National Center for Computational Sciences

New and returning users get familiar with upgraded XT5 systems

A workshop was held at ORNL May 10–12 to help new and returning users acclimate to the recently upgraded Cray XT5 machines known as Jaguar and Kraken. Owned respectively by the Department of Energy–supported OLCF and the National Science Foundation–supported National Institute for Computational Sciences (NICS), Jaguar and Kraken underwent the upgrade from four- to six-core processors in late 2009.

“The meeting is a good opportunity to introduce new and returning users to the organizations, and relay to them all of the ways in which the center is available to assist them in producing world-class science results,” said Ashley Barker, group leader for the user assistance group at the OLCF.

The first day of the workshop was broken into two tracks—Track I for new XT5 users, and Track II for more experienced users. Day two gave participants the opportunity to tour the Computer Room and the EVEREST (Exploratory Visualization Environment for REsearch in Science and Technology) facility.

The workshop included lectures by staff members of OLCF, NICS, Cray, and PGI [provider of compilers and tools for high-performance computers] on such topics as XT5 architecture and programming, AMD six-core processors, and parallel debugging tools. Daily hands-on sessions allowed participants to access Jaguar and/or Kraken using their own codes while working one-on-one with OLCF and NICS staff members to resolve any issues.

The OLCF Users’ Meeting was held on the final day of the hex-core workshop specifically for research groups that have been granted allocations on Jaguar through the INCITE (Innovative and Novel Computational Impact on Theory and Experiment) program. OLCF Users’ Council also convened on this day to elect Balint Joo, from Jefferson Lab, as chair. Joo will function as the liaison between users and the OLCF management team.