[jeffj here: I'm posting the announcement here
since there's no cluster specific newsgroup.
Despite using the L-word, clustering is fun for everyone!]

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UNIGROUP OF NEW YORK - UNIX USERS GROUP - MAY 2017 ANNOUNCEMENTS ================================================================

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1. UNIGROUP'S MAY 2017 GENERAL MEETING
-----------------------------------

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Topic: A Brief Introduction to High-Performance Computing (HPC)
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Speaker: Prentice Bisbal, Lead Software Engineer
Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory <http://www.pppl.gov>

When: Thursday, May 18th, 2017 (** 3rd Thursday **)

Where: The Cooper Union <http://www.cooper.edu>
School of Engineering
41 Cooper Square (3rd Ave @ 7th St, bet. 6th & 7th Sts)
East Village, Manhattan
New York City
Meeting Room: 502 (** New Building: 5th Floor **)

Time: 6:15 PM - 6:30 PM Registration
6:30 PM - 6:45 PM Ask the Wizard, Questions,
Answers and Current Events
6:45 PM - 7:00 PM Unigroup Business and Announcements
7:00 PM - 9:30 PM Main Presentation

Cost: See the Meeting+Membership Fee Schedule Below.


INTRODUCTION:
-------------

Unigroup's May 2017 meeting will be on Linux Clusters and
High Performance Computing.

Unigroup has a couple of interesting meetings in the works on the
following topics: The Latest C/C++ Standards, The State of the C++
Ecosystem, Linux Performance Tuning, Fiber+Copper Network Cabling
Infrastructure/Standards.

Unigroup's scheduled meeting topics are:
18-MAY-2017: Linux HPC Clusters (Speaker: Prentice Bisbal/PPPL)
15-JUN-2017: Optical Fiber Networking (Speaker: OCC/Optical Cable Corp.)
20-JUL-2017: To-be-announced

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SPECIAL INSTRUCTIONS:
---------------------

Most Unigroup meetings are open to the public!

To REGISTER for this event, please RSVP by using the Unigroup
Registration Page:
http://www.unigroup.org/unigroup-rsvp.html

This will allow us to automate the registration process.
(Registration will also add you to our mailing list.)
Please avoid Emailed RSVPs.

Please continue to check the Unigroup web site and meeting page,
for any last minute updates concerning this meeting. If you
registered for this meeting, please check your Email for any last
minute announcements as the meeting approaches. Also make sure
any anti-spam white-lists are updated to _ALLOW_ Unigroup traffic!
If you block Unigroup Emails, your address will be dropped from
our mailing list.

Also, if you have an interest in Unigroup, be sure to receive
Unigroup information DIRECTLY from Unigroup, via direct receipt
of our Emails and by visiting the Unigroup Web Site. NO OTHER
SOURCE provides timely, accurate and complete Unigroup information.

Please RSVP as soon as possible, preferably at least 2-3 days
prior to the meeting date, so we can plan the food order.
RSVP deadline is usually the night before the meeting day.

Note: RSVP is requested for this location to make sure the guard
will let you into the building. RSVP also helps us to
properly plan the meeting (food, drinks, handouts,
seating, etc.) and speed up your sign-in at the meeting.
If you forget to RSVP prior to the meeting day, you may
still be able to show up and attend our meeting, however,
we cannot guarantee what building security will do if
you are "not on the list" (note: things tend to work out OK).

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MAIN PRESENTATION
-----------------

Topic: A Brief Introduction to High-Performance Computing (HPC)

Related Topics/Keywords
------------------------

Linux, Clusters, HPC, High Performance Computing, MPI, OpenMP,
CUDA, Linux HPC Cluster Architecture, Cluster Network Topology,
Scientific Computing Analysis.

Introduction & Description of Talk:
-----------------------------------

This talk will be an overview of High Performance Computing, also
known as HPC, Scientific Computing, or Research Computing. This
talk will try to define HPC, discuss what sets HPC apart from
other forms of computing, why we need HPC, the architecture of a
typical Linux HPC cluster, and parallel programming techniques.

