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By Amy M. Kile
An April 4 ribbon-cutting ceremony marked the opening of the Laboratory Computing Resource Center (LCRC) when Jazz, Argonne’s supercomputer capable of performing more than one trillion calculations per second (1 teraflop), became available for use by the entire laboratory community.
The Jazz cluster, installed last October, has been available only to early users while the Mathematics and Computer Science Division (MCS), which is operating the computer, worked out configuration issues and ran tests. The dedication marked the computer’s move into “production mode.”
“It’s terrific that Argonne has this capability,” said Laboratory Director Hermann Grunder, who participated in the ribbon-cutting ceremony. “It will not only serve the users of Argonne, it will also bring in fresh young minds because Argonne is a place where interesting things happen.”
While Argonne does have other clusters, this is the first to be available for production use to the entire laboratory community and the first to provide sustained teraflop computing power.
“The Jazz cluster, unlike the other computers in the MCS machine room, is focused on supporting applications across the entire laboratory,” said Rémy Evard, director of the LCRC, at the ceremony.
Evard, who has been responsible for all of the computers in the MCS machine room, said that Jazz had the smoothest installation. He credits Linux NetworX, the company that designed and built the system.
“There were a lot of points,” he said, “where we thought there would be a problem with the file system or a problem with the network, but it has gone very well. I think it’s going to be a very accessible system for users at the laboratory.”
Every discipline at Argonne, including quantum physics, biology and nanotechnology, will be able to use Jazz.
“The goal of the LCRC is to give every scientist at Argonne a resource for entry into high-end computing,” said Rick Stevens, director of MCS. “There are not many places that every single technical person has access to a teraflop supercomputer.”
Evard will send an e-mail when the cluster is ready for production and available to the entire laboratory community.
Argonne employees can register for their accounts at www.lcrc.anl.gov. All accounts are allocated 1,000 CPU-hours of startup time to allow users to explore possibilities, port code and become comfortable with the system. Additional time will be awarded to projects approved by the allocation board.
Application engineers will be available to assist users to take better advantage of the cluster’s capabilities.
The staff can also help Jazz users gain access to larger resources that are not currently available at Argonne.
“While I’m thankful to those who worked on this project, it’s the users who need to keep up with the options,” said Grunder. “That’s when the better science comes out. While the capability is here, it takes a new mentality and ever-growing interest in what such a machine offers for the users to make full and complete use of it.”
The Jazz ceremony was distinguished from traditional ribbon-cutting ceremonies in that the “ribbon” used was actually a computer ribbon cable, a symbol deemed more appropriate for the dedication of a computer.
by Amy M. Kile
Argonne’s Computing and Instrumentation Solutions Division (CIS) is finding new ways to combat unsolicited e-mail messages, or “spam.”
“It’s estimated by some that half of all e-mail is unsolicited. Whether you believe this statistic or not, everyone agrees that spam is growing in volume and sophistication. As a result it will continue to be a challenge for Argonne e-mail users,” said Argonne’s Chief Information Officer and CIS Director Brent Stacey. “It’s our responsibility to look at the tools and trends and develop a flexible strategy to fight this unwanted intrusion into our business.”
Argonne’s current spam-flagging software, SpamAssassin, is set up to recognize certain content in the header and body of e-mail messages, said Stacy Williams (CIS), Argonne’s chief cyber security officer. But many recent spam messages contained text embedded in graphic images, which SpamAssassin did not see.
“Spammers are getting more creative in getting past various filters, so even though we have SpamAssassin, it’s not a foolproof system,” said Williams. “As the spammers continue to be more resourceful in getting around filters, spam can slip though the system.”
The current form of SpamAssassin software is set up to help employees with an “@anl.gov” e-mail address identify and control spam. The program analyzes incoming e-mail using a set of text-based rules and filters that have assigned point values indicating the probability that the message is spam.
If the total number of points is above a certain threshold, SpamAssassin will add additional headers to the message to flag it as spam. One such header, “X-Spam-Flag,” can be used with e-mail software to route flagged messages into a folder of the recipient’s choice. He or she can later decide if the message was truly spam, or if the software falsely identified legitimate e-mail.
“We are using this first-generation flagging system to filter spam because we do not want to delete legitimate e-mail,” said Scott Pinkerton (CIS), manager of Networking Solutions.
