Systems-Facing Track

The Systems-Facing track of the People Network will focus on aspects relevant to the execution of research computing and data systems.

Topics include:

  • Architecture (hardware solutions, cloud integration, VMs, container integration, …)
  • Storage systems (file systems, SAN, NAS, NVMe, Burstbuffer, …)
  • Networking (data transfer solutions, Infiniband, campus-wide, …)
  • Cluster management and configuration (scheduling, accounting and reporting, …)
  • Accelerators (GPU, FPGA, …)
  • Security (auditing, compliance, policies, procedures, …)
  • User environment (Modules, CUDA, …)

We connect via monthly calls, on slack and an email list.

Join Us!

Join Us! Fill out our membership form to let us know who you are and what you’re interested in. We’ll add you to the email list. Visit the People Network page to join other tracks.

Monthly Calls

Monthly calls are on the third Thursday of the month, 1pm ET.  Connection information and links to any materials are distributed via email.

Upcoming Plans & Calls

May 16, 2024 @ 1p ET/ 12p CT/ 11a MT/ 10a PT
Energy and Sciences Network (ESnet) presenting on PerfSONAR
perfSONAR is an infrastructure for network performance monitoring, making it easier to solve end-to-end performance problems on paths crossing several networks. It contains a set of services delivering performance measurements in a federated environment. perfSONAR has been developed through an international collaboration led by ESnet, Indiana University, Internet2, the University of Michigan, and GEANT.

This presentation will provide an overview of how perfSONAR is used to support the work of research system administrators, as well as updates and features that may be relevant to this community.

Speaker: Ken Miller, Computer Systems Engineer, ESnet

Previous Call Topics

CaRCC Systems-Facing YouTube playlist of past calls

Google Drive folder (includes a sub folder for each month’s call with call doc with notes and Q&A as well as the zoom recording files)

Track Coordinators

Systems-Facing Coordinators email contact link

Brian Haymore, Sr IT Architect – HPC, Center for High Performance Computing, University of Utah

Matthew Smith, Manager – Research Systems, Advanced Research Computing, University of British Columbia

Betsy Hillery, Director, Research Computing, Purdue University

Steering Committee

  • John Blaas, HPC Operations Manager at Lambda and Chair for ACM SIGHPC Syspros
  • Jim Leous, Research Computing Advisor, Advanced Research Computing, Division of Information Technology, Virginia Tech
  • Sai Pinnepalli, Chief Technologist, Center for Computation and Technology, Louisiana State University
  • Dori Sajdak, Senior Systems Administrator at University at Buffalo
  • Jason Wells, Founder, Builder, Admin, Research Computing Architect and Data Management Lead, Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences
  • <Open Spot Seeking Volunteer> – (Contact S-F Coordinators for more info)
  • <Open Spot Seeking Volunteer> – (Contact S-F Coordinators for more info)

Wall of Thanks – (Former Track Leadership)

Former Track Co-Coordinators:

  • Alan Silver, IT Professional, UW-Madison
  • Troy Baer, Senior HPC Systems Engineer, Ohio Supercomputer Center

Former Track Steering Committee Members:

  • Betsy Hillery, Director, Research Computing, Purdue University
  • Matthew Smith, Manager – Research Systems, Advanced Research Computing, University of British Columbia