An Integrated User Environment for Scientific Cluster Computing

We provide an integrated environment to the users of clusters for scientific computation. The environment simplifies the overall usage of the system and makes it easier for new users to learn and start using the system. It is an attempt to integrate the various pieces of software that comprise the user environment of an open-source based Linux cluster without introducing limiting constraints. We target this environment towards users who consume the system's volatile resources (CPU time and network bandwidth) to do research in physics, chemistry, and other application areas. It does not require any additional code in the application as long as the used communication paradigm is supported on the system. Instead, researchers with own code find it easy to build and run their program.

This work also extends into the realms of system administration, where tools and the configuration of the system make it feasible to provide more informative services to users.

This environment is currently in use on two clusters which are used extensively for research in physics and chemistry.