1. September 2009MSc: Induction1 MSc 2009/2010 Overview Dr David Henty MSc Programme Director Email: d.henty@epcc.ed.ac.uk) http://www.epcc.ed.ac.uk/msc

2. September 2009MSc: Induction2 Background MSc builds on EPCCs long training history –initially funded by 5-year Masters Training Package (MTP) from EPSRC –EPSRC: Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council –continued under High-End Computing (HEC) scheme –began in 2001, this is the ninth year that it has been offered –longer-term support from the School of Physics and Astronomy, the Universitys Collaborative Training Account (CTA) and the Postgraduate Students' Allowances Scheme (PSAS)

3. September 2009MSc: Induction3 Aims To teach practical skills –not just theory In areas relevant to EPCCs HPC activities –in academic research –in industry This involves a number of areas –parallel programming –software development –new architectures and languages –distributed computing –...

4. September 2009MSc: Induction4 Hidden Aims To get to know potential EPCC employees –you! –currently employ seven of our own MSc students from past years To continue our training activities To do accredited teaching at a postgraduate level Job satisfaction –we enjoy teaching courses

5. September 2009MSc: Induction5 Structure Physical Sciences Computer Science TheorySimulationPureApplied MSc in HPC Computational Science

6. September 2009MSc: Induction6 People Programme Director –David Henty, room 2254 Director of Studies –Judy Hardy, room 3403 Programme Adminstrator –Crystal Lei, School of Physics and Astronomy Teaching Office, room 4314 Each course taught by a range of EPCC staff –with a single course organiser in charge of content and assessment External examiner –Dr Tony Arber, Centre for Scientific Computing, University of Warwick Chair of Board of Examiners –Prof Graeme Ackland, School of Physics, Edinburgh

7. September 2009MSc: Induction7 Information Student handbook is the main source –an evolving document, but please read the printed copy –kept up-to-date on the WWW We have WWW pages for internal information –https://www2.epcc.ed.ac.uk/msc/students/

8. September 2009MSc: Induction8 Format of EPCC Courses Courses are taught over 11 weeks –courses assessed by coursework will finish lectures around week 5 or 6 Normally take six courses in each of two semesters –most EPCC courses taught in same half-day slot (morning/afternoon) on same day each week –courses from other programmes may run on two different days each week Almost all courses are dedicated to MSc students –including students from other programmes –Distributed Computing MSc, Maths Operational Research MSc, Informatics MSc (HPC Specialism), fifth-year Computational Physics MPhys students,... Class numbers are relatively small –training room can accommodate around 26 people Please ask questions –take advantage of the relatively small classes

9. September 2009MSc: Induction9 Training Room The main training facility for the MSc –26 Sun Ray terminals with dual-processor Sun server (training.epcc) Room is often used outside of MSc courses –check the EPCC room booking system –you can use the public access PCs with UNIX via eXceed –or your own laptop and wireless You will each have your own smartcard –allows you to access the Sun Ray terminals –we will have to charge if you lose it! Ground rules –always arrive promptly for courses –do NOT use your terminal during lectures for reading email etc –ask questions!

10. September 2009MSc: Induction10 Ness Sun HPC System ness is the key HPC resource for the MSc –a significant amount of computing power –a cluster of SunFire x4600 servers –total of 32 Opteron processing cores (each @2.6 GHz) –soon to include a number of Tesla GPU boards A number of other HPC systems are hosted at the Universitys Advanced Computing Facility (ACF) –located just south of Edinburgh

11. September 2009MSc: Induction11 Other ACF Machines: QCDoC Quantum ChromoDynamics on a Chip –Performance: 11 TFlops (14,000 special-purpose CPUs) –Note: uses chips specifically designed by IBM, University of Edinburgh and Columbia

12. September 2009MSc: Induction12 IBM BlueGene Performance: –5.6 TFlops –2048 PowerPCs Notes: –first BlueGene in Europe –low power requirements and high density of processors –extreme scaling –hundreds of thousands of processors

13. September 2009MSc: Induction13 HPCx The current National UK Supercomputer –http://www.hpcx.ac.uk/ –initial service in December 2002 with 1280 CPUs@1.3GHz –now in its final phase with 2560 CPUs A six-year contract for £53 million ( 74M) –includes hardware and support staff –roughly eight staff at EPCC –consortium of EPCC, Daresbury Laboratory and IBM –lead by the University of Edinburgh –machine physically located at Daresbury laboratory

14. September 2009MSc: Induction14 The HPCx Consortium

15. September 2009MSc: Induction15 HPCx

16. September 2009MSc: Induction16 HECToR: Cray XT4

17. September 2009MSc: Induction17 HECToR service Operated by EPCC / University of Edinburgh –located at the ACF –owned by EPSRC –www.hector.ac.uk The UK flagship national supercomputer service –over 22,000 processing cores! –currently ten times more powerful than HPCx –total cost in excess of £100M over six years Running for 2 years now

18. September 2009MSc: Induction18 Real machine

19. September 2009MSc: Induction19 Cray spaghetti

20. September 2009MSc: Induction20 Books We have reading lists for each course –including at least one book –copies of all books available for review only from Judys office –we do not expect you to buy lots of books –many are available online –or in the library

