TRIUMF's plans for 2005 Service Challenges:
===========================================
February 7, 2005
The following outlines the goals we would like to achieve in order
to participate in the Service Challenges:
A) 10 GigE lightpath tests between Vancouver-Ottawa:
-------------------------------------------------
February:
The immediate plans are the following:
We have 3 machines available for the test.
1 SUN Sunfire V40Z quad opteron (2.4GHz processors) with 8GB memory
but only 2 * 72 + 3*144 GByte SCSI drives. We are looking at
an economical way to connect more storage to this unit - possibly
by simply connecting 8-16 SATA disks housed in an external
box which simply powers them and connects them to a pair
of raid cards installed in the SUN via sata cables through the
rear open pci slots.
We also have 2 Tyan based Dual 2.4GHz Opteron machines,
each with 4GB memory and each with 16 300GByte SATA drives
connected to 2 RocketRaid 1820 controllers.
These need to be configured this week with 64bit Fedora Core 3
kernels with support for
- bbftp
- bonnie++
- RocketRaid 1820a support
- 10Gbit Intel support
- 10Gbit S2IO support
- xfs support
- iperf
- cacti monitoring
- ssh configured to allow easy interconnect
Tests already indicate good xfs read in raid5 configuration -
420MB/sec being standard and 620MB/sec being available
under circumstances that needs to be better understood.
xfs writing is currently limited to about 250MB/sec.
We have 2 10GbE intel cards and 1 S2IO 10GbE card.
Tests could thus try to aggregating to/from 2 machines
to the third. Lots of combinations to explore.
We need to establish stable disk-to-disk transfers over
the next week - at a minimum 200MB/sec. As soon
we have this we should have Ottawa end likewise
configures and start transfers to/from Ottawa.
We have kept two 8 channel 3-Ware 9500-s8
SATA Raid cards from Ciara for use in the SUN,
or alternatively for when the RockeRaids fail to perform
as required in either read or write modes.
The 10Gbit link between TRIUMF and Ottawa
should be checked out and established this week.
Consideration should be given to implementing gridftp
and using it instead of bbftp.
B) March Service Challenge hardware and 1 GigE lightpath
------------------------------------------------------
February:
by mid-February, We will finalize the purchase of few more servers (4-5).
These machines will effectively be used in the incoming service challenges.
Typically Dual processor/ 2G RAM / RAID 5 with at least 8 disks (2.4+ TB)/
dual GigE (channel bonding). The goal is to aggregate these
servers to be able to write at a speed of 500 MB/s with an SRM interface.
1 GigE networking preparation:(needed for end of March service challenge)
- 1GigE light path to CERN can be stablished immediately,
TRIUMF has the neccessary lambda and optics, must make a
request to CANARIE for the lightpath, to be carried across
CA*net4 by CANARIE and by Surfnet from either MANLAN in
New York or STARLIGHT in Chicago to CERN. A request will be
submitted in the week 7-11th Feb for a 1GigE lightpath until
the end of the year, or until CANARIE can contact a permanent
10G lightpath which they are currently in the process of procuring.
Will also request a routable address space from BCNET.
March: Prepare new machines for the March service challenge:
- installation/configuration of dCache/SRM service on new servers
- Site tuning / performance tests for stable operations
- Service Challenge at 100 MB/s (Disk to Disk)
C) June Service Challenge and 10 GigE lightpath:
--------------------------------------------
April-May: 10 GigE networking preparation:
- 10G lightpath status, currently CANARIE is in the process
of procuring a permanent 10G lightpath to CERN. TRIUMF
currently has 10GigE equipment on loan from Foundry.
A purchased solution is awaiting clarification on the
availability of 10GigE WAN PHY 1550nm optics as well as
whether or not 10 GigE LAN PHY 1550m, optics will be
availalble at the BCNET gigapop.
This will not be known until end of March.
- A 10G lightpath between TRIUMF and CERN will requested
between June 13 and 24th for a Service Challenge test.
The specific 10G equipment that will be used will be
determined by the availability of the optics mentioned
above and can not be determined at this time.
June: 10 GigE tests between Vancouver - CERN (via Amsterdam)
- Allocated time splot: 13/6-24/6
- Site tuning
- Service Challenge (single site) Disk to Disk at 500 MB/s
D) Infrastructure and Hardware for Service Challenge (disk/tape to tape):
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Summer-Fall: Work on Tier 1 site infrastructure
(computing room preparation / engineering work).
The exact time table is not known yet.
Fall 2005: Acquisition of a Tape library system (when computing room ready)
- Tape library unit (base frame, IBM 3584 or something similar)
- 3 drives
- 100-200 tapes
- dCache/SRM + tape back-end configuration
- site tuning / performance tests
December 2005: Service Challenge (to tape at 50 MB/s)
