Lux, James P wrote:
But how is that any different than having a PC on your desk?
I see the deskside supercomputer as a revisiting of the
“workstation” class computer. Used to be that PCs and Apples were
what sat on most peoples desks, but some had Apollo or Sun or Perq
workstations, because they had applications that needed the
computational horsepower (or, more likely, the high res hardware
graphics support.. A CGA was pretty painful for doing PC board
layout).
Same sort of thing for having the old Tektronix 4014 graphics
terminal, rather than hiking down to the computer center to pick
up your flatbed plotter output.
Jim
Jim,
One big difference is that this machine will be sold to department
chairs and Deans not as a desktop or high end workstation but as a cheap
"Supercomputer" that needs no support. The PC support available in an
organization may be completely unable to deal with the realities of HPC.
That's when I get an urgent call about a machine that I don't know
about. The clock started ticking the day that the machine arrived and
that's the impossible timetable to which I will be held. In other words,
even with my absolute full attention my efforts will be presented as
failing to set up the machine in a timely manner. In addition all of the
other researchers who have invested in the centralized resources will
complain that they are not getting the attention that they need.
I think that there are times that machines such as this on a
departmental or even researcher level make sense even in an organization
that provides central resources. But those times are the exceptions. I
have 2.5 System Admins. I have ~300 machines in two different locations
as standalone servers and parts of clusters. We can get by with this
level of staffing through standardization of hardware and operating
systems (currently 90% linux, 9% Solaris, 1% IRIX), security standards
that lock down unused ports and services, and careful testing of
software (physical sciences, math, OR, bioinformatics) before it is made
generally available. With budget cuts looming on the horizon, adding
support for new department level systems without additional staffing
would leave us unable to continue to provide adequate support for the
central systems. IMHO. YMMV.
--
Mike Davis Technical Director
(804) 828-3885 Center for High Performance Computing
[EMAIL PROTECTED] Virginia Commonwealth University
"Never tell people how to do things. Tell them what to do and they will surprise you
with their ingenuity." George S. Patton
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