Presentation Outline
--------------------

I. What is HPC?

II. How is HPC different from other forms of computing?
A. CPUs at/near 100% for long periods of time
B. Power & Cooling Concerns / Operational costs
C. Minimal context-switching
C. Throughput-oriented vs. Latency-oriented
D. Users!

III. Why we need HPC
A. Clock frequency stagnant or declining
1. Energy Density / Heat Dissipation
2. Moore's Law vs. Dennard Scaling
B. Grand Challenge problems
1. Weather Modeling
C. Scientific Discovery / Engineering
1. Protein Folding
2. Computational Chemistry
3. Structural Analysis
4. Virtual Crash-Testing
5. Faster, cheaper, safer better product design, testing
and manufacturing.
i. Automotive Crash Testing
ii. Structural analysis/aerodynamic studies of buildings
iii. Cardioid Heart Simulation
6. Simulations can provide views of things we can't observe.

IV. Programming
A. Split up work between nodes
B. MPI
C. OpenMP
D. Hybrid MPI+OpenMP
E. CUDA

IV. Architecture of a Typical Linux HPC Cluster
A. Design Considerations
1. ASCI Q Paper
2. Message-Passing Latency
3. Different Network Topologies
1. Mesh
2. Torus
3. Fat-Tree
B. Architectural Details
1. Many "cheap" nodes
A. No Redundant Hardware
B. Modest RAM (2-4 GB RAM per core)
2. Fat-tree InfiniBand Networks
3. Management Network
5. Parallel Filesystem
4. Private, isolated networks
A. Performance
B. Security
C. Software details
1. Minimal OS installation
2. As few services running as possible
3. Scheduler
A. FIFO
B. Backfill
C. Fair-share

V. Conclusion

References & Web Resources:
---------------------------

To-be-announced.

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Speaker Biography
-----------------

Prentice Bisbal has been a Unix/Linux System Administrator
specializing in HPC for over 18 years. He first became interested
in Scientific Computing while completing his degree in Chemical
Engineering. After working almost 2 years as a Chemical Engineer,
he decided to switch fields into Scientific Computing by accepting
a position as a Unix Software Engineer at the Princeton Plasma
Physics Laboratory (PPPL), a DOE National Laboratory. After
several years at PPPL, he left to pursue other interests. Since
then has built Linux clusters for HPC and provided HPC support for
a variety of disciplines (computational chemistry, computational
astrophysics, genomics, engineering) and organizations (large oil
& gas, small pharmaceutical, large research university, small
theoretical research institution) before returning to PPPL in
April of 2016.

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Company Biography
-----------------

[Quoted from http://www.pppl.gov/about...]

The U.S. Department of Energy's Princeton Plasma Physics
Laboratory (PPPL) is a collaborative national center for fusion
energy research. The Laboratory advances the coupled fields of
fusion energy and plasma physics research, and, with collaborators,
is developing the scientific understanding and key innovations
needed to realize fusion as an energy source for the world. An
associated mission is providing the highest quality of scientific
education.

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Giveaways:
----------

Addison-Wesley Professional/Prentice Hall PTR, and O'Reilly have
been kind enough to provide us with review copies of some of their
books, which we will continue to raffle off as giveaways at our
meetings. The publishers always ask that the persons receiving
the books provide a review and/or feedback about their books.

Unigroup would like to thank both companies for the support
provided by their User Group programs.

As always, all of the books will be available for review at the
start of the meeting.

Note: Our book supply is currently running low, and we need to
restock.

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Fee Schedule:
-------------

Unigroup is a Professional Technical Organization and User Group,
and its members pay a yearly membership fee. For Unigroup members,
there is usually no additional charges (ie. no meeting fees) during
their membership year. Non-members who wish to attend Unigroup
meetings are usually required to pay a "Single Meeting Fee".

