IT Services ITS Support for e Research Stephen

IT Services ITS Support for e Research Stephen Gough Assistant Director of IT Services © University of Reading 2008 www. reading. ac. uk

Review of computer services - 1997 • 2. 4. 5 (a) the University work towards minimising the range of equipment supported on central funds, subject to functional requirements being met • led to support being predominantly for MS Windows • lots of Unix expertise in ITS though – many Unix servers 2

e-Science Development Officer • David Spence appointed Jan 2008 • half-time – other half working for Oxford e-Research Centre (Oe. RC) • working on: – mapping – interviews – some documentation 3

http: //www. reading. ac. uk/e-research • Providing better resources, software and support to allow researchers in Reading to make use of e Research technology in their research • To encourage inter-disciplinary collaborations to be formed inside and outside of the University around e Research • To develop an e Research agenda for the University 4

e-Science advice and networking • e-Research and the Grid • what resources will best suit your research • contacts for collaboration • national e-Research resources • e-Science email list – http: //www. lists. rdg. ac. uk/mailman/listinfo/e-science 5

Campus Computation Grid • free, automatic access to about 500 lab/library PCs – while not in use by students • ideal for research that involves running a program many times – where each run takes about an hour or less • Grid nodes run Linux • Grid is connected to National Grid Service • need an e-Science certificate • apply to ITS Help for an account • help provided on getting started 6

Certification processes • access to many Grid resources requires the use of a digital certificate issued by UK e-Science Certification Authority • apply for certificate at: • http: //www. grid-support. ac. uk/content/view/23/182/ • link to this from e-Research page • IT Services approves your request • on presentation of photographic identification 7

Globus Gateway • Globus – widely used set of tools that are used in e-Research • Globus Gateway – single point of reference for external (Globus) services wishing to access Globus resources in Reading and vice versa – a way for users in Reading to access external resources which are accessed with Globus, without needing to install these tools themselves • need to register with IT Services – contact David Spence, or – ticket to ITS Help 8

Future plans • coming out of e-Research mapping exercise • need to prioritise • follow up survey is important – paper forms available 9

Advice & support • support for Linux and Mac. OS • advice on Linux distributions • how to configure for Reading network • basic Unix/Linux/Mac use 10

Resources available • information and advice on how to use them • Campus Grid • ACET’s Bladecenter • National Grid service • resources at Oxford 11

Campus Grid developments • checkpointing server - by end of July • submission/compilation server - by end of July • additional RAM and local disk space for Grid nodes – updated during summer 2008 • R & Matlab runtime • simplifying access – Nimrod, Swift, GRex etc – which? • add existing departmental/school clusters • managing resulting data from computation done on Grid • Wake on LAN for Condor 12

Virtual research environments and collaborative tools • Access Grid – one at ESSC – Personal Interface to Access Grid • info on e-Research page • JANETTalk – trial coming soon • Blackboard • wikis • SVN 13

Collaboration networks • directory of expertise? • making best use of existing expertise • email list • wiki • contacts within Reading and with Oxford / Southampton – others? – KCL 14

Hosting facilities • hosting facility for school owned clusters and servers – http: //www. reading. ac. uk/internal/its/help/its-helpforms/requestlylespace. asp 15

Data • data stewardship – – – best practices QAR issues hosting centrally vs backup service continued research use of data support for web server based databases and tools advice about databases/web servers • common tools – file handling/archiving • microscopy system developed in Oxford • Cf. AM, f. MRI, CAF etc 16

Training • Grid use • Unix/Linux • programming – advice on porting • data stewardship 17

Providing suitable software environment • Matlab compiler licences – ordered – document use • Matlab site licence? – Matlab TAH • ATLAS. ti – qualitative analysis – available on Terminal Server • UCINET – analysis of social network data – available on Terminal Server • others? 18

Seminars • already good programmes from ACET & PEDAL – details posted to e-sci@lists. reading. ac. uk • specialist Arts & Humanities seminars? 19