Beowulf Community Comes Together at SC13

By Jeff Layton

November 9, 2013

A Personal Take on the Big Event…

When I first started in HPC I used the classic supercomputers such as the CDC 6600, the Cyber 205, and the ETA-10. Fortunately the university I attended gave me free access to these systems as long as I didn’t abuse the resources.

My research needed to use these resources more and more and when I became a faculty member in 1992 at a small university I no longer had access to resources of this caliber. But my research was getting more complex and the problems were getting larger so I started looking for other ways to ways to continue my research.

I started with some basic parallel programming on some Sun workstations (Solaris) using PVM so I could solve larger problems. At that time I started using Linux and was reading about Don Becker and Tom Sterling’s Beowulf work. A new faculty member moved in next door to me, and he and I started talking about cluster computing, particularly Beowulf.

We loved the ideas and community that surrounded Linux, specifically Beowulf systems. We could inexpensively build and tune our own parallel computers. We started researching how to build one and, using my friends’ start-up money, built one. The Beowulf community was quickly growing and was amazingly friendly and helpful. Lots of experimentation and lots of idea exchange. It was kind of like a frat party for geeks (this is my wife’s analogy, not mine).

I left the academic life and moved into the aerospace industry, where I became a code developer and then a system administrator. I brought Beowulf systems to my company and started making friends in the Beowulf community. This is how Doug Eadline and I became friends. It was a great time because Beowulf systems (clusters) were surging very rapidly. Lots of cool things were happening and there was a wonderful exchange of ideas and patches and code. The Beowulf mailing list was formed and lots of people offered help with suggestions and code. It really was a wonderful time and the Beowulf mailing list was at the center of cluster universe. This was also the time when clusters were starting to appear on the Top500 (and soon to dominate that list).

I remember going to my first Linux conference and being awe-struck by the talent, but I was especially taken by the people involved with Beowulf. This was still the beanbag generation with lots of Beowulf hackers sitting in booths with laptops,  writing code. Then I went to my first SuperComputing (SC) conference in 2004 in Pittsburgh and met even more cool people. What struck me the most from these conferences was that lots of people had very similar interests to mine and really enjoyed exchanging ideas. They were very approachable — you could go up and introduce yourself and start talking to them. The person who intimidated me the most was Andreas Dilger of ext4 and Lustre fame, but he is truly one of the nicest people you could meet.

As Beowulf systems grew and became more popular the community grew and SC became very heavily focused on clusters. There were corporate parties where you had to score a coveted invitation for entrance. Business became a common conversation on the show floor. While this is all wonderful, I was still looking for an event where I didn’t have to beg an invitation and where I could talk to people who had very similar interests and with whom I corresponded on the Beowulf mailing list. The Beowulf Bash scratched my itch. Here was an open party where anyone could come and interact. The sponsors are companies whose employees participate on the Beowulf list and they do it because of their support for the Beowulf community.

I’ve gone to a number of BeoBash events and what amazes me is that at every single one I meet someone I haven’t met before but whose posts I’ve read and admired. I remember first seeing and meeting Dr. Walt Ligon from Clemson who was working on a parallel file system, PVFS, that I was using. It as at a BeoBash that I also discovered that Walt is an amazing guitarist. At other BeoBash events I remember meeting Hank Dietz, Robert Brown, Rob Ross, Dan Stanzione, Greg Lindahl, Don Becker, Brian Haymore, Greg Kurtzer, Bernard Li, Roger Smith, and Glen Otero, to name just a few. It was amazing to be able to talk to these people and exchange ideas (at least early in the evening — by late evening I wasn’t able to think as clearly).

In the last few years I’ve gotten re-energized by watching the number of younger people and students who come to the BeoBash. They love to talk about new ideas and new technologies around Beowulf clusters. They argue about which way is the best way to do things and most of them are grimly determined that their way is the only way (Doug Eadline and I have never been this opinionated). Instead of a room surrounded my middle-aged white men with finger food, I was surrounded by a wonderful range of really passionate, vibrant people who were tons of fun to talk to (even though I fit into the category of a middle aged white guy). I even took an informal poll at my new job and everyone rated the BeoBash as the best party at SC.

In my opinion, the BeoBash has become the best part of SC. You learn a great deal on the expo floor but you can learn so much more at the BeoBash. I’ve gotten old enough that I like to walk up to groups of younger people and just start asking questions. At first it makes them uncomfortable as hell but soon their passion, their excitement, their unique opinions come out and I thoroughly enjoy it. Of course the really interesting thing is that when I see them later I like to ask if they remember me. So far the poll is about 50/50 but I’m not offended — I blame the beer.

