Status of NICE/NT at INFN Gian Piero Siroli, Physics Dept. Univ. of Bologna and INFN HEPiX-HEPNT, SLAC, Oct.99

HEPiX-HEPNT, SLAC, Oct.99Gian Piero Siroli What is NICE at CERN u Network Integrated Computing Environment: single desktop environment from which users can access all the facilities of the laboratory u Based on Windows NT and Windows 95; all applications are centrally supported, installed and managed (4 Application Servers) u Currently more than 7000 registered users (~3000 simultaneous users), > 5500 PCs, hundreds of printers, > 100 commercial s/w packages installed, > 300GB of user’s files (5 Home Servers)

HEPiX-HEPNT, SLAC, Oct.99Gian Piero Siroli Porting of NICE u Physics Department at University of Bologna and local INFN branch u More than 200PCs installed and individually managed u More heterogeneous environment than CERN, different services, O.S. language and applications extension u Phase I (LAN): porting, local installation and configuration on a 5 nodes dedicated domain; NTFS file system u Phase II (WAN): NICE Working Group to study feasibility of extending the infrastructure; coordinate W/NT world within INFN and limit total management efforts (remote PC management, integration of computing tools within collaborations); TCP/IP protocol

HEPiX-HEPNT, SLAC, Oct.99Gian Piero Siroli INFN NICE test domain u December ‘98: u 18 nodes domain over WAN (<2Mb lines) + 1 resynchronization node on a dedicated domain u 4 sites (BO, PD,PI, BA), 3 BDCs, 3 Application Servers, 2 Home Servers u September ‘99: u 58 registered nodes over <8Mb lines + 1 resync. node u 7 sites (BO, PD, BA, LE, PG, LNL, NA), 7 BDCs, 7 Application Servers, 6 Home Servers u Appl. Serv. distributed through the net; PDC replacement

HEPiX-HEPNT, SLAC, Oct.99Gian Piero Siroli INFN NICE domain

HEPiX-HEPNT, SLAC, Oct.99Gian Piero Siroli Phase II u Single Domain Architecture: u Centralized management for high level functions (services, accounting, synchronization, security), minimization of overall management load u Personal desktops follow users on any INFN site u “Stretching” of original CERN NICE architecture (from ~LAN to WAN, single to multi-site): no problem for remote authentication or if PDC temporarily unavailable u Periodic resynchronization of Application Servers

HEPiX-HEPNT, SLAC, Oct.99Gian Piero Siroli Architecture Reference Server Appl. Server Site A Appl. Server 1 User Appl. Server 2 User Home Server Administrator INFN Synch. Server User Site B

HEPiX-HEPNT, SLAC, Oct.99Gian Piero Siroli Trying to work on... u Automatic PC installation over the net u Application Server synchronization procedure u Improving centralized user management u Security issues u Accounting

HEPiX-HEPNT, SLAC, Oct.99Gian Piero Siroli Summary u Overall very positive experience u Relatively easy porting and configuration u Very flexible original NICE architecture u Robustness u Single Domain helps in troubleshooting activities (problem sharing/solving) u “Development” system in production with satisfactory results (in spite of lack of manpower) u...work continues...

HEPiX-HEPNT, SLAC, Oct.99Gian Piero Siroli References u Report on Phase I, CERN-IT/97/10 /10 u CHEP98 Proceedings:

HEPiX-HEPNT, SLAC, Oct.99Gian Piero Siroli W/NT within INFN u INFN: 26 sites, 4 laboratories u Installed machines (mid ‘99): ~550 (~70 servers) in 18 sites, many dual boot, device control/acquisition, AFS u Management tools: u none (user self management) u ZAK +... u SMS tests u MS Terminal Server u Winframe u WinVNC for remote control u NICE u Support level: no/full support