Simplifying the World’s Most Powerful Computer Network with SDN

For the first time, SC’s research and production network (SCinet) will be using the emerging technology software defined networking (SDN) to manage and simplify the operations for a portion of the SC conference’s show floor network.

SCinet is the research and production network that serves as the backbone of data communications for the annual SC Conference. By using SDN in the SCinet network, the group of network engineers deploying SCinet will be able to transfer the task of configuring individual network switching devices to a single piece of software, removing human error from the process of setting up connections within the network.

Nick Buraglio, SDN Project Lead

“Take the last three problems or errors that have occurred on a network of any notable size,” says Nick Buraglio, network engineer at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Energy Sciences Network (ESnet) and lead of SCinet’s SDN project, “it’s almost always a configuration problem—some kind of human error that caused those issues.”

As the pilot year for this SDN project, half of SCinet’s circa one hundred, one-gigabit booth connections will be SDN configured. This technology will simplify managing these network connections and will hopefully reduce the time engineers spend troubleshooting configuration and provisioning errors.

“Previously SCinet had to create its own configurations for devices which required a unique configuration template for each device along a path. Using SDN, we can take all the idiosyncrasies of various devices into account and configure these devices using a single piece of software,” said J.P. Velders, a network engineer from the University of Amsterdam and co-chair of SCinet’s routing team.

Although still an emerging technology, SCinet anticipates that SDN will increase efficiencies. This network provides a unique platform for running high performance computing (HPC) applications and demonstrations at the SC conference, which is in its 27th year. SCinet, built by more than 100 volunteers from academia, industry and government, has been providing the network connectivity and platform for HPC research at SC since 1991.

From left: SCinet volunteers J.P. Velders, Paul Wefel, Conan Moore and Davey Wheeler (SCinet Chair)

“SDN allows the participating vendors to showcase the programmability of their equipment in a production environment.  In addition to the enhancements to the SCinet architecture itself, the use of SDN helps promote the practical usability of the technology to conference participants and the network industry as a whole, “ says Conan Moore, a network engineer from the University of Colorado Boulder and co-chair of SCinet’s routing team.

To implement SDN, SCinet is partnering with Brocade, a network technology company. Brocade is providing both the routing and switching equipment, and the Controller software, which uses OpenFlow, the feature that enables SCinet to deploy SDN across multiple devices.

The SCinet team used OpenFlow in 2014 with Big Switch Networks technology for cybersecurity applications.  “Last year we monitored network traffic for security events using SDN to control the security monitoring infrastructure,” Buraglio said.

While SDN will be isolated to part of the SCinet network this year, Velders anticipates that the technology will span the entire network by 2016.

“Our goal is to scale up the use of SDN to the entire network which will save time when having to configure several hundreds of booth connections and their associated circuits. It will allow us to become more agile and more flexible to accommodate changes and requests,” Velders said.

Berkeley Lab's Katherine Yelick Wins Ken Kennedy Award

UC Berkeley Professor to Receive ACM/IEEE-CS Kennedy Award at SC15

for Contributions to International Research Agenda

Katherine Yelick

ACM and IEEE Computer Society have named Katherine Yelick as the recipient of the 2015 ACM/IEEE Computer Society Ken Kennedy Award for innovative research contributions to parallel computing languages that have been used in both the research community and in production environments. She was also cited for her strategic leadership of the national research laboratories and for developing novel educational and mentoring tools. The award will be presented at SC 15: the International Conference for High Performance Computing, Networking, Storage and Analysis November 17, in Austin, Texas.

Yelick’s work has improved the programmability of high performance computing (HPC) through innovations to parallel languages and runtime systems. Her contributions to compiler research and open source software were key to the success of a new parallel programming model known as partitioned global address space (PGAS), an important software innovation for developers facing the challenges of exascale computing. She developed new automatic performance tuning techniques and runtime systems that maximize performance across a wide variety of computer architectures.

Yelick has authored more than 170 technical papers and reports on parallel languages, compilers, algorithms, libraries, architecture and storage, and she has also trained more than 50 graduate students, postdocs and research undergraduate students. She has worked with interdisciplinary teams developing scientific applications ranging from simulations of chemistry, fusion, and blood flow in the heart to analysis problems in phylogenetics and genome assembly.

Yelick is a Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences at the University of California at Berkeley since 1991 and Faculty Scientist at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory since 1996 where she is currently the Associate Laboratory Director for Computing Sciences. In that role, Yelick oversees computing research and facility directions for the Lab, including both the Energy Sciences Network (ESnet) and the National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center (NERSC), where she served as director for five years. Her leadership at the national level has significantly influenced international scientific research on behalf of the U.S. Department of Energy. 

An ACM Fellow, Yelick was named the 2013 Athena Lecturer by the ACM Council on Women (ACM-W). She is a member of the National Academies Computer Science and Telecommunications Board and previously served on the California Council on Science and Technology and the University of California Science and Technology Council. Yelick participated in the National Research Council report, “The Future of Computer Performance: Game Over or Next Level?” on opportunities and challenges for sustaining growth in computing performance. 

ACM and the Computer Society co-sponsor the Kennedy Award, which was established in 2009 to recognize substantial contributions to programmability and productivity in computing and significant community service or mentoring contributions. It was named for the late Ken Kennedy, founder of Rice University’s computer science program and a world expert on high performance computing. The Kennedy Award carries a US $5,000 honorarium endowed by ACM, the IEEE Computer Society and the SC Conference Steering Committee.

About ACM
ACM, the Association for Computing Machinery, is the world’s largest educational and scientific computing society, uniting computing educators, researchers and professionals to inspire dialogue, share resources and address the field’s challenges. ACM strengthens the computing profession’s collective voice through strong leadership, promotion of the highest standards, and recognition of technical excellence. ACM supports the professional growth of its members by providing opportunities for life-long learning, career development, and professional networking.

About IEEE Computer Society
IEEE Computer Society is one of the world’s leading computing membership organizations and a trusted information and career-development source for a global workforce of technology leaders, including professors, researchers, software engineers, IT professionals, employers and students. IEEE Computer Society provides high-quality, state-of-the-art information on an on-demand basis. The Computer Society provides a wide range of forums for top minds to come together, including technical conferences, publications, a comprehensive digital library, unique training webinars and professional training. IEEE is the world's largest professional association for advancement of technology and the Computer Society is the largest society within IEEE.

About SC15
SC15 sponsored by ACM and IEEE-CS offers a complete technical education program and exhibition to showcase the many ways high performance computing, networking, storage and analysis lead to advances in scientific discovery, research, education and commerce. This premier international conference includes a globally attended technical program, workshops, tutorials, a world class exhibit area, demonstrations and opportunities for hands-on learning.