Bulletin 188 - 2009 May 21

1. New supercomputers
2. Invitation to CSIRO MathWorks Day Clayton
3. Old copies of SX-5 /cs/home area
4. CSIRO Data Store transitions
5. New CSIRO ASC Software
6. CSIRO ASC Software Upgrades
7. CSIRO ASC staff changes

1. New supercomputers

An overview of the Sun Constellation System for both BoM and ANU is available on the HPCCC web site http://www.hpccc.gov.au/hpccc/seminars/new_supercomputer/Bureau-Supercomputer-2009.pdf including architecture diagram, software stack, and the history of computing at the Bureau.

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The MathWorks and CSIRO invite you to attend a complimentary on site technical seminar. This seminar will offer CSIRO employees a deeper insight into MathWorks tools.

MATLAB and Simulink are widespread engineering tools used for applications such as data acquisition, visualisation, distributed computing, modeling time and event driven systems.

Location:

GK Williams Meeting Room
Building 121
Bayside Avenue
Clayton, VIC

Date: 26th May 2009
Time: 1:30pm - 4:30pm

For more details and to register for the event visit http://www.mathworks.com.au/csirovic

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At the time of closure of the SX-5 service in 2004, copies were made of the /cs/home file areas.

If you have any use for these old copies, please contact HPCCC staff prior to 2nd June, when we propose to delete them.

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Over the coming 5 weeks, CSIRO ASC staff will be working towards de-commissioning the StorageTek Powderhorn tape library, and the two T9840C drives.

The fast-access T9840 tape drives are being decommissioned, because the amount of data currently held (over 800 Tbyte by two copies) cannot be accommodated in the SL8500 tape library using these tapes which provide only 40 Gbyte capacity per cartridge.

Two T10000B drives have arrived, and these will be commissioned after the upgrade to the cherax operating system. These drives use the same tape cartridges as the T10000A drives, but can store 1 Tbyte per cartridge - this is about 5000 times as much data per cartridge as the first ones used for DMF from 1991.

During these transitions, there will be reduced capacity for tape recalls, as the drives will be busier copying data to newer tapes.

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• MATLAB Statistics toolbox & Optimization toolbox

  Statistics Toolbox provides a comprehensive set of tools to assess and understand data. Statistics Toolbox includes functions and interactive tools for modeling data, analyzing historical trends, simulating systems, developing statistical algorithms, and learning and teaching statistics.

  Optimization Toolbox extends the MATLAB technical computing environment with tools and widely used algorithms for standard and large-scale optimization. These algorithms solve constrained and unconstrained continuous and discrete problems. The toolbox includes functions for linear programming, quadratic programming, nonlinear optimization, nonlinear least squares, solving systems of nonlinear equations, multi-objective optimization, and binary integer programming.

  Both the Statistics and Optimization toolboxes can be used on burnet and your local workstation 'myhost'. For more information about using MATLAB visit the NCI software map at http://nf.nci.org.au/facilities/software/index.php?site=CSIRO

• COMSOL Multiphysics

  The following modules are now available to COMSOL users:

  • AC/DC Module
  • Acoustics Module
  • CAD Import Module
  • RF Module
  • Heat Transfer Module
  • Chemical Engineering Module

  For more information about using COMSOL visit the NCI software map at http://nf.nci.org.au/facilities/software/index.php?site=CSIRO

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We have recently identified a number of software packages that are in high demand, and we have added more licenses accordingly:

• MATLAB - 2 core licenses have been added
• Mathematica - a single core license has been added
• Intel Fortran and C/C++ for Linux - 2 licenses for each compiler have been added

• Accelerys Materials Studio - now supports SSL (https) connections to secure data transmission
• Traffic Lights - license graphs now include 'access denied' information for fully utilized licenses.

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CSIRO ASC welcomes Stephen Leak who commenced at Docklands on the 20th of May. His role will be Applications Support Specialist. Many of you will already know Stephen from his previous role at NEC supporting the HPCCC.

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