LCG2 Administrator’s Course: A practical introduction to installing and running LCG2 software.
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Europe/Zurich
Oxford
Oxford
Rhys Newman
Description
Registration £100
Accommodation £50 per person per night
Introduction
With the recent release of LCG2, sites that wish to become or remain part of the Grid have to install or update their software. Although there is documentation available to assist this process, there are still many issues which can cause difficulties, and many of these are common. Furthermore, some solutions and techniques have been developed by experienced administrators which are not widely known.
This course will bring those responsible for installing and maintaining an LGC2 installation together with experts in all aspects of the software. The course will present the overall design of LCG2 in a structured way, but will also be a detailed and practical guide to installing, upgrading and maintaining an LGC2 installation.
As has happened in the past, it is expected that knowledge and experience gained from this release of LCG software will prove a useful foundation for future releases, and therefore simplify the task of keeping a site up to date.
Intended Audience
System administrators who will be installing or maintaining an LCG2 deployment.
The major aim of the course is to educate administrators with a common and general approach to LCG2 that will help them to resolve and understand their own problems as they arise.
Course Structure
The 3 day course will consist of a series of lectures/discussions followed by group practical sessions in which each participant will be encouraged to apply what they have learnt. Sessions will take place 09:00 to 17:00 each day.
For the practical sessions, participants will be grouped into teams of 4-5 people. By the end of the course each participant will have installed a complete installation of LCG2, within an isolated network, and have been assisted through each step by the experts and their peers.
Importantly, these installations will be validated by test jobs. The course will be run jointly by Steve Traylen (from RAL) and Piotr Nyczyk (from CERN).
Course Equipment
Oxford University will provide all necessary hardware and networking. This includes the computers used in the practical sessions. These will be, by design, a combination of modern and older systems in order to simulate the environment many administrators face.
Participants are welcome to bring their own laptop which, should it use Redhat Linux, they may wish to use as a UI element for their test installation. Please supply your MAC address if you wish to use the wireless network during the course.
Course Cost and Registration
Registration is open and being managed by the National E-Science Centre. To register, please visit their registration page.
The registration fee of £100 covers course materials, lunch and coffee for the three days. It also includes the course dinner which will be held on Tuesday 20th (venue TBA). Note that accommodation is not included in this fee, nor is dinner on other days.
Accommodation (B+B) has been block booked at Keble College and single ensuite rooms are available from the 18th to the 21st if required. The cost is £50 per person per night, which is in addition to the registration fee. Please indicate which nights you will require on your registration form, or contact the course organiser.
Registration £100
Accommodation £50 pppn
Travel: This event will take place at the Department of Physics, Oxford University. the address is:
Department of Physics
The Denys Wilkinson Building
Keble Road
Oxford OX1 3RH
If you have any queries please contact Rhys Newman at rhys.newman@physics.ox.ac.uk.
Speaker:
Paul Jeffries(Director, Oxford E-Science Centre)
transparencies
09:20
Overview and Context40m
General background information about the various Grid projects and organisations (eg EGEE, LCG, GridPP, NGS). Benefits of, and motivation for, sites and administrators (not end users) joining the Grid community.
Speaker:
John Gordon(CCLRC (RAL))
transparencies
10:00
Coffee/Tea15m
10:15
Grid Elements2h 45m
Terminology and architecture review. Overview of a job’s life within the fabric with an emphasis on what happens when a job enters the administrator’s local site. Discussion of LCFGng and registration for LCG, site requirements and GOC registration.
Speaker:
Steve Traylen(RAL)
transparencies
13:00
Lunch1h
14:00
→
18:00
Session 2
14:00
LCFGng3h
Downloading the LCFGng software (it will be available locally). Installing the LCFGng server software. Configuring the site-cfg and what the options do. Compiling of profiles.
For example changing zones, adding/enabling/disabling VOs. Taking a site
offline. PBS examples.
Speaker:
Piotr Nyczyk
transparencies
10:40
Coffee/Tea20m
12:00
Running LCG, Handy hints and tips.2h
While doing the basics of LCG has been covered many more steps can be considered for producing an easily run production quality site.
Speaker:
Chris Brew(RAL)
transparencies
13:00
Lunch1h
14:00
→
18:00
Session 6
14:00
GOC, ROC and Monitoring2h
GOC responsibilities; how the GOC functions. Fabric monitoring – recommended packages? Ganglia/Nagios demonstration with examples of how they might be used locally. LCG next release plans.
