SI2-SSE: Open OnDemand: Transforming Computational Science through Omnidisciplinary Software Cyberinfrastructure

超级计算或高性能计算（HPC）有能力推动所有科学和工程领域的工作。不幸的是，HPC的影响往往是有限的，因为计算机本身很难使用，科学家和工程师宁愿花时间推进他们的学科，而不是学习HPC。 当许多学生和研究人员开始使用传统的HPC系统时，学习深奥的命令是一个障碍，这导致了相关STEM领域中女性，少数民族和残疾人的比例相对较小。Open OnDemand项目通过创新的软件解决了这个问题，使HPC不再像使用台式计算机或网站那样困难，从而缩短了初始学习曲线。Open OnDemand将为研究和教育提供增强的基础设施，学生和教育工作者将在较小的部门和教室系统上使用相同的工具和技术，他们最终将在较大的HPC中心使用这些工具和技术。这简化了开发更具全球竞争力的STEM劳动力的管道，一旦他们从学术界毕业，他们就准备好直接投入计算问题和资源。 Open OnDemand还允许科学家和工程师为来自学术界和工业界的更多合作者和用户提供专业的特定领域工作流程和专业知识。 这将导致更多的伙伴关系，并从公共部门向私营部门转让更多的技术，网络已成为除高性能计算（HPC）以外的每个计算领域的远程计算服务的主要访问机制。如今，无论是在校园还是在国家一级，HPC网络基础设施（CI）资源通常需要UNIX的高级知识，熟悉命令行界面以及自定义客户端软件的安装和配置。 如今，HPC中的Web应用程序确实以科学网关的形式存在。然而，网关尚未激增，部分原因是每个网关所需的开发和管理费用。 这些因素表明了HPC的可访问性差距。 Open OnDemand是一个用于HPC和远程计算访问的开源平台，可解决可访问性差距。Open OnDemand将是一个基于成功的OSC OnDemand平台的公开版本。 OSC OnDemand是一个Web平台，为俄亥俄州超级计算机中心（OSC）用户提供对HPC系统、Web应用程序和VNC服务的集成访问。 OSC OnDemand自2013年1月以来一直在生产，拥有来自27个不同NSF科学领域的800多个不同用户，其应用程序已启动超过70，000次。 除了简化对HPC服务的访问外，Open OnDemand还集中了Web应用程序的开销，简化了对自定义可视化和科学网关应用程序的支持。Open OnDemand能够通过提供一个平台来改造网络基础设施，为HubZero应用程序、XSEDE科学网关、iPython笔记本和Pegasus等工作流工具等科学Web工具提供新的交付方法。 在该项目下，Open OnDemand平台将通过以下方式创建：（a）将现有的OSC OnDemand软件转换为托管在GitHub上的社区开发项目，（B）扩展每个用户的Web服务器以服务Rails应用程序，（c）用现有的开源项目（如NGINX）取代定制开发的代理，以及（d）用HTML5解决方案取代现有的基于Java的VNC客户端。 通过更新或替换AjaXplorer和集成高性能文件传输功能（sftp和Globus Online），文件使用率将得到改善。 可访问的应用程序将通过以下方式进行更新：（a）升级或替换AnyTerm，（B）更新Job Constructor，以及（c）集成Open XDMoD和SUPREMM以实现作业和群集性能指标。此外，将创建社区基础设施，包括（a）系统管理员文档和讨论论坛，以及（B）基于现有OSC OnDemand材料的培训材料。 将开展一项测试计划，包括（a）协助测试站点安装，（B）更新培训材料以纳入新功能，（c）开始指标报告，（d）记录Galaxy应用程序集成案例研究。 HPC中心的工作人员将通过“靴子训练营”和“培训师培训”课程参与。最后，开放式按需将作为一个项目，XSEDE校园桥接技术插入服务。这些活动将有助于实现以下目标：（1）将OSC OnDemand过渡到社区开发的开放源码软件包，称为Open OnDemand，（2）通过更新和扩展无障碍应用程序，包括整合Globus Online和Open XDMoD项目，提高Open OnDemand的界面能力。(3)开展一项计划，让部门、校园和国家的HPC用户和管理员参与进来，通过Open OnDemand增强HPC的包容性;（4）利用Open OnDemand作为平台，根据我们支持数据密集型生物医学包（Galaxy Project）的经验，支持现有的基于Web的应用程序，如XSEDE Science Gateway和HubZero应用程序。

Supercomputing, or High-Performance Computing (HPC), has the power to advance work in all fields of science and engineering. Unfortunately, the impact of HPC is often limited simply because the computers themselves are difficult to use and scientists and engineers would rather spend their time advancing their disciplines than learn HPC. Learning esoteric commands is a hurdle to many students and researchers when they first begin to work with traditional HPC systems, which has contributed to the relatively small proportions of women, minorities, and persons with disabilities within related STEM fields. The Open OnDemand project addresses this problem through innovative software that makes HPC no more difficult than using a desktop computer or a web site, hence reducing that initial learning curve. Open OnDemand will provide an enhanced infrastructure for research and education, in that students and educators will be exposed to the same tools and techniques on smaller departmental and classroom systems that they'll eventually utilize at larger HPC centers. This streamlines the pipeline for developing a more globally competitive STEM workforce that is prepared to dive right into computational problems and resources once they graduate from academia. Open OnDemand also allows scientists and engineers to make specialized domain-specific workflows and expertise available to more collaborators and users, both from academia and industry. This should result in increased partnerships, and the transfer of more technologies from the public to private sectors.The web has become the dominant access mechanism