Communicating with Users about HTCondor and High Throughput Computing
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Transcript of Communicating with Users about HTCondor and High Throughput Computing
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Communicating with Usersabout HTCondor and High Throughput Computing
Lauren Michael, Research Computing FacilitatorHTCondor Week 2014
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Center for High Throughput Computing, est. 2006
› Large-scale, campus-shared computing systemsh campus high-throughput (HTC) grid and
high-performance (HPC) cluster resources
h all standard services provided free-of-charge
h hardware buy-in options for priority access
h automatic access to the Open Science Grid (OSG)
h chtc.cs.wisc.edu
CHTC Services
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Campus HTC Resources
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CHTC Services (cont.)
› Support for using our systemsh consultation services, training, and proposal assistanceh solutions for numerous software (including Python, Matlab,
R)› Systems design/administration consulting
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CHTC Services (cont.)
› Support for using our systemsh consultation services, training, and proposal assistanceh solutions for numerous software (including Python, Matlab,
R)› Systems design/administration consulting
HTCondor: CHTC’s R&D Arm› Services provided to the campus
communityh R&D for HTC Software
• HTCondor, DAGMan (workflows), Bosco (“MyHTC”)h Software Engineering Expertise & Consultingh Software Testing & Security Consulting
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Jul’10-Jun’11
Jul’11-Jun’12
Jul’12-Jun’13 Quick Facts
45 70 97 Million Hours Served
54 106 126 Research Projects35 52 52 Departments10 13 15 Off-Campus
Researchers who use the CHTC are located all over campus (red buildings)
http://chtc.cs.wisc.edu
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Problem: Large-scale computing is complex, andnot all users speak “computer geek”
Communicating well is hard.
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Users are people.
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Know Your People
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Know Your People1. What is the person’s understanding of relevant terms?RAM, CPU, node, high-throughput computing (HTC)
2. What relevant experience does the person posses?unix command line? programming? schedulers?
3. Is the person following what you say?
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Provide Clear ExplanationsCater your communication to the person.(more difficult - but more IMPORTANT - in email)
Keep things simple.-Avoid unnecessary details, but allude to them.-Start with the “big picture”
Introduce new vocabulary when necessary.
Define terms. Be consistent.-Avoid “terms of confusion”
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Terms of Confusion:“high level”
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Computer Geek: Many Users:
… of abstraction … of complexity“bird’s eye view” … of detail“big picture”“advanced”
Terms of Confusion:“high level”
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Terms of Confusion:“high level” alternatives
“big picture”“Basically, …”
“If we step back …”
or, just define what you mean
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Terms of Confusion:“parallel”, “parallelize” high-throughput high-
performance
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Terms of Confusion:“parallel” alternatives
“independent tasks”“separate jobs”
-versus- “parallelize within the program”
“multi-thread”, “MP”, “MPI”
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Terms of Confusion:“cluster” – define terms
HTCondor $(cluster) -or-
an organized set of hardware?
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Terms of Confusion:“job”Can be used to describe:-a program and what it does-an item in the queue-all items from a single submit file-all items of the same HTCondor “cluster”-an entire workflow (DAG)
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Terms of Confusion:“job” – define terms first“Referring to each submit file as
a ‘batch’, and each queued process as a ‘job’ …”
“So, your first DAG node submits 10 jobs …
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Terms of Confusion:acronyms, abbrev’ns, and jargon
DNSTCPLDAP
wget
scheddstartd
FTP SL6
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Terms of Confusion:acronyms, abbrev’ns, and jargon – Use general terms
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Terms of Confusion:other
logprocess
nodeworkflow
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Answer the REAL Question
Identify questions that indicate confusion.Is the user asking the wrong question?
Anticipate the next or ultimate question.Is the user on the way to bigger ideas?
Focus on solutions and expectations.
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In Summary …
Know your audience! (Users are people)
Provide clear explanations, catered to the individual.
Be aware of “terms of confusion”.
Lead the user to their own expanded, accurate understanding.