Advanced technical support services
The Technical Consulting Group (TCG) provides front-line support to
NCAR's diverse supercomputing users, as well as performing three other
mission-critical functions for SCD:
This broad range of advanced technical support services challenges
the five-person staff. TCG staff contributed to the following SCD
projects in FY97:
TCG staff also made these significant contributions:
Worked with CCM, POP, and MM5 regarding timing
and accuracy issues on several of SCD's compute servers. Some
revamp suggestions were forthcoming.
Gaussian 94: Worked with Dr. Alan Bandy of Drexel
to license and install the product on one of SCD's CRAY PVP
computers.
CUG: Reviewed papers submitted for future meetings,
and chaired the Performance and Evaluation Special Interest
Committee.
Parallel Tools Consortium: Hosted the annual meeting
in Boulder in the month of June. Several SCD staff members
participated in the Consortium.
Prepared and sent Internet access survey to university users
of SCD's compute-servers in response to several complaints
about using the computing facilities via commercial Internet
connections.
Details of TCG contributions to major SCD projects
These are TCG's specific contributions to the projects described
in other sections of this report.
Planned software and math libraries
to be placed on antero, examining software licensing issues in
the process. Local software and math libraries were generated
and tested before installing.
Obtained and ran the POP and University of Miami models
on the T3D to test the C90 as a new front end to the T3D.
Participated in acceptance testing to verify vendor compliance
with the purchase contract.
Obtained a parallel version of the netCDF library for the T3D
by request from Jim Rosinski (CGD).
Provided one-on-one assistance to friendly users in converting
their programs to run on ouray before the machine was released
for general use.
Generated, tested, and installed local math libraries; examined
software licensing issues.
Performed compiler tests and software timing tests on SCD's
Hewlett-Packard SPP2000, sioux.
Wrote documentation to assist users getting started on sioux.
Ported conversion library "ncaru" to sioux.
Arranged for introductory class on the SPP2000 to be taught
at NCAR by HP's Jim Reed.
Planned, with user input, software
and math libraries to be placed on winterpark; evaluated
and recommended SGI native math library complib.sgimath.
Evaluated several new Fortran compiler versions (77 and 90)
on SGI Power Challenge winterpark.
Coordinated CGD software requests with SCD personnel; generated,
tested, and installed CGD-requested local math libraries on
winterpark.
Investigated (at CGD's request) a strategy by which users support
and install certain software themselves rather than relying on
SCD system administrators. This mechanism, known as /contrib,
was adopted by SCD.
Became familiar with SGI's three multitasking paradigms on
winterpark, and experimented with SGI's parallel version of
complib.sgimath.
Located, evaluated, and advertised SGI's Technical Publications
website for use by NCAR's winterpark users.
Wrote documentation to assist users getting started on winterpark.
Provided general consulting to winterpark users.
Ported conversion library ncaru to winterpark.
Arranged for SGI Programming Environment Class to be taught at
NCAR by SGI personnel.
Fortran 90 conversion effort
The Fortran 90 migration came to a peak this year with the decommission
of the Y-MP8/864, shavano, and the release of the J932se/24-1024, ouray,
for production work. Because ouray was obtained after the licensing
cutoff for the CF77 compiler, SCD has installed only the Cray F90
compiler for compiling Fortran code. Thus, users migrating from the
decommissioned shavano into ouray's environment faced several
challenges. While ANSI Standard Fortran 77 is a subset of ANSI
Standard Fortran 90, the implementation of a specific compiler is
typically at issue. Furthermore, many of the codes handled during
this conversion process were not standard-compliant. TCG guided users
through the conversion in a series of steps starting with bringing the
code into compliance with the standards, then adjusting for differences
between the compilers and their extensions, and finally taking advantage
of features of the new compiler and the new language. This effort was
responsible for a sharp increase in the consulting traffic during the
months following shavano's decommission.
Other Fortran 90 accomplishments
C90 antero was configured without FORTRAN 77;
users were required to convert to Fortran 90.
Assisted users in this conversion
and on all SCD-supported production platforms.
Tested and evaluated several Fortran 90 compilers under
consideration for purchase; tested Fortran 90 compilers
on all production platforms.
Tested several Fortran 77-to-90 converters.
Contributed documentation for users and installed a website containing
Fortran 90 conversion
information under
ConsultWeb.
Identified and obtained training materials for Fortran 90
course to be taught by SCD Consultants.
Reported problems with f90 PE 3.0 to Cray Research, Inc.
Developed the Remedy 3.0 product into an experimental
trouble-ticket system for SCD by adding all NCAR user
names to a database associated with Remedy, thereby
allowing SCD staffers to look up information belonging
with a particular ticket.
Participated in committee to propose methods for identifying and
retiring (or replacing) systems and software reaching the end of
useful service.
Monitored NUPDATE usage; helped users migrate off it.
Decommissioned shavano: resultant flurry of questions from
users migrating to ouray and paiute.
Helped users migrate off TAGS.
Retired public-domain version of LAPACK math library on SCD's
Cray PVP systems, in deference to CRI's optimized version,
after ascertaining CRI supported the complete set of LAPACK
routines.
Decommissioned MATLAB on Crays, because it ran slowly and
because the vendor had already stopped supporting the Cray product.
Wrote documentation and installed a website containing
Solaris and Common Desktop Environment information for SCD
staff converting to Solaris.
Chaired SCD Desktop Advisory Committee.
Built, tested, and installed local math libraries on
Computational Science Section's compute-server klondike.
Received training in use of NCAR Command Language for extracting
and visualizing data.
Consulted with users.
Hosted booth at winter AGU conference.
Released beta version of DCS in August; debugged DCS file
transfer msrcp command on IRIX and other systems.
Debugged and enhanced request handler and file mover.
Tracked down and fixed subtle bugs within the DCS
distribution. Rebuilt and tested DCS under new
versions of DCE.
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