While CIS filters all e-mail routed to users with an “@anl.gov” alias, e-mail can be received via other routes. For example, an e-mail can be addressed directly to a division’s mail server instead of an individual employee. In this case, the e-mail would not be filtered by SpamAssassin unless the division has coordinated with CIS for the free service. Many divisions have already enrolled their e-mail servers with positive results.
Some divisions have their own filtering system, according to David Salbego (CIS), Unix Infrastructure group manager. APS, for example, uses SpamAssassin as well but quarantines suspected spam messages instead of delivering them to the user. Those messages are archived and eventually deleted if the user does not request them.
Currently, CIS is moving into the next phase of spam filtering. While continually customizing the SpamAssassin software for ever-changing spamming techniques, CIS is also investigating several new spam-prevention software packages. These products offer features that provide much more flexibility and less administration than SpamAssassin.
CIS may also purchase access to RBL -- real-time black list -- services. These services provide continuously-updated lists of IP addresses that are known open relay or spam senders. Information from these lists can be used to automatically adjust the SpamAssassin score of incoming messages or completely block a sender if desired.
“We will continue to improve our spam-flagging service as new techniques are developed, but getting e-mail to users in a timely fashion with as little inconvenience as possible is still our primary goal,” said Salbego.
The CIS Web site has more information about the laboratory’s anti-spam service, SpamAssassin, and setting up e-mail software to route spam to a special folder.
Argonne Named Fellowships have been awarded to five doctoral scientists and engineers who are at early points in promising careers.
The Argonne Director’s Office initiated the special postdoctoral fellowships, named after scientific and technical luminaries who have been associated with the laboratory, its predecessors and the University of Chicago since the 1940s. Recipients were selected from a group of more than 150 applicants.
William Ashmanskas of the University
of California, Berkeley was awarded the Arthur Holly Compton Postdoctoral Fellowship. Ashmanskas
will join the High-Energy Physics Division.
Seth Darling of The University of
Chicago received the Glenn Seaborg Postdoctoral Fellowship. He will join the Materials Science
Division.
Julie Gruetzmacher of The University
of Chicago received the Walter H. Zinn Postdoctoral Fellowship. She will join the Nuclear
Engineering Division.
Andrei Lopatin of Rutgers University
received the Eugene Wigner Postdoctoral Fellowship. Lopatin will join the Materials Science
Division.
Dmitri Oulianov of the University of
California, Irvine was awarded the Glenn Seaborg Postdoctoral Fellowship. He will join the
Chemistry Division.
“The laboratory is extremely pleased with the high quality of these fellows. We are confident that these candidates will contribute to Argonne’s programs and expect that they will go on to become outstanding leaders in the research they pursue,” said Argonne Chief Scientist Robert Rosner.
The 20th in a series of mini-symposia on the results of Laboratory-Directed Research and Development (LDRD) projects will be held Monday, May 5, from 2-4 p.m. in Argonne-East’s Building 402, Conference Room E1100-E1200. All employees whose schedules permit are invited to attend.
2 p.m. -- “Molten Oxide
Electrolysis: A Basis for Carbon-Free Steel Production” by John Hryn (ES)
2:15 p.m. -- “Advanced Fast
Reactor (AFR-300) Design Studies: Evaluation of Coupled Core Design and Heat Removal Systems for
Superior Passive Safety Performance” by Tom Fanning (NE)
2:30 p.m. -- “A New Process
for Groundwater Decontamination Using Cooking Oils” by Hassan Arafat (CMT)
2:45 p.m. -- “Support Vector
Machine Algorithms to Merge Protein Structural Analysis and Machine Learning” by Nela
Zavaljevski (NE)
3 p.m. -- Break
3:15 p.m. -- “Counter Terrorism
Application of Agent Based Simulation” by Michael North (DIS)
3:30 p.m. -- “Magnetically
Stabilized Metal Clusters” by Mark Knickelbein (CHM)
3:45 p.m. -- “Development
of Anodes for Actinide Electrolysis” by Jim Willit (CMT)
Argonne Club is gauging interest in an outing to the Route 66 Raceway in Joliet to see the Lucas Oil NHRA Nationals Saturday, May 31, or Sunday, June 1.
Ticket prices will depend on the number of attendees. Employees interested in attending should contact Christine Andorf (PBC-HP) at ext 2-5153 or candorf@anl.gov.
Sign-up has begun for the “three on three” basketball tournament season at Argonne-East.
The tournament is open to Argonne and U.S. Department of Energy employees of any skill level. Games are played at lunchtime at the outdoor basketball court in the 600 area. The tournament begins Monday, June 2.