This year’s BeoBash should be better than ever. Lara and the Xand Marketing team have been working their fingers to the bone as usual. Doug is preparing his devious plans, which I hear include Schweddy Balls this year, but we’ll all have to find out.

“Same people, better food, more beer“…

Jeff Layton is the Senior Product Manager for Intel Lustre, a Beowulf Devotee, and a slave to fashion. He can be found lounging around at a nearby Frys enjoying the coffee and waiting for sales (but never during working hours).

Subscribe to HPCwire's Weekly Update!

Be the most informed person in the room! Stay ahead of the tech trends with industry updates delivered to you every week!

Q&A with Nvidia’s Chief of DGX Systems on the DGX-GB200 Rack-scale System

March 27, 2024

Pictures of Nvidia's new flagship mega-server, the DGX GB200, on the GTC show floor got favorable reactions on social media for the sheer amount of computing power it brings to artificial intelligence.  Nvidia's DGX Read more…

Call for Participation in Workshop on Potential NSF CISE Quantum Initiative

March 26, 2024

Editor’s Note: Next month there will be a workshop to discuss what a quantum initiative led by NSF’s Computer, Information Science and Engineering (CISE) directorate could entail. The details are posted below in a Ca Read more…

Waseda U. Researchers Reports New Quantum Algorithm for Speeding Optimization

March 25, 2024

Optimization problems cover a wide range of applications and are often cited as good candidates for quantum computing. However, the execution time for constrained combinatorial optimization applications on quantum device Read more…

NVLink: Faster Interconnects and Switches to Help Relieve Data Bottlenecks

March 25, 2024

Nvidia’s new Blackwell architecture may have stolen the show this week at the GPU Technology Conference in San Jose, California. But an emerging bottleneck at the network layer threatens to make bigger and brawnier pro Read more…

Who is David Blackwell?

March 22, 2024

During GTC24, co-founder and president of NVIDIA Jensen Huang unveiled the Blackwell GPU. This GPU itself is heavily optimized for AI work, boasting 192GB of HBM3E memory as well as the the ability to train 1 trillion pa Read more…

Nvidia Appoints Andy Grant as EMEA Director of Supercomputing, Higher Education, and AI

March 22, 2024

Nvidia recently appointed Andy Grant as Director, Supercomputing, Higher Education, and AI for Europe, the Middle East, and Africa (EMEA). With over 25 years of high-performance computing (HPC) experience, Grant brings a Read more…

Q&A with Nvidia’s Chief of DGX Systems on the DGX-GB200 Rack-scale System

March 27, 2024

Pictures of Nvidia's new flagship mega-server, the DGX GB200, on the GTC show floor got favorable reactions on social media for the sheer amount of computing po Read more…

NVLink: Faster Interconnects and Switches to Help Relieve Data Bottlenecks

March 25, 2024

Nvidia’s new Blackwell architecture may have stolen the show this week at the GPU Technology Conference in San Jose, California. But an emerging bottleneck at Read more…

Who is David Blackwell?

March 22, 2024

During GTC24, co-founder and president of NVIDIA Jensen Huang unveiled the Blackwell GPU. This GPU itself is heavily optimized for AI work, boasting 192GB of HB Read more…

Nvidia Looks to Accelerate GenAI Adoption with NIM

March 19, 2024

Today at the GPU Technology Conference, Nvidia launched a new offering aimed at helping customers quickly deploy their generative AI applications in a secure, s Read more…

The Generative AI Future Is Now, Nvidia’s Huang Says

March 19, 2024

We are in the early days of a transformative shift in how business gets done thanks to the advent of generative AI, according to Nvidia CEO and cofounder Jensen Read more…

Nvidia’s New Blackwell GPU Can Train AI Models with Trillions of Parameters

March 18, 2024

Nvidia's latest and fastest GPU, codenamed Blackwell, is here and will underpin the company's AI plans this year. The chip offers performance improvements from Read more…

Nvidia Showcases Quantum Cloud, Expanding Quantum Portfolio at GTC24

March 18, 2024

Nvidia’s barrage of quantum news at GTC24 this week includes new products, signature collaborations, and a new Nvidia Quantum Cloud for quantum developers. Wh Read more…

Houston We Have a Solution: Addressing the HPC and Tech Talent Gap

March 15, 2024

Generations of Houstonian teachers, counselors, and parents have either worked in the aerospace industry or know people who do - the prospect of entering the fi Read more…

Alibaba Shuts Down its Quantum Computing Effort

November 30, 2023

In case you missed it, China’s e-commerce giant Alibaba has shut down its quantum computing research effort. It’s not entirely clear what drove the change. Read more…

Nvidia H100: Are 550,000 GPUs Enough for This Year?