21. September 2009MSc: Induction21 Programming Knowledge of UNIX is essential –as a user only - University provides basic material You will be doing a lot of programming –courses are practical-based You must be confident with –the language itself –the tools –organising your programming work Writing working programs is NOT enough –you must look at their performance (speed, efficiency...) as well –this makes HPC research more like an experimental science

22. September 2009MSc: Induction22 Programming Languages for MSc Everyone should be confident in either C or Fortran –essential for Message-Passing Programming, Shared Memory Programming, Parallel Decomposition –useful for Applied Numerical Algorithms –Fortran knowledge required for Parallel Decomposition –training provided in Tools and Techniques and at start of course Need Java for Object Oriented Programming for HPC –check requirements for non-EPCC course options We will not be teaching C –Java programmers advised to learn Fortran –Fortran programmers should learn Java –C programmers learn basic Fortran and perhaps Java

23. September 2009MSc: Induction23 Compulsory EPCC Courses Semester 1 FCFundamental Concepts of HPC SMP Shared Memory Programming MPPMessage Passing Programming SDPractical Software Development Semester 2 ATAdvanced Topics in HPC and e-Science PPHPC Project Preparation

24. September 2009MSc: Induction24 Optional EPCC Courses Semester 1 ANAApplied Numerical Algorithms TT Tools and Techniques for HPC Programming Semester 2 PDParallel Decomposition HCPPHardware, Compilers and Performance Programming OOPObject Oriented Programming for HPC PSMAPerformance Scaling on Modern HPC Architectures CSTAComputer Simulation using HPC: Techniques and Applications

25. September 2009MSc: Induction25 Options from Other Programmes Informatics courses DAPADesign and Analysis of Parallel Algorithms ADApplied Databases CNComputer Networking BI01Bioinformatics 1 BI02Bioinformatics 2 Distributed Scientific Computing (DSC) MSc WPWeb Programming CDRComputing with Distributed Resources IPInternet Computing

26. September 2009MSc: Induction26 Choices This years programme offers quite a few choices –both within MSc in HPC and from other programmes Normally a maximum of three non-EPCC courses Students choices must be confirmed by Director of Studies –check for any clashes or pre-requisite knowledge –detailed programme in the handbook Certain themes are outlined in the handbook

27. September 2009MSc: Induction27 Timetable Semester 1 before Christmas, Semester 2 after Christmas See the handbook for details –exams happen at the end of each semester Most EPCC Teaching takes place in half day slots (except Wed PM) –teaching takes place in the EPCC training room, 3305 –standard morning slot starts at 09:15 and finishes at 12:45 –standard afternoon slot starts at 14:00 and finishes at 17:30 –half-hour coffee / tea breaks in middle of each session –an hour lunch break –sessions are a mixture of lectures and tutored practical sessions Each course organiser will say if their timetable is different from above –Other programmes will have their own timetables – see their WWW pages

28. September 2009MSc: Induction28 Assessment Mechanisms Mixture of coursework, exams and dissertation –EPCC courses are assessed entirely be coursework or entirely by examination –Informatics and DSC courses may be assessed using both If there is a coursework, teaching makes up first half of the semester –second half left free of lectures to allow time for coursework –any associated tutorials will take place in the usual weekly slot Students passing the taught part then do a dissertation –independent project which takes 16 weeks

29. September 2009MSc: Induction29 Marking Breakdown MSc comprises 180 credits –each course is 10 credits –either a piece of coursework or a 2-hour exam Normal breakdown –Semester 1 60 credits –Semester 2 60 credits –Dissertation60 credits All taught courses have equal weight Progression to MSc dissertation based on performance in taught courses –Diploma based purely on taught part

30. September 2009MSc: Induction30 Deadlines Coursework submission is 100% online: Course Submission Tool –www.ph.ed.ac.uk/cst/ –this allows us to mark anonymously All courseworks will have a deadline –normally 12:00 on a Friday –we will deduct marks for late submission to ensure fairness –you are given lots of time free of teaching to do this work Lose 5 marks of per working day –or fraction of a working day –imagine a report is worthy of 55% –if handed in at lunchtime on Tuesday it is 2 working days late –and would be awarded 45% (55 – 2*5 = 55-10) Note that 8pm on Friday means 5% reduction –the same as 4pm the following Monday

31. September 2009MSc: Induction31 Plagiarism Please read the guidelines –copying other peoples work is not acceptable We use plagiarism detection software –for both written reports and for submitted code If in doubt then –ask for advice –make it clear which work is yours This is an extremely important issue –we give guidance here and as part of HPC Project Preparation

32. September 2009MSc: Induction32 Social Side EPCC is a very social place We want you to feel welcome –use the coffee room –come to buns (free cakes!) on Friday to meet people –attend any social events, talks etc that you want to The email address all@epcc.ed.ac.uk contains everyone –staff –students –visitors (eg from European programme HPC-Europa) –msc-students@epcc contains HPC students only Take a chance to enjoy Edinburgh –many historic sites, galleries, museums, walks,... –eg many buildings open to the public on Doors Open Day –26-27 September 2009

33. September 2009MSc: Induction33 Tonight Table at Mammas pizza place in town centre: 7.30pm –a selection of starters, and pizzas for main course, for around £8

34. September 2009MSc: Induction34 Tonight Table at Mammas pizza place in town centre: 7.30pm –a selection of starters, and pizzas for main course, for around £8