Introduction and Remote Access to CSCS’s Visualization Cluster
Jean M. Favre Head of Data Analysis and Visualization August 6, 2007
Horus, remote visualization server
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horus Since he was god of the sky, Horus became depicted as a falcon, or as a falcon-headed man, leading to Horus' name, (in Egyptian, Heru), which meant the distant one.
Horus, arithmetic from distant times
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eye_of_Horus In the Ancient Egyptian measurement system, the Eye Of Horus defined an Old Kingdom rounded off notation that continued in use in the Middle Kingdom, with each part of the eye representing a different fraction. The definition of one(1) was 1/2 + 1/4 + 1/8 + 1/16 + 1/32 + 1/64 , written as a 6term rounded off number. It dropped the remainder 1/64. The metaphorical side of this information linked all six fractions, 1/2, 1/4, 1/8, 1/16, 1/32, and 1/64 to separate parts of the eye.
Horus, visualization cluster
32 AMD Opteron cpus 32 NVIDIA Quadro FX 4500 gpus InfiniBand 4x interconnect FiberChannel connection to the HPC server scratch space 10 licenses for remote visualization from any (Linux or Windows) desktop
The HP xw9300 node
HP Remote Graphics Software (RGS)
An innovative software that enables real-time remote access to workstation desktops and share it over a standard network. What opportunities does remote visualization bring?
– – – – Remote access/demo/review Remote team review Remote user application support/training Centralization and consolidation of desktop workstations
How does HP RGS work?
HP RGS takes an image based approach. Conceptually, it reads the final image rendered on the cluster’s graphics card, compresses the image, sends it over the standard network, decompresses and displays it at the client (remote) site. RGS transfers only final image data (pixels) over the network. No part of original data is sent.
1 sender + 1 (or more) receivers
Specific benefits of the HP RGS
Increased efficiency through:
– – – – – – Excellent interactivity High image quality Low network consumption Work from anywhere, anytime Easier user application support Easier application/tool training with partners
run applications on the best-fitting architecture No data copying outside of CSCS
Technical advantages of HP RGS
Utilizes 3D hardware rendering capability of sender system and does not burden CPU Rendering and image capture are tightly linked and optimized while maintaining complete application transparency (no modification necessary with application to remotely use) Image compression technology applies different compression algorithm to maintain good balance between performance, image quality, and compression ratio.
Key features of HP RGS
Uses graphics hardware on remote systems ; increased resource utilization Image-based transmission; allows large model data handling and secure Application-transparent; ready for use with any applications Excellent image quality, network friendly On-the-fly compression rate adjustment; balance performance and quality as needed Access entire desktop session Industry-standard TCP/IP network-based design; deployable in existing network environment Stateless client; high mobility and secure Software only solution
Login access to Horus
Loggin to bar.cscs.ch Loggin to horus.login.cscs.ch (or simply horus) Reserve a remote node
– sva_remote.sh –I – Start HP Remote Graphics Receiver to connect to pre-allocated node – See the demo
Run any graphics application
The HP Remote Graphics Receiver must be installed on your local machine. Download from https://horus.cscs.ch/rgs
Scenarios of use
Interactive single-node remote visualization Interactive broadcast mode (master + students) (shared controls) Multi-tiled display at CSCS Multi-node rendering + remote image copy for data volumes requiring parallel computing