for remote compute services in every computing area except high-performance computing (HPC). Accessing HPC cyberinfrastructure (CI) resources today, either at the campus or national level, typically requires advanced knowledge of UNIX, familiarity with command-line interfaces and installation and configuration of custom client software. Web applications in HPC today do exist in the form of science gateways. However, gateways have not proliferated in part due to the development and administrative overheads required for each individual gateway. These factors demonstrate an accessibility gap for HPC. Open OnDemand is an open source platform for HPC and remote computing access that addresses the accessibility gap. Open OnDemand will be a public release based on the successful OSC OnDemand platform. OSC OnDemand is a web platform providing Ohio Supercomputer Center (OSC) users integrated access to HPC systems, web applications, and VNC services. OSC OnDemand has been in production since January 2013, has over 800 distinct users from 27 different NSF fields of science, and its apps have been launched over 70,000 times. In addition to easing access to HPC services, Open OnDemand centralizes web app overheads, easing support for custom visualization and science gateway apps. Open OnDemand has the ability to transform cyberinfrastructure by providing a platform to enable a new delivery method for scientific web tools like HubZero apps, XSEDE Science Gateways, iPython notebooks and workflow tools like Pegasus. Under this project, the Open OnDemand platform will be created by (a) transitioning the existing OSC OnDemand software to a community developed project hosted on GitHub, (b) extending the per-user web server to serve Rails apps, (c) replacing the custom-developed Proxy with an existing open source project like NGINX and (d) replacing the existing Java-based VNC client with an HTML5 solution. File usage will be improved by updating or replacing AjaXplorer and integrating high performance file transfer functions (sftp and Globus Online). The accessibly apps will be updated by by (a) upgrading or replacing AnyTerm, (b) updating Job Constructor and (c) integrating Open XDMoD and SUPREMM for job and cluster performance metrics. In addition, community infrastructure will be created including (a) system administrator documentation and discussion forums and (b) training materials based on existing OSC OnDemand materials. A beta program will be conducted including (a) assisting beta sites with installs, (b) updating training materials to include new functionality, (c) beginning metric reporting and (d) documenting a Galaxy case study for app integration. HPC center staff will be engaged by through the "boot camps" and "train the trainer" sessions. Finally, Open OnDemand will be proposed as a project to the XSEDE Campus Bridging Technology Insertion Service. These activities will help meet the following objectives: (1) Transition OSC OnDemand to a community-developed open source software package called Open OnDemand, (2) Improve the interface capabilities of Open OnDemand by updating and expanding the accessibility apps, including integration of Globus Online and Open XDMoD projects. (3) Conduct a program to engage departmental, campus and national HPC users and administrators on enhancing HPC inclusivity through Open OnDemand and (4) Leverage Open OnDemand as a platform to support existing web-based applications such XSEDE Science Gateways and HubZero applications based on our experience supporting a data-intensive biomedical package (the Galaxy Project).