1 Workshop 20: Teaching a Hands-on Undergraduate Grid Computing Course SIGCSE The 41st ACM Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education Friday March 12, 2010, 7:00 pm - 10:00 pm Dr. Barry Wilkinson University of North Carolina Charlotte Dr. Clayton Ferner University of North Carolina Wilmington © 2010 B. Wilkinson/Clayton Ferner SIGCSE 2010 Workshop 20 intro.ppt Modification date: Feb 27, 2010

2 Agenda 7:00 pm - 7:15 pmIntroduction to Grid computing and the Grid computing course 7:15 pm - 7:35 pmSession 1: Use of a Grid computing portal to access Grid resources Presentation Hands-on experience accessing a Grid platform through a portal 7:35 pm - 8:20 pmSession 2: Using a command line to execute jobs on a Grid Platform Presentation Hands-on experience accessing a Grid platform through a command line 8:20 pm - 8:30 pmBreak 8:30 pm - 9:25 pmSession 3: GridNexus workflow editor Presentation Demonstration/hands-on experience 9:25 pm - 9:45 pmSession 4: Overview of other assignments 9:45 pm - 10:00 pmOpen discussion on how to teach a Grid computing course 2

Grid Computing Using geographically distributed and interconnected computers together for computing and for resource sharing. “The grid virtualizes heterogeneous geographically disperse resources” from "Introduction to Grid Computing with Globus," IBM Redbooks 3 Introduction to Grid computing and the Grid computing course

Same as behind early development of networks that became the Internet -- Connecting computers at distributed sites for high performance computing. However, Grid computing is about collaborating and resource sharing as much as it is about high performance computing. Original driving force behind Grid computing 4

Virtual Organizations Grid computing offers potential of virtual organization -- groups of people, both geographically and organizationally distributed, working together on a problem, sharing computers AND other resources such as databases and experimental equipment. 5

Crosses multiple administrative domains Another hallmark of larger Grid computing projects. Resources being shared owned either by members of virtual organization or donated by others. Introduces challenging technical and social-political challenges. Requires true collaboration. 6

Interconnections Usually grid computing employs the Internet to interconnect the computers. Standard Internet protocols are used. Focus now on using standard Internet protocols and technology, i.e. HTTP, SOAP, web services, etc., 7

NSF Network for Earthquake Engineering Simulation Transform our ability to carry out research vital to reducing vulnerability to catastrophic earthquakes from I. Foster Sample Grid Computing Project 8

9 Our Grid Computing Course Taught on North Carolina Research and Education Network (NCREN) that connects all 16 state campuses and also private institutions  Fall 2004: 8 sites  Fall 2005: 12 sites  Spring 2007:3 sites  Fall 2008:5 sites  Spring 2010:8 sites Spring 2010 has 70+ students Figure 3 NCREN televideo classroom at the University of North Carolina Charlotte. 9

10 Grid Computing Course Undergraduate/first yr graduate (prereqs C/Java) Hands-on with distributed grid infrastructure Teleconferencing facilities - students and faculty at many institutions participating Expert guest speakers near end of course Probably first such course for undergraduate students using large-scale teleconferencing facilities and a truly distributed grid infrastructure. 10

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13 Approach Very hands-on A top-down perspective (from 2007) Although best described as alternating between high-level and low-level view of Grid Computing Start course with using tools (i.e. a portal) that a typical Grid User would use. To avoid issues with many students using centralized servers, several activities done of student’s own computer 13

Course grid structure - primary sites UNC-W UNC-C coit-grid01.uncc.edu * coit-grid02.uncc.edu * coit-grid03.uncc.edu * coit-grid04.uncc.edu * coit-grid05.uncc.edu ** Course portal torvalds.cis.uncw.edu * 3.4 Ghz dual Xeon processors ** 2.93 Ghz 4 quad-core Xeon processors 14

Course Text 15

Outline of Topics Introduction to Grid computing Job management, schedulers Workflow Grid computing system infrastructure design Security Portal design Grid-enabling applications 16

17 Assignments Assignment 1Using Grid computing portal to execute jobs Assignment 2Using Grid through a command line to execute job. Assignment 3Using GridNexus workflow editor to execute job workflows Assignment 4Using a job scheduler (Condor)‏ Assignment 5Deploying Globus services. Assignment 6Using GridNexus workflow editor to create web service workflows. Assignment 7Installing Gridsphere portal and implementing portlets.  Assignments 3, 5, 6, and 7 required students to install significant software packages on their computer.

18 Avoiding Problems It requires immense work to prepare for a hands- on Grid computing course. Critical that all assignments are fully tested prior to the start of class and that all computer systems are reliable and the software maintained. Assignments went much smoother by requiring students to use personal computers when possible. 18

We hope this workshop will help those who wish to embark upon this endeavour. We will provide all the materials needed and cover the key aspects with hands-on experiences Workshop 19

20 Acknowledgements The course was developed with partial support from the National Science Foundation Course Curriculum and Laboratory Improvement Program under grants DUE / and DUE / / , and two grants from the University of North Carolina Office of the President. 20