Speaker
Dr
Peter Elmer
(Princeton University (US))
Description
Deploying the Worldwide LHC Computing Grid (WLCG) was greatly
facilitated by the convergence, around the year 2000, on Linux and
commodity x86 processors as a standard scientific computing platform.
This homogeneity enabled a relatively simple "build once, run
anywhere" model for applications. A number of factors are now driving
interest in alternative platforms. Power limitations at the level
of individual processors, and in aggregate in computer centers,
place greater emphasis on power efficiency issues. The rise of
mobile computing, based primarily on ARM processors with a different
intellectual property model, has also created interest in ARM as
an potential general purpose architecture for the server market.
We report our experience building a demonstrator Grid cluster using
systems with ARMv8 64-bit processors, capable of running production-style
workflows. We present what we have learned regarding the use of
both application and Open Science Grid (OSG) software on ARMv8
64-bit processors, as well as issues related to the need to manage
heterogeneous mixes of x86_64 and ARMv8 64-bit processors in a Grid
environment. We also report the hardware experience we have gained
while building the cluster.
Authors
Brian Paul Bockelman
(University of Nebraska (US))
David Abdurachmanov
(Vilnius University (LT))
Mr
Giulio Eulisse
(Fermi National Accelerator Lab. (US))
Dr
Peter Elmer
(Princeton University (US))
Dr
Robert Knight
(Princeton University)
