Topic: Interactive Computing
Date Received: July 30, 2008

Interactive computing needs to now extend beyond the resources of the distributed interactive HPC testbed and become more of a mainstream supported item.
Centers: all
Comments: Provide consistent interface to allow both human login and interactive HPC support web interfaces with gather the job information. Also work to allow machine-to machine interfacing. The security barriers can be hard to surmount and hard to keep up and going.

BC Team Feedback
Reply Date: August 11, 2008

At the time the BC team received your input on "Interactive Computing Needs" last year, the team was already working on a BC project entitled "Common Interactive Access" to provide users with interactive access to production systems as well as user-owned batch jobs at each of the six participating sites.

Our interactions with other working groups within the HPCMP, however, led us believe that the BC project "Common Interactive Access" could best be implemented by the HPCMP Workload Management Team (WMT). Subsequently, the BC team approached the WMT, and by consensual agreement, the "Common Interactive Access" project was passed on to the WMT in March 2008.

With regard to some of the requests you made in your input, the BC team is unclear on what you mean by:

• Consistent interface to allow interactive HPC support Web interfaces, and
• Allow machine-to-machine interfacing.

These clarifications will be needed for us to ensure the WMT fully considers the capabilities you are asking for in their "Common Interactive Access" project.