cloud computingCloud computing is the on-demand availability of computer system, storage, and networking resources and services in a way that does not necessarily always require the active management by a person. Typically a cloud will provide the ability to create one or more virtual machines located within a virtual network with appropriate amounts of disk space. Each virtual machine may or may not be mapped to an externally accessible Internet address. (If not, then such machines must be accessed through the cloud management interface.) NOTE: Access to our clusters' clouds is via OpenStack web interfaces, however, before one can log in and use such, one must request access. See: https://docs.alliancecan.ca/wiki/Cloud for more details. |
clusterA cluster is a set of computers that inter-operate and function
as a single computer system. Normally when one refers to a cluster, one is referring to a compute cluster as opposed to a cluster of computers that is being used to operate a cloud. |
Compute Canada FederationCompute Canada Federation was superceded by the Digital Research Alliance of Canada. The Compute Canada Federation (CCF) was a national entity representing at the federal level its regional partners' and members' Canadian researchers to enable and support their world-class research using Advanced Research Computing strategies. CCF is comprised of these provincial-level organizations: ACENET, Calcul Québec, Compute Ontario, and WestGrid. |
compute clusterA compute cluster is a set of computers that inter-operate and function as a single computer system. Programs are executed on compute clusters using scheduling software. Computer clusters typically have high speed interconnections between all computers within the cluster to allow them to communicate with high bandwidth and low latency. The latter is typically very important when single jobs need to make use of more than one compute node. |
compute nodeA compute node is a computer in a compute cluster. |
Compute OntarioCompute Ontario is a federation of consortia in Ontario serving the Advanced Research Computing and big data needs of researchers. CO is a regional partner of the Digital Research Alliance of Canada. URL: https://computeontario.ca/ |
data transfer nodeA data transfer node (DTN) is a special node that Compute Canada has exposed to the Internet in order to enable the transfer of large amounts of data. Transferring data using login nodes can trigger limits that will prevent the successful transfer of large amounts data. Data transfer nodes are configured differently so large amounts of data can be transferred successfully. Every cluster typically has at least one data transfer node. |
Digital Research Alliance of CanadaThe Digital Research Alliance of Canada is a national entity representing at the
federal level its regional partners' and members' Canadian researchers
to enable and support their world-class research involving RDM, RS, and ARC needs. It is comprised of these provincial-level
organizations: ACENET, Calcul Québec, Compute Ontario, Prairies DRI Group, and the BC DRI Group. The Digital Research Alliance of Canada was formerly Compute Canada Federation. URL: https://www.alliancecan.ca/ |
digital research infrastructureDigital research infrastructure is a collection of tools, services, and hardware that allows researchers to help realize their digital research aims (e.g., compute, storage, cloud, etc.). It is comprised of research data management (RDM), research software (RS), and advanced research computing (ARC). Link: https://ised-isde.canada.ca/site/digital-research-infrastructure/en |
East CloudEast Cloud is a cloud managed by Calcul Québec, located at the Université de Sherbrooke, and is a national system. See https://docs.alliancecan.ca/wiki/Cloud for more information. |