University of California San Diego
San Diego Supercomputer Center
Welcome to the San Diego
Supercomputer Center
This presentation was adapted from a previous version created by Fran Berman, SDSC Director
University of California San Diego
San Diego Supercomputer Center
About SDSC• Founded in 1985, was affiliated with General Atomics• Funded mainly by the United States National Science
Foundation• SDSC has more than 400 scientists, software
developers and support personnel with expertise in – high-performance computing, – data and knowledge systems, – networking, – visualization, – computational science, – grid and cluster computing, – and security
University of California San Diego
San Diego Supercomputer Center
SDSC Highlights• Supercomputers
– 3 major academic research supercomputers– One of the 25 fastest on Earth!
• Data– 600 times the data in the United States
National Library of Congress, or the amount of music in over 300,000 iPods!
• Many Different Kinds of People– Computer Scientists, Biologists, Astronomers,
Gamers, Oceanographers, Hacker trackers, etc.
University of California San Diego
San Diego Supercomputer Center
The Machine Room
SDSC Machine Room – 11,000 ft2
University of California San Diego
San Diego Supercomputer Center
SDSC Staff Help Researchers Do Computational Science
• What would happen if 1000 gallons of oil spilled into San Diego Bay? (“What if” Models)
• Can we design efficient hydrogen fuel cells? (Engineering Models)
• What will happen if the Earth’s climate gets warmer? (Prediction Models)
University of California San Diego
San Diego Supercomputer Center
We Solve Problems Faster
• Two ways of making computers solve problems faster:
1. Make them smarter2. Make them work
together
University of California San Diego
San Diego Supercomputer Center
The Network IS The Computer
• We can divide the program into parts and execute a different part of the program on each computer– To save time, we can run
the different parts of the program at the same time
– We call these kinds of programs parallel programs
University of California San Diego
San Diego Supercomputer Center
• How to simulate an earthquake:
1. Divide up Southern California into “blocks”
2. For each block, collect data on ground surface composition, geological structures, fault information, etc.
The Southern San Andreas Fault
University of California San Diego
San Diego Supercomputer Center
• How to simulate an earthquake:
3. Map the blocks on to processors
SDSC’s DataStar – one of the 25 fastest
computers in the world
University of California San Diego
San Diego Supercomputer Center
• How to simulate an earthquake:
4. The simulation outputs data on seismic wave velocity, earthquake magnitude,and other characteristics
• How much data was output?
• 47 TeraBytes which is
– More than two times the printed materials in the United States National Library of Congress! or
– The amount of music in over 2000 iPods!
• Where does SDSC keep the data?
• In HPSS, a tape storage library that can hold 6 PetaBytes (6000 Terabytes) -- 300 times the printed materials in the United States National Library of Congress
Play movie
University of California San Diego
San Diego Supercomputer Center
1906 San Francisco Earthquake Simulation
Play movie
University of California San Diego
San Diego Supercomputer Center
More Volume Visualization• Orion Nebula Simulation for Hayden
Planetarium at the American Museum of Natural History
Play movie
University of California San Diego
San Diego Supercomputer Center
Educational Gaming
http://visservices.sdsc.edu/
Explore the EarthBuild a Star
University of California San Diego
San Diego Supercomputer Center
Thanks for visiting SDSC!http://www.sdsc.edu/
University of California San Diego
San Diego Supercomputer Center
On To The Machine Room…