Search for: All records

Over the past decade, the convergence of Cloud and High-Performance Computing (HPC) has undergone significant movement. We explore the evolution, motivations, and practicalities of establishing on-premise research cloud infrastructure and the complementary nature with HPC and commercial resources; under the belief that research clouds serve a unique role within research and education as a convergence accelerator. This role is highlighted through exploring the design tradeoffs in architecting research clouds versus HPC resources, focusing on the balance between utility, availability, and hardware utilization. The discussion provides insights from experiences with the National Science Foundation-supported Jetstream and Jetstream2 systems, showcasing convergence technologies and challenges. A variety of real-world use cases are provided that show the interplay between these computing paradigms; exploring use in research and education for interactive and iterative development, as an on-ramp to large-scale resources, as a powerful tool for education and workforce development, and for domain specific science gateways. 

Jetstream2 will be a category I production cloud resource that is part of the National Science Foundation’s Innovative HPC Program. The project’s aim is to accelerate science and engineering by providing “on-demand” programmable infrastructure built around a core system at Indiana University and four regional sites. Jetstream2 is an evolution of the Jetstream platform, which functions primarily as an Infrastructure-as-a-Service cloud. The lessons learned in cloud architecture, distributed storage, and container orchestration have inspired changes in both hardware and software for Jetstream2. These lessons have wide implications as institutions converge HPC and cloud technology while building on prior work when deploying their own cloud environments. Jetstream2’s next-generation hardware, robust open-source software, and enhanced virtualization will provide a significant platform to further cloud adoption within the US research and education communities.