Yearly Membership (includes all meetings): $ 50.00
Student Yearly Membership (with current! ID): $ 25.00
Non-Member Single Meeting Fee: $ 20.00
Non-Member Student Single Meeting (with! ID): $ 5.00

* Payment Methods: Cash, Check, American Express.
MasterCard, VISA, Discover (since 2013).

! Students: We are looking for proof that you are
currently enrolled in classes (rather than working
full-time), and as such, your Student ID should show
a CURRENT date. We have been presented Student IDs
containing NO dates whatsoever, and in the
current environment, perpetual/non-expiring access
to university facilities just does not feel right.
If your ID contains no date, please bring
additional proof of current enrollment. Thanks,

NOTE: Simply receiving Unigroup Email Announcements does
NOT indicate membership in Unigroup.

Members: Remember to bring your Unigroup membership card with
you to the meeting, to confirm your yearly renewal date!

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Food:
-----

Complimentary Food and Refreshments will be served.

This normally includes "wraps" such as turkey, roast beef,
chicken, tuna and grilled vegetables as well as assorted salads
(potato, tossed, pasta, etc), cookies, brownies, bottled water
and assorted SOFT beverages.

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Directions:
-----------

The Cooper Union <http://www.cooper.edu>
School of Engineering (*** New Building ***)
41 Cooper Square (3rd Avenue @ 7th St, between 6th & 7th Streets)
East Village, Manhattan
New York City, 10003
Meeting Room: ** (See Above, Room Changes Month-to-Month)

Located on the East side of Cooper Square. Look for the
new building with the non-traditional appearance.
Entrance is at the corner of 3rd Avenue and 7 Street.

Building lobby sign-in is required at the guard's desk.
Enter the building, check in with the guard at the lobby for
directions to Unigroup (the room varies from month-to-month).

Nearest mass transit stations are:
'6' to Astor Place (stops right at The Cooper Union),
then walk 1 block East and 1 block South.
'R' to 8th Street, then walk about 2 blocks East
then 1 block South.
'4/5/N/Q' to Union Square, then walk South and East.
or transfer to the downtown '6' to Astor Place.
'B/D/F/V' to Broadway-Lafayette, then walk North and East,
or transfer to the uptown '6' to Astor Place.

Free street parking in the area becomes available at 6pm.

There are also parking lots on Broadway, at (or just south of)
Astor Place (8th Street), across from the West side of
Cooper Square, as well as various others in the area.

-----

Please mark this meeting on your calendar and join us!
Please tell your friends about Unigroup!

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2. PRIOR MEETINGS
--------------

** Formal Thank You's to our previous speakers will appear
in an upcoming announcement. Unigroup issues a "Thank You"
to all our speakers and sponsors!

Our thanks goes to The Cooper Union School of Engineering,
and its staff, for hosting our meetings.

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3. LOCAL TRADE SHOWS AND EVENTS
----------------------------

a. Streaming Media East NYC
========================

Date : Tue, May 16, 2017
Wed, May 17, 2017

Where: New York Hilton Midtown
Midtown, NYC

For information and complimentary exhibits registration visit:
http://www.streamingmedia.com/conferences/East2017

b. Data Summit NYC
===============

Date : Tue, May 16, 2017
Wed, May 17, 2017

Where: New York Hilton Midtown
Midtown, NYC

For information and exhibits registration visit:
http://www.dbta.com/DataSummit/2017

(Note: Some complimentary exhibits codes were sent out to past
attendees, check your Emails.)

c. Cloud Expo / DevOps Summit / @Things NYC
========================================

Date : Tue, Jun 06, 2017
Wed, Jun 07, 2017
Thu, Jun 08, 2017

Where: Javits Center,
Midtown, NYC

For information and exhibits registration visit:
http://www.cloudcomputingexpo.com

(Note: Some complimentary and conference exhibits codes were
sent out to past attendees, check your Emails.)

