Coates (supercomputer)
Encyclopedia
Coates is a supercomputer
installed at Purdue University
on July 21, 2009. The high-performance computing cluster is operated by Information Technology at Purdue (ITaP), the university's central information technology organization. ITaP also operates the Steele cluster
and the DiaGrid distributed computing network
.
and Cisco
and Chelsio
network equipment. It is expected to have a peak performance of 90 teraflops and rank in the top 50 on the November 2009 Top 500 Supercomputer Sites list
. The cluster
's node
s are arrayed in six logical sub-clusters each with different memory and storage configurations designed to meet the varying needs of the researchers using Coates.
(10GigE), run Red Hat Enterprise Linux
5 (RHEL5), use PBSPro
9.2 for resource and job management and also have compilers and scientific programming libraries installed. It is the first internationally ranked academic supercomputer to be solely wired with 10GigE.
cooling system
that recycles the hot water for use on the Purdue campus.
, the University of Michigan
and Michigan State University
.
s, faculty startup packages, institutional funds and other sources. Each faculty investor always has access to the nodes he or she purchases and potentially to more computing power when the nodes of other investors are idle. Unused, or opportunistic, cycles from Coates are made available to the National Science Foundation
's TeraGrid
and the Open Science Grid
using Condor software.
, a nearly 27,000-processor (as of summer 2009) Condor-powered distributed computing network for research involving Purdue and partners at other campuses. DiaGrid and Purdue’s community clusters are administered by ITaP’s research and discovery arm the Rosen Center for Advanced Computing.
, who came to Purdue in 1973 to head the School of Electrical Engineering (now Electrical and Computer Engineering) where, for the next decade, he emphasized computer education and the development of computing facilities. Coates continues ITaP's practice of naming new supercomputers after notable figures in Purdue's computing history.
Supercomputer
A supercomputer is a computer at the frontline of current processing capacity, particularly speed of calculation.Supercomputers are used for highly calculation-intensive tasks such as problems including quantum physics, weather forecasting, climate research, molecular modeling A supercomputer is a...
installed at Purdue University
Purdue University
Purdue University, located in West Lafayette, Indiana, U.S., is the flagship university of the six-campus Purdue University system. Purdue was founded on May 6, 1869, as a land-grant university when the Indiana General Assembly, taking advantage of the Morrill Act, accepted a donation of land and...
on July 21, 2009. The high-performance computing cluster is operated by Information Technology at Purdue (ITaP), the university's central information technology organization. ITaP also operates the Steele cluster
Steele (supercomputer)
Steele is a supercomputer at Purdue University.The cluster is the second largest campus supercomputer in the Big Ten not a part of a national center and was the largest when built. Steele is made up of 893 Dell dual quad-core computer nodes and has a theoretical peak performance of more than 60...
and the DiaGrid distributed computing network
DiaGrid (distributed computing network)
DiaGrid is a large high-throughput distributed research computing network utilizing the Condor system and centered at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana...
.
Hardware
Coates consists of a maximum 1,280 HP dual quad-core compute nodes using 10,240 AMD processorsCentral processing unit
The central processing unit is the portion of a computer system that carries out the instructions of a computer program, to perform the basic arithmetical, logical, and input/output operations of the system. The CPU plays a role somewhat analogous to the brain in the computer. The term has been in...
and Cisco
Cisco
Cisco may refer to:Companies:*Cisco Systems, a computer networking company* Certis CISCO, corporatised entity of the former Commercial and Industrial Security Corporation in Singapore...
and Chelsio
Chelsio
Chelsio Communications is leading the convergence of networking, storage and clustering interconnects with its robust, high-performance and proven unified wire technology...
network equipment. It is expected to have a peak performance of 90 teraflops and rank in the top 50 on the November 2009 Top 500 Supercomputer Sites list
TOP500
The TOP500 project ranks and details the 500 most powerful known computer systems in the world. The project was started in 1993 and publishes an updated list of the supercomputers twice a year...
. The cluster
Cluster (computing)
A computer cluster is a group of linked computers, working together closely thus in many respects forming a single computer. The components of a cluster are commonly, but not always, connected to each other through fast local area networks...
's node
Node (networking)
In communication networks, a node is a connection point, either a redistribution point or a communication endpoint . The definition of a node depends on the network and protocol layer referred to...
s are arrayed in six logical sub-clusters each with different memory and storage configurations designed to meet the varying needs of the researchers using Coates.
Software
All nodes in the cluster have 10 Gigabit EthernetEthernet
Ethernet is a family of computer networking technologies for local area networks commercially introduced in 1980. Standardized in IEEE 802.3, Ethernet has largely replaced competing wired LAN technologies....