August 17, 2023

The GPU Squeeze continues to place a premium on Nvidia H100 GPUs. In a recent Financial Times article, Nvidia reports that it expects to ship 550,000 of its lat Read more…

Shutterstock 1285747942

AMD’s Horsepower-packed MI300X GPU Beats Nvidia’s Upcoming H200

December 7, 2023

AMD and Nvidia are locked in an AI performance battle – much like the gaming GPU performance clash the companies have waged for decades. AMD has claimed it Read more…

DoD Takes a Long View of Quantum Computing

December 19, 2023

Given the large sums tied to expensive weapon systems – think $100-million-plus per F-35 fighter – it’s easy to forget the U.S. Department of Defense is a Read more…

Synopsys Eats Ansys: Does HPC Get Indigestion?

February 8, 2024

Recently, it was announced that Synopsys is buying HPC tool developer Ansys. Started in Pittsburgh, Pa., in 1970 as Swanson Analysis Systems, Inc. (SASI) by John Swanson (and eventually renamed), Ansys serves the CAE (Computer Aided Engineering)/multiphysics engineering simulation market. Read more…

Choosing the Right GPU for LLM Inference and Training

December 11, 2023

Accelerating the training and inference processes of deep learning models is crucial for unleashing their true potential and NVIDIA GPUs have emerged as a game- Read more…

Intel’s Server and PC Chip Development Will Blur After 2025

January 15, 2024

Intel's dealing with much more than chip rivals breathing down its neck; it is simultaneously integrating a bevy of new technologies such as chiplets, artificia Read more…

Baidu Exits Quantum, Closely Following Alibaba’s Earlier Move

January 5, 2024

Reuters reported this week that Baidu, China’s giant e-commerce and services provider, is exiting the quantum computing development arena. Reuters reported � Read more…

Leading Solution Providers

Contributors

Comparing NVIDIA A100 and NVIDIA L40S: Which GPU is Ideal for AI and Graphics-Intensive Workloads?

October 30, 2023

With long lead times for the NVIDIA H100 and A100 GPUs, many organizations are looking at the new NVIDIA L40S GPU, which it’s a new GPU optimized for AI and g Read more…

Shutterstock 1179408610

Google Addresses the Mysteries of Its Hypercomputer 

December 28, 2023

When Google launched its Hypercomputer earlier this month (December 2023), the first reaction was, "Say what?" It turns out that the Hypercomputer is Google's t Read more…

AMD MI3000A

How AMD May Get Across the CUDA Moat

October 5, 2023

When discussing GenAI, the term "GPU" almost always enters the conversation and the topic often moves toward performance and access. Interestingly, the word "GPU" is assumed to mean "Nvidia" products. (As an aside, the popular Nvidia hardware used in GenAI are not technically... Read more…

Shutterstock 1606064203

Meta’s Zuckerberg Puts Its AI Future in the Hands of 600,000 GPUs

January 25, 2024

In under two minutes, Meta's CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, laid out the company's AI plans, which included a plan to build an artificial intelligence system with the eq Read more…

Google Introduces ‘Hypercomputer’ to Its AI Infrastructure

December 11, 2023

Google ran out of monikers to describe its new AI system released on December 7. Supercomputer perhaps wasn't an apt description, so it settled on Hypercomputer Read more…

China Is All In on a RISC-V Future

January 8, 2024

The state of RISC-V in China was discussed in a recent report released by the Jamestown Foundation, a Washington, D.C.-based think tank. The report, entitled "E Read more…

Intel Won’t Have a Xeon Max Chip with New Emerald Rapids CPU

December 14, 2023

As expected, Intel officially announced its 5th generation Xeon server chips codenamed Emerald Rapids at an event in New York City, where the focus was really o Read more…

IBM Quantum Summit: Two New QPUs, Upgraded Qiskit, 10-year Roadmap and More

December 4, 2023

IBM kicks off its annual Quantum Summit today and will announce a broad range of advances including its much-anticipated 1121-qubit Condor QPU, a smaller 133-qu Read more…

  • arrow
  • Click Here for More Headlines
  • arrow
HPCwire