Partial teams and individuals are welcome. Registration deadline is Friday, May 23.
For more information, rules and scheduling, contact Johnny Reed (PFS) at ext. 2-6071 or page 4-1963.
by Katie Willliams
Members of Argonne’s Computing and Instrumentation Solutions (CIS) Division have played a significant role in the recent development of a certification exam that sets the worldwide standard of competency for network administrators dealing with cyber security.
The new standard, called Security+, was accredited by CompTIA, an organization sponsored by the computer industry. CompTIA represents more than 13,000 members in 89 countries and promotes industry standards, professional information technology (IT) expertise and providing IT skills education.
Twenty-five agencies, companies and laboratories met to decide on the general guidelines surrounding the certification exam. Argonne, along with Microsoft, Sun Microsystems, the U.S. Secret Service, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and the FBI, was among the founding organizations of the Security+ certification exam.
Argonne’s involvement with the program was led by Matt Luallen (CIS). He was supported by other CIS employees, including Pete Bertoncini, Mike Skwarek, Corby Schmitz, Chris Poetzel, Corey Hall and Nick Stoops. The CIS team defined several major factors of the security accreditation, including the addition of topics relating to Public Key Infrastructure (PKI), Windows and Unix security baselines, incident response and the Kerberos protocol.
“Not only is Security + an important addition to cyber security at Argonne, it’s also an asset to the general community,” said Luallen.
The focus of Security+ is for all computer administration employees to have a base-level understanding of security regardless of their jobs. The certification exam is targeted at professionals with at least two years of networking experience and a thorough knowledge of Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP), the basic communication language of the Internet. Once certified, the computer administrator should have mastered such areas as general security concepts, communications security, infrastructure security, basics of cryptography and operational and organizational security.
The exam is 90 minutes long and consists of 100 questions. The minimum passing score is 764 out of 900. CompTIA also has programs available to help people prepare for the certification exam. The exam is available for $225, and the certification never expires.
“Cybersecurity continues to be a paramount topic at the laboratory and within the world, especially since Sept. 11,” said Luallen. “We needed to develop something that would explain the basic skills and help computer administrators understand and solve attacks and exploits. Nothing existed until now. This certification will be a big plus for the computer industry.”
To learn more about the CompTIA Security+ certification exam, visit www.comptia.org.
The 12th Users Meeting for the Advanced Photon Source will be held at Argonne-East April 29 - May 1.
The three-day meeting includes seven workshops, two poster sessions, vendor exhibits and three general sessions highlighting research conducted at the APS during the past year. Also planned are social events where users and potential users can meet informally to exchange ideas.
More information and a registration form are available on the conference Web page.
Skin cancer screening will take place at Argonne-East Wednesday, May 7, in the Medical Department in Building 201.
Edward Keuer, a board certified dermatologist with Loyola University, will conduct a visual skin examination to assess any problems or abnormalities of the skin.
Participants will receive educational materials and an individual report with a written diagnosis.
Registration deadline is Monday, May 5. The cost is $50; checks should be made payable to Preventures. For more information, contact the Medical Department at ext. 2-2807 or ext. 2-2800.
Prescribed burns took place in April near Argonne-East’s North Gate in the laboratory’s continuing effort to improve the site’s habitat.
In prescribed burns, the underbrush and leaves are burned in a controlled manner to encourage the native species and discourage the non-native weedy species. The prescribed burns were performed by an experienced contractor.
“The dry weather and low humidity made the burns very productive,” said Mark Kamiya (EQO). “The areas burned more completely compared to past years because of the low moisture and moderate winds on that day. We were lucky to have these ideal weather conditions and took advantage of them. Since that time we have not seen these warmer temperatures with the low humidity.”
Another small area may require a “touch-up,” Kamiya said, but no more major prescribed burns are planned for the spring.
Contact Mark Kamiya (EQO) at ext. 2-2704 for more information.
The laboratory’s retirement vendors will send representatives to Argonne-East to meet individually with employees to answer their questions about retirement plans and assets.
Appointments last a half-hour. To schedule an appointment, call the number listed. For an appointment, call:
Fidelity -- Tuesday, May 6 and
Tuesday, May 20; (800) 642-7131
TIAA-CREF-- Thursday, May 22 and
Friday, May 23; (800) 842-2005
Prudential -- (Half day) Wednesday,
May 7 and Wednesday, May 21; (847) 619-3519
The Guest House Restaurant will not serve dinner Wednesday, April 30, due to a special function.