d. ASIS Security Conference and Expo NYC
=====================================

Date : Wed, Jun 07, 2017

Where: Javits Center,
Midtown, NYC

For information and complimentary exhibits registration visit:
https://asisnyc.org/events/conference-expo

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-----------------
4. UPCOMING MEETINGS
-----------------

We have a series of meetings in the works:
- 20170518: Linux High Performance Computing Clusters.
- 20170615: Optical Fiber Networking.
- 2017????: What's new in the latest C/C++ Standards.
- 2017????: The State of the C++ Ecosystem.
- Planning: Popular Linux Distribution Round-Up and Comparison
(aka: Are there too many Linux Distributions?)
- Planning: Building a Data Server with Oracle/Sun ZFS
- Planning: Virtualization: KVM, Xen/XenServer, VirtualBox
- Planning: DNS / Dynamic DNS
- Planning: Fibrechannel and iSCSI Storage
- Planning: IPsec and VPNs (possibly 2 meetings)
- Planning: Cloud and Grid Computing
- Planning: Unix/Linux Authentication
- Planning: NO SPAM!
- Planning: Crypto / PKI / GPG-PGP
- Planning: The latest on *BSD (FreeBSD/NetBSD/OpenBSD)
- Planning: The latest on Solaris
- Planning: Anti-Virus
- Unix/Linux/BSD Clusters and Clustered Databases
- Patching and Updating Unix/Linux/BSD (rpm. yum, yast, apt, etc.)
- Building Custom Kernels Unix/Linux/BSD
- Building a Firewall using FreeBSD and Linux
- LAMP Part 2 - PHP/Python
- Unix 40th+ Birthday Celebration
- Samba
- High Performance Internet Servers / Web Acceleration
- Unix Office Tools: Word Processors, Spreadsheets, Accounting Packages.
- GNU Development Environments
- Java and/or JavaScript Programming
- Web Development Frameworks

** Unigroup Needs Speakers!!
Please let us know about any other meeting topics that you may be
interested in. Potential speakers on Unix/Linux/BSD related
technology topics should please contact the Unigroup Board.

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5. UNIGROUP INFORMATION
--------------------

Unigroup is one of the oldest and largest Unix User's Groups serving
the Greater New York City Regional Area since the early 1980s.
Unigroup is a not-for-profit, vendor-neutral and member funded
volunteer organization. Unigroup holds regular and special event
meetings throughout the year on technical topics relating to the
Unix/Linux/BSD Operating Systems and User Communities. Unigroup
meetings tend to be focused towards System Administrators, Network
Administrators, and Software Developers.

Unigroup holds regular meetings planned for (at a minimum) the Third
THURSDAY of Odd Months. We generally try to hold Field Trip or
Vendor Specific Meetings on the Even Months, although we do have the
ability to hold monthly meetings at our regular meeting location.

Planned regular meeting dates are (usually 3rd Thursdays):
05/18/2017, 06/15/2017, 07/20/2017, 09/21/2017, 10/19/2017, ...
Also watch for Special Event meetings and "Field Trips" to the
facilities of local hardware and software vendors.

=========================================================================
= For Unigroup Information, Events and Meeting Announcements be sure to =
= visit our World Wide Web Home Page: =
= http://www.unigroup.org =
=========================================================================

For further information or to get on the Unigroup Electronic Mail Mailing
List send an EMail message to:
unilist (-a_t-) unigroup.org

To contact the Board of Directors of Unigroup, send an EMail message to:
uniboard (-a_t-) unigroup.org

If you have recently attended a meeting and you are not receiving
Email announcements, please send us an Email and we will make
corrections to our lists.

Please Email the Board with any suggestions, especially potential
meeting topics and speakers. Unigroup welcomes contributions and
content suggestions for our newsletter. Unigroup is a volunteer
organization and we need your assistance! Please let us know if you
can help!

---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------------------------------------------

-Rob Weiner
Unigroup Executive Director
unilist (-a_t-) unigroup.org
http://www.unigroup.org

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