Computing, grid computing
From MariachiWiki
A major part of future cyberinfrastructure is grid computing. MARIACHI is a member of the Open Science Grid and will be setting up a small farm for data processing.
Grid computing also provides authentication tools that the experiment will be using for:
- Secure e-mail
- Wiki authorization
- Data upload
- Remote login to data acquisition nodes.
- Grid software development
- Allowing researchers and students to perform analysis using MARIACHI and Open Science Grid computing resources.
- Acquire a Grid Certificate.
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Using the Grid in MARIACHI
The Grid will play several roles in MARIACHI.
Distributed Security
The Grid will allow us to authenticate users and authorize access to resources.
We will probably not be using the Grid's accounting capabilities.
Authentication will require all users to get a Grid Certificate and join the MARIACHI VO (Virtual Organization).
Instructions are at HowToGridCertificate
Distributed File Storage
MARIACHI will be generating many data files. We will be accumulating scintillator data (events and flux rates), radar data, weather data, etc. All this data will be stored on the central MARIACHI server using Grid security mechanisms to protect the data.
The Grid will also allow users to select specific files that they are interested in and transfer them to their local workstation using GridFTP.
Distributed Processing
It's not clear what kind of distributed processing will be done on MARIACHI. Experience with early data sets suggests that we may need distributed tools for data analysis/correlation, just to get acceptable processing times.
Proposed uses of Grid
- Tools for students to analyze large amounts of data on the grid.
- Tools to extract subsets of data.
- Getting access to Scintillator data.
- Securely work on Collaborative projects.
- Implementing subgroups for increased security.
- Using accounting capabilities to show the communal aspect of MARIACHI.
- Making data more accessible.
- Slicing apart data and computing standard calculations.
- Page for more detailed representation of all active stations.
- Adding additional data streams, including weather, UV, and cloud cover data.
- Matching together data streams to observe correlations or effects.
Accessing the GRID as a Student
Currently, only people with .edu or .gov emails may register for a GRID certificate. Very few students have such emails, limiting the amount of people that will have access to the GRID and the private wiki pages. Currently, there is a question posed asking whether or not mariachi.physics.sunysb.edu can provide such email addresses to its students in the workshop.
