Well, 2016 has begun, so I thought I’d take a look back at a year with Spectrum Scale. Actually, at the start of 2015, Spectrum Scale wasn’t even a term we were using – GPFS or Elastic Storage were the names we all had in our heads. I’ve heard various rumours about if Elastic Storage was ever meant to be used generally, if it was for the ESS server only, or the code name for the rebranding we eventually came to know as part of the Spectrum portfolio of products. Still, back at the start of 2015 things were different, the System X and GSS Lenovo divestiture was only just completing in the UK and protocol support for non native GPFS access was just an idea on a roadmap (unless you bought SONAS).
GPFSUG @Computing Insight UK
This week was Computing Insight UK (CIUK) (formerly MEW), which is an annual HPC conference organised by STFC. For those not familiar, its like ISC or SC. Just on a much smaller scale – its a very different show to the major international events and I like being able to walk across the show floor (in 2 minutes) and also knowing ~60-70% of the people there… (and playing which sales person has changed vendor this year is a fun game).
As part of the programme for CIUK, we got a 2 hour “UG@” meeting in, but still we had a packed agenda. Although I’ve been chair of the group for a while, this is the first proper UK general meeting that I’ve been involved in organising so it was with a little trepidation that I took on booking the agenda! Luckily I have Claire to help – organising telecons, chasing me and others to help make sure it works on the day.
SC15 Presentations
All the talks from the SC15 User Group meeting in Austin, TX are now online. Download them from the Presentations page.
Spectrum Scale UG @Computing Insight UK Agenda available
The Spectrum Scale user group will be meeting at Computing Insight UK (formerly MEW) in December 2015 at the Ricoh Arena, Coventry. The agenda is now available:
- 10:00 Welcome & Introductions (Simon Thompson, GPFS UG Chair & Claire O’Toole, GPFS UG Secretary
- 10:05 – Introducing Spectrum Scale 4.2 (Patrick Byrne, Cameron McAllister & Sarfraz Nadeem, IBM UK labs)
- GUI demo
- New features – compression and QoS
- Where we are heading next with 4.2.1 onwards … problem determination focus
- 11:00 – How to ruin a perfectly good GPFS file system (Vic Cornell, DDN)
- 11:20 – The Unique Technical Benefits of an Engineered Solution for GPFS (Chris Weeden, Seagate)
- 11:40 – Networking, Discussion & Feedback
- 12:00 – Finish
Please note you must be registered for CIUK to attend this meeting.