[Bioclusters] Announce: User-centric Grid Engine mini-course (October 21 / Boston MA)

[Chris Dagdigian]

Hi everyone,

Apologies for the commercial nature of this message but I think it is  
on-topic for this list. I've long talked about a need for user- 
centric SGE training focused more on "how do I get work done" rather  
than "how do I administer this thing..." and I've finally been told  
to put up or shut up :) The end result is a bit of an experiment to  
see if anyone is actually interested in such things.  The plan (for  
now) is a 1-day seminar just to test the waters.

Anyway, details are below. Feel free to pass this along or contact me  
directly with any questions.

Regards,
Chris


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-------------------------------------------------------------


1-day Technical Training Seminar ::: "Grid Engine 6 - Intro & Usage"
       Friday, October 21, 2005 - Boston, Massachusetts

Intended Audience:
-------------------------------------------

Anyone interested in a user-centric view of distributed computing  
with Grid Engine. Note: this is not an advanced operator/admin course.

Our goal is to help users, application integrators and developers  
understand Grid Engine features and capabilities in a way that allows  
them to become more productive at home. New SGE cluster operators or  
administrators also may benefit from the user and usage-centric  
perspective.

The seminar will be taught with a life science informatics focus,  
using bioinformatics workflows and applications as examples. As Grid  
Engine usage and configuration patterns can differ significantly  
between disciplines and industries, interested non-life-science  
attendees should contact us in advance to determine if this seminar  
will be a good fit.

Time and Location:
-------------------------------------------

Session  I: Friday, October 21, 2005, 9:30am - 4:30pm (12 attendees  
max.)
Location: Newbury Street, Boston MA USA
            (Boston's historic back bay neighborhood) **
Cost: $895 USD


Scope:
-------------------------------------------

The seminar will use the open source Sun Grid Engine 6 product from  
http://gridengine.sunsource.net. Features specific to the Sun N1  
product stack or the commercially branded Sun N1 Grid Engine 6 will  
not be formally covered.

Difficulty:
-------------------------------------------

No Grid Engine experience necessary but attendees should be  
comfortable with Linux and a bit of shell/perl scripting. The seminar  
is targeted towards new or moderately experienced Grid Engine users.  
Individuals with advanced Grid Engine skills will not gain much from  
this 1-day seminar - we are considering offering future sessions  
targeted specifically at advanced audiences.

Seminar Outline (draft):
-------------------------------------------

I. Clustering Overview
II. Grid Problem Types
- SGE for High Throughput vs SGE for High Performance
III. Distributed Resource Management
- Overview
- What it provides
IV. How Grid Engine Works
- Job Types
- Resource Allocation
- Policies
- Tickets
- Architecture
- Scheduling
V. Basic Usage
- Running Jobs
- Checking Status
- Troubleshooting
VI. Advanced Usage
- Resource requests
- Job Arrays
- Job Dependencies
- Simple Workflows
- Parallel Environments
- Loose vs Tight parallel environment integration
- Understanding resources & the SGE complex
VII. Policy Based Resource Allocation
- Overview
- How it works
- Effect on end-users
- Commonly seen implementations
VIII. Grid Engine Application Integration
- Standalone applications & web front-ends
- Parallel applications
- Licensed applications

Misc:
-------------------------------------------

Each seminar will be limited to no more than 12 participants.   
Attendees will have their own small Grid Engine 6.0u6 instance that  
they can use throughout the seminar. Example and demonstration code  
will be provided covering key topics and features.

Requirements:
-------------------------------------------

Attendees should bring a functional, networkable notebook computer  
(wireless and wired ports will be available). Minimal system  
requirements include a web browser and SSH client. X11 client  
software is desirable but not required.

Contact:
-------------------------------------------

Chris Dagdigian, <chris at bioteam.net>, 617-877-5498, iChat/AOL-IM:  
'bioteamdag'


** If the class fills to 12 confirmed registratons we may move the  
seminar location to nearby Cambridge, MA where larger training rooms  
are available. Our "go or no go" deadline for registration is  
September 30th.