JUNE 30, 2010

HPC IN THE CLOUD

Cycle Computing CEO Jason Stowe summarized the concept of HPC-as-a-Service beautifully, stating "cloud HPC cluster users can start up clusters without having to worry about putting in place various applications, operating systems, security, encryption and other software." Yes, this is something that can be done in a private, public or even hybrid cloud environment with relative ease -- but only after the dues have been paid. After all, before entering into the blessed realm of the cloud there's some major work to be done. Major. You do not simply ship your data to Amazon and let them plug everything in for you, not if you're a small enterprise with a relatively light load and certainly not if you have any type of HPC applications. You no longer have a detailed view of your operating environment, nothing is tailored to your hardware, you have to program using specific APIs to make sure that everything is provisioned and setup properly or your experiment with the cloud is going to fail. It is no easy task -- at least not from any end users that have been directly interviewed by this little lady. No matter what the cloud structure, provider, expected use scenario, it is not something one can simply walk into and this is doubly true for HPC applications, of course, especially those that require some highly specialized behind the scenes manipulation to begin with." 

Stowe continued that in the HPC-as-a-Service model, "Scientists can create clusters that automatically add servers when work is added and turn the servers off when the work is completed," which means that once the calculations are done, the researcher simply clicks what amounts to a power down button to put an end to the massive availability of resources. It is in this simplicity -- in this easy off and on capability -- the on-demand essence -- that this could revolutionize how HPC is managed.

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