sprint backlog - 18 February 2020
Research Computing team goals for the period 18 February - 3 March, 2020. If you have any questions or comments please contact rc-help@colorado.edu.
Intro to Python workshop
Reserch Computing is presenting its regular Intro to Python course.
RCAMP portal testing framework
The RC Account Management Portal (RCAMP) handles account requests and group membership in the RC environment. In order to help us better update and develop the portal and its dependencies we are rebuilding and enhancing its automated test infrastructure.
Internal training for upcoming CC* hybrid cloud environment
RC is developing a hybrid "coud" environment with support from the NSF Campus Cyberinfrastructure (CC*) program. Development of this environment is ongoing; but our team is also taking this time to learn more about Amazon EC2 and OpenStack virtual machines in order to better support our users when the platform is ready.
Better staff access to fail2ban on login nodes
RC login nodes are protected from brute-force attacks using fail2ban: if a login node sees a sequence of login failures from the same source, that souce is "banned" from all login node access for a period of time. During a training, however, when such authentication failures are common from multiple people in the same room, it is inconvenient to wait for the ban to expire. RC system administrators have the ability to cancel such a ban, but they are not usually present at trainings. To better support this use case, we will be delegating the ability to cancel such bans to the rest of the RC team.
PetaLibrary monthly status reports
A monthly email status report is sent out to PetaLibrary allocation owners and and contacts; but this report has fallen out of date, and has not been updated to reflect changes in the PetaLibrary infrastructure. We are updating this reporting script so that all PetaLibrary allocations are reported, irrespective of their deployment location.
Updated MPI in rebuilt Core Software
Our efforts to update our core software stack are ongoing, with our next goal being to install up-to-date Intel MPI and OpenMPI.
RC trainings review
Finally, to better plan future RC trainings and other user support activities, we are reviewing the trainings, office hours, and consults that we've supported in CY2019.