2023 RP Forum BoF Information

Owned by Jeremy Fischer
Last updated: Jul 19, 2024
3 min read

Information from the SC23 BoF that might be useful for future events:

BOF at SC23: ACCESS RP Forum

  • Indiana University: Jeremy Fischer/David Hancock

  • Johns Hopkins University (Jaime Combariza)

  • National Center for Supercomputing Applications: Brett Bode

  • Open Science Grid:

  • Open Storage Network: Christopher S. Simmons

  • Pittsburgh Supercomputing Center: Sergiu Sanielevici

  • Purdue University: Carol Song

  • San Diego Supercomputer Center: Robert Sinkovits

  • Stony Brook University: Eva Siegmann

  • Texas Advanced Computing Center: Dan Stanzione

  • Texas A&M University: Honggao Liu

  • University of Delaware: John Huffman/Anita Schwartz

  • University of Kentucky: Jim Griffioen

 

Abstract (100 words)

In this session, the ACCESS Resource providers (RP) will give an overview of the available resources and their unique characteristics. Those resources are open to a broad audience of computational researchers. Individuals can apply for allocations by submitting a request to ACCESS. Once this request is approved they can exchange their awarded service units for resources at one or several of the providers (e.g. node hours, GPU hours, storage).

The presentations in this BOF will highlight the variety of available resources and will be followed by a discussion with the community, allowing the audience to directly interact with the RPs.

 

Long description (500 words)

ACCESS (Advanced Cyberinfrastructure Coordination Ecosystem: Services & Support) [1] utilizes a network of resources around the US to pair researchers with the appropriate resources faster and more efficiently. Computational researchers can submit allocation requests to ACCESS and exchange their service units for resources (e.g. node hours, GPU hours, storage) at different sites when awarded. These sites are the ACCESS Resource Providers (RPs).

The RPs are autonomous entities that agree to coordinate with ACCESS and each other to varying degrees. The ACCESS Resource Provider Forum may also include other non-service provider organizations. The resource providers offer a wide range of cyberinfrastructure assets available for use. Some of the many resources in the ACCESS portfolio include 

  • Compute resources – High-performance computing clusters (GPU and CPU based) accessed by logging in to front-end nodes. Researchers can install their application software and run batch computing jobs under a scheduler on these resources.

  • Storage resources – Data storage systems for storing and managing large amounts of data.

  • Cloud resources – Cloud infrastructure where researchers can launch and run virtual machines.

  • Scientific support to ensure efficient utilization of resources.

In this BOF session, the various RPs will give a brief overview of their unique resources. They will highlight the characteristics of the systems and services.

After the presentations, the audience will have the opportunity to ask questions and discuss with the RP representatives. This can include a discussion about each resource's characteristics, how to choose the right resource for a specific task, roadmap discussions, as well as time for answering any other questions the community brings up.

We encourage people to submit questions, topics they are interested in, and any other feedback before the session. Please use following link for this BoF (insert link)

 

Questions for poll:

  • Were you an XSEDE user?

  • Are you an ACCESS user?

  • What topics are you interested in / do you have any specific questions?

 

References:

  1. ACCESS - https://access-ci.org/

  2. ACCESS RP Forum - Resource Provider (RP) Forum | Operations

 

Session format information (150 words):

The BOF session will last preferably 1.5 hours. It will start with short presentations from the resource providers (around one hour), followed by discussions with the user community and an FAQ session (around 30 min).