(10GigE), run Red Hat Enterprise Linux
Red Hat Enterprise Linux
Red Hat Enterprise Linux is a Linux-based operating system developed by Red Hat and targeted toward the commercial market. Red Hat Enterprise Linux is released in server versions for x86, x86-64, Itanium, PowerPC and IBM System z, and desktop versions for x86 and x86-64...
5 (RHEL5), use PBSPro
Portable Batch System
Portable Batch System is the name of computer software that performs job scheduling. Its primary task is to allocate computational tasks, i.e., batch jobs, among the available computing resources...
9.2 for resource and job management and also have compilers and scientific programming libraries installed. It is the first internationally ranked academic supercomputer to be solely wired with 10GigE.
Cooling system
Coates has a heat-exchangingHeat exchanger
A heat exchanger is a piece of equipment built for efficient heat transfer from one medium to another. The media may be separated by a solid wall, so that they never mix, or they may be in direct contact...
cooling system
Computer cooling
Computer cooling is required to remove the waste heat produced by computer components, to keep components within their safe operating temperature limits.Various cooling methods help to improve processor performance or reduce the noise of cooling fans....
that recycles the hot water for use on the Purdue campus.
Construction
The cluster was largely built in less than four hours on July 21, 2009, by a team of more than 200 Purdue computer technicians and volunteers, including volunteers from Indiana University, the University of IowaUniversity of Iowa
The University of Iowa is a public state-supported research university located in Iowa City, Iowa, United States. It is the oldest public university in the state. The university is organized into eleven colleges granting undergraduate, graduate, and professional degrees...
, the University of Michigan
University of Michigan
The University of Michigan is a public research university located in Ann Arbor, Michigan in the United States. It is the state's oldest university and the flagship campus of the University of Michigan...
and Michigan State University
Michigan State University
Michigan State University is a public research university in East Lansing, Michigan, USA. Founded in 1855, it was the pioneer land-grant institution and served as a model for future land-grant colleges in the United States under the 1862 Morrill Act.MSU pioneered the studies of packaging,...
.
Funding
The Coates supercomputer is a "community cluster" funded by hardware money from grantGrant (money)
Grants are funds disbursed by one party , often a Government Department, Corporation, Foundation or Trust, to a recipient, often a nonprofit entity, educational institution, business or an individual. In order to receive a grant, some form of "Grant Writing" often referred to as either a proposal...
s, faculty startup packages, institutional funds and other sources. Each faculty investor always has access to the nodes he or she purchases and potentially to more computing power when the nodes of other investors are idle. Unused, or opportunistic, cycles from Coates are made available to the National Science Foundation
National Science Foundation
The National Science Foundation is a United States government agency that supports fundamental research and education in all the non-medical fields of science and engineering. Its medical counterpart is the National Institutes of Health...
's TeraGrid
TeraGrid
TeraGrid is an e-Science grid computing infrastructure combining resources at eleven partner sites. The project started in 2001 and operated from 2004 through 2011....
and the Open Science Grid
Open Science Grid Consortium
The Open Science Grid Consortium is an organization that administers a worldwide grid of technological resources called the Open Science Grid, which facilitates distributed computing for scientific research...
using Condor software.
Users
The Purdue departments and schools by which Coates is used vary broadly, including Aeronautics and Astronautics, Agronomy, Biology, Chemical Engineering, Chemistry, Civil Engineering, Communications, Computer Science, Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, Electrical and Computer Engineering, Electrical and Computer Engineering Technology, Industrial Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Medicinal Chemistry and Molecular Pharmacology, Physics, the Purdue Terrestrial Observatory and Statistics.DiaGrid
Coates is part of Purdue's distributed computing Condor flock, which is the largest publicly disclosed distributed computing system in the world and the center of DiaGridDiaGrid (distributed computing network)
DiaGrid is a large high-throughput distributed research computing network utilizing the Condor system and centered at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana...
, a nearly 27,000-processor (as of summer 2009) Condor-powered distributed computing network for research involving Purdue and partners at other campuses. DiaGrid and Purdue’s community clusters are administered by ITaP’s research and discovery arm the Rosen Center for Advanced Computing.
Naming
The Coates cluster is named for Clarence L. "Ben" CoatesClarence L. "Ben" Coates
Clarence L. “Ben” Coates was an American computer scientist and engineer known for his work on waveform recognition devices, circuit gates and accumulators....
, who came to Purdue in 1973 to head the School of Electrical Engineering (now Electrical and Computer Engineering) where, for the next decade, he emphasized computer education and the development of computing facilities. Coates continues ITaP's practice of naming new supercomputers after notable figures in Purdue's computing history.