Speaker
Barbara Krasovec
(ARNES)
Description
"Beginning
Knowledge of grid technologies in Slovenia was very poor when NGI Slovenia was established. Our first task was identifying new and existent grid users. At the beginning we were more involved in dissemination activities, we presented grid technologies and the role of NGI/EGI to the public, prepared some presentations, articles and meetings. It turned out that grid technology was needed in the following disciplines: physics, bioinformatics, civil engineering, meteorology, medicine and mechanical engineering.
Current state
Extensive documentation for end users and site administrators is done and available on our wiki pages and NGI website, a national VO is available, we offer individual trainings and consulting, technical support is available to our users by phone, instant messaging and email. We are supporting both ARC and gLite middleware on both clusters. Most common user problems: sometimes lack of computer knowledge, unsupported operating systems (Linux Redhat x64 and derivates required for gLite), jobs that last too long (proxy expiration) etc.
Plans
Arc school for end users at the end of the year, more dissemination activities (articles in newspapers, brochures, meetings etc), joining new clusters (at least 2 new clusters are expected to join the NGI), new HPC cluster at Arnes. There is still room for improvement: ticketing system, FAQ, trainings for end users and site administrators. Major problem is still not knowing the technology very well and difficulty of usage (if user is new to grid). "
