce time to functionality • Keep servers live across projects • Keep researchers researching Brian Clayton Centre for Unified Computing

  8. Goals • Provide the best service to the UCC Research Community • Energy efficiency – Green Campus • Provide the best ROI to the University • Engage with the SME community • To be more dynamic to handle research needs Brian Clayton Centre for Unified Computing

  9. Why choose the cloud? • Good energy efficiency – consolidate automatically to few physical machines • Space and power efficiency • Industry standard (or soon will be) • Great fit for research usage patterns • Provides a highly dynamic platform • Perfect fit for hosting Brian Clayton Centre for Unified Computing

  10. Why choose the cloud? • Unified management interface • OS agnostic • Rapid deployment of images • Data or compute • Compatible with existing systems (MPI, OpenMP, monitoring etc.) Brian Clayton Centre for Unified Computing

  11. Why not a public cloud? • Security – can’t allow the data outside UCC, outside Ireland, outside EU • Ease of use concerns • Non technical users, is ssh the best interface? • How to offer support? • Networking implications Brian Clayton Centre for Unified Computing

  12. Steps to move to a private cloud • Identify users • Identify usage profiles (profile all servers) • Predict future needs • Engage with vendors early in process • Talk to peers • Plan the cloud – what services will be provided Brian Clayton Centre for Unified Computing

  13. Steps to move to a private cloud • Plan networking and storage • Procurement • Feedback through procurement • Final purchase • Implementation, continued support from vendors Brian Clayton Centre for Unified Computing

  14. But which cloud software? • Open Source? E.g. Open Stack • VMWare • Other commercial Brian Clayton Centre for Unified Computing

  15. Points to note at this stage • More data storage requirements • Is the 1GB interconnect enough? • Data throughput? • Users already looking for cloud • Software licensing • You need a lot of networking Brian Clayton Centre for Unified Computing

  16. Our private cloud Hardware: • 700 general purpose compute cores • 2 high memory nodes (48c, 512GB) • 26TB storage (iSCSI, vm and project storage) • Networking (layer 2 and 3) • VMware software • 50TB of additional storage Brian Clayton Centre for Unified Computing

  17. More on our Cloud • Dedicated management nodes • Dedicated persistent storage nodes • Scope for research nodes • Layer 3 networking allows us to operate safely in the production UCC lan • Have library of images available • Customised images for specific apps Brian Clayton Centre for Unified Computing

  18. Our new capabilities • Huge increase in compute power • New projects possible as a result • State of the art technology • Cloud incubator • Energy savings • Dynamic provision of services • Response to user requirements (custom images and services) Brian Clayton Centre for Unified Computing

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