[Bioclusters] Using semi-public PCs for heavy computation jobs

[Farul Mohd. Ghazali]

On Sun, 15 Feb 2004, Chris Dwan (CCGB) wrote:

> I've built up, by hook and crook, semi-integrated access to a moderate
> number of compute resources (a few hundred CPUs) spread over several
> campuses.  I suspect we're in something of the same boat, resource wise.
> You could call this hodgepodge a "grid," but that lends a dignity and
> maturity to a system whose only really positive attribute is that it
> functions to get real work done.

Chris,

I'm trying to do the same on a small bunch of PCs/workstations we have
here, just as a test case. Lots of problems, people problems mostly as
you've mentioned.

How do you handle user authentication on each machine or set of machines?
Also, aside from your own queueing system, have you tried running your
jobs using any of the major ones (PBS, SGE, etc.) with and without globus?

Would love to hear more on what you've done, especially how to convince
the lab managers that giving up their unused CPU cycles is a good idea :-)
Thanks.

.farul