Service management teams from Fermilab, Allstate and Argonne gathered at Fermilab on April 24 to collaborate on common service management issues. Discussions focused on how each organization performs configuration management, asset management and change management and dove deep into the people, processes and tools each organization uses. The half-day collaboration was useful, says Service Manager Tammy Whited, since the Fermilab team was able to get a better understanding of how other organizations handle common issues in these areas. “We were able to exchange ideas and help each other advance our thinking about how to do service management in a practical and smart way.” Plans are underway to meet again on May 21 at Allstate, where the team will learn more about KPIs, release management and IT service continuity versus disaster-recovery testing.
Aesop’s fable about the difficulty of breaking a bundle of sticks compared to the ease of snapping a single twig demonstrates that “in union there is strength,” a moral that can be extended to apply to the greater effectiveness of collaboration above individual effort. Experimental physicists are acutely aware of this: the CDF and D0 collaborations discovered the top quark in 1995; an international collaboration at FNAL announced the first direct evidence for the tau neutrino; and last July the ATLAS and CMS collaborations announced the observation of the Higgs boson. This emphasis on the power of collaboration is also at the heart of a new project to federate cloud resources between FNAL and the Korea Institute of Science and Technology Information (KISTI).
The initiative has been coordinated by Gabriele Garzoglio, associate head of the Grid and Cloud Computing department at FNAL, on behalf of the FermiCloud project led by Steve Timm, and Seo-Young Noh, senior researcher at KISTI’s Global Science Experimental Data Hub Center (GSDC); it was enabled by FNAL management and Haengjin Jang, head of GSDC at KISTI. Both institutions have been working on a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA), a contract that forms a mutually beneficial agreement between a DOE institution and another organization. The CRADA defines the project, including the deliverables, scope and schedule. It also governs the relationship between FNAL and KISTI, including budget and intellectual property, and raises any potential environmental impacts.
The CRADA process, which started in November, relied on agreement between many disparate groups and offices. However, celebrations are in order because the CRADA, signed by Fermilab Chief Operating Officer Jack Anderson and KISTI President Yeongseo Park, has been approved by DOE. As the cloud federation project moves forward, it will now be strengthened by this collaborative agreement.
The aim of the union, says Garzoglio, is to further scientific collaboration by showing proof of principle of a federated cloud infrastructure. Currently, many scientists use the grid to run their computing jobs. Though very successful, the system is limited because users have to fit their jobs into a specific and static environment. In contrast, the cloud system will allow users to “create their own virtual machine with their own environment, software and application,” making it more flexible, both in terms of jobs that can run on it and in the amount of computing resources available for a project.
Different cloud infrastructures, however, allow access to their resources via different mechanisms, complicating interoperability for the users. Under this CRADA, KISTI and FNAL will demonstrate a solution to this problem by sharing the same infrastructure and allowing projects to expand across their combined resources. This will make it easier for users to submit and run their jobs without having to adjust to a new computing environment. Moreover, if KISTI has a downtime while FNAL is running a big project, for example, then FNAL can utilize KISTI’s resources if necessary, and vice-versa. “We want to lower the barrier of entrance to using the cloud for our scientists,” says Garzoglio.
Through this CRADA contract for a cloud federation, therefore, KISTI and FNAL will prove once more Aesop’s maxim that “in union there is strength.”
I am also a full-time student in DeVry University’s online program pursuing my Bachelor of Science degree in network and communication management. My studies have given me a broader view of how the lab will be moving to newer communications technologies and will help my group continue to understand evolving network connectivity and keep both the clusters and network running as smoothly as possible. Working and going to school full-time definitely requires time management. I spend approximately two hours a night and time on the weekends studying and getting my coursework completed. Both my wife and I are looking forward to me being finished in August.
In my spare time, I help out at our local church and with our grandchildren. This is a great pleasure, since they live so close to us and we are able to do this.
It seems that 26 years go by so quickly when you really enjoy working here and working with the people that you come across.
The Electronic Product Environmental Assessment Tool, or EPEAT, is an environmental rating system that helps purchasers evaluate, compare and select desktop computers, notebooks, monitors and other electronic equipment based on their environmental attributes. EPEAT also provides a clear and consistent set of performance criteria for the design of products and provides an opportunity for manufacturers to secure market recognition for efforts to reduce the environmental impact of their products.
In 2009, Executive Order 13514 (Federal Leadership in Environmental, Energy and Economic Performance) was signed requiring all government agencies to ensure that 95 percent of their electronic equipment purchased is EPEAT–registered, which means data about the equipment's environmental impact is reported. At this time, the Computing Sector set up a program that gives preference to orders of desktop computers, laptops and monitors that are EPEAT-registered. A further requirement of the executive order was fulfilled by ensuring that networked printers were configured to print double sided and to have power management enabled.
Now the EPEAT registry has expanded to include imaging equipment (copiers, fax machines, scanners, printers, all-in-one machines and televisions that are 15” or larger). Still, 95 percent of our purchases must be EPEAT-registered. The EPEAT Registry will give you a list of what brands/models qualify, or you can open up a Service Desk ticket to get a recommendation based on your requirements.