Hello everyone, Our Research IT Reading Group topic next week will focus on Shifter <http://www.nersc.gov/research-and-development/user-defined-images/>, software being developed by NERSC to permit customized, user-defined, containerized Linux environments to be run in HPC clusters (more detail below). Currently, Research IT's BRC team is actively investigating the feasibility of offering Shifter in the campus's shared Savio cluster. We're currently seeking use-cases for tests scheduled in the coming months, and will especially welcome participation from researchers or research support staff whose computational work utilizes Docker or similarly-containerized environments.
*When:* Thursday, April 21 from noon - 1pm *Where:* 200C Warren Hall, 2195 Hearst St (see building access instructions below). *Event format:* The reading group is a brown bag lunch (bring your own). *Presenters*: Shane Canon and Doug Jacobsen (NERSC) Shifter is a software package that enables regular users to securely and efficiently run custom containers on shared HPC systems. Shifter can run images from a Docker registry and Docker Hub, but uses a custom run-time that integrates with typical HPC environments. Shifter enables users to realize many of the productivity benefits of Docker while working within the many constraints of a typical shared resource. This meeting's presentation will describe how Shifter works and some examples of how Shifter has enabled scientists to more easily use HPC resources at NERSC. Following their presentation, Shane Canon and Doug Jacobsen -- members of NERSC's team who are developing, deploying, and testing Shifter, and authors of the paper linked below – will lead a discussion about using Shifter to execute research workflows on HPC systems. Members of the Berkeley Research Computing staff who are exploring the possibility of using Shifter to run custom containers on Savio will also participate. Please read prior to the meeting: *Contain This, Unleashing Docker for HPC <https://www.nersc.gov/assets/Uploads/cug2015udi.pdf>* (PDF) ==== *Warren Hall access*: *For those who do not have keycard access to the building, please take the elevator to the second floor (stairwell door requires keycard). Before noon, let the receptionist know you're joining the Reading Group in 200C and s/he will let you in and show you the way. After noon, look for a sign next to the receptionist window to the right as you exit the elevators. We'll post a note with a phone number that you can call or text, and someone will come out to open the locked doors.* Looking forward to seeing you on Thursday of next week, ~Steve -- Steve Masover Research Information Technology (Research IT) http://research-it.berkeley.edu [email protected] 510-642-8488
