Abstract:
Windows NT Activities at Argonne's Distributed Supercomputing Lab

The Distributed Supercomputing Laboratory (DSL), part of the Mathematics and Computer Science Division at Argonne National Laboratory, is both a state-of-the-art experimental facility and a focal point for research and development at the intersection of high-performance computing and networking. A primary motivator for DSL activities is the tremendous potential of distributed supercomputing systems that couple parallel computers, high-performance workstations, large databases, virtual reality devices, and other resources connected by local or wide area networks. The DSL is dedicated to making such systems both usable and broadly accessible for computational science and engineering. To this end, it supports a broad range of research and development efforts, including:

- High-level programming libraries and languages for parallel and distributed computing.

- Application-level management of advanced networking technologies, including quality of service and adaptivity.

- The security technologies required to enable high-performance access to distributed supercomputing systems by large, diverse communities, without compromising privacy or integrity of users or resources.
- Scheduling of computer, network, and other resources.
- High-performance data access in local and wide area networks.

- Innovative applications of distributed supercomputing systems, including collaborative environments, computer-enhanced instruments, smart desktops, etc.

As Windows NT becomes more prevalent both in the desktop and the high-performance computing markets, it is increasingly important for the DSL to integrate Windows NT into its research and development agendas. As a first measure, the DSL will be porting Nexus to Windows NT. (Nexus is a portable library which integrates multithreading, communication and resource management see https://www.mcs.anl.gov/dsl for details.) Besides providing our users with access to existing NT clusters, this port will allow the DSL to evaluate the feasibility of using Windows NT for current and future research efforts such as the Globus metacomputing environment.

Brian R. Toonen
Mathematics and Computer Science Division
Argonne National Laboratory
Argonne, IL 60439
(630) 252-6722
toonen@mcs.anl.gov
https://www.mcs.anl.gov/~toonen/