Sardina Systems is thrilled to announce its collaboration with DKRZ, the German Climate Computing Center. Our enterprise cloud management platform, FishOS, powers the OpenStack and Ceph-based cloud system to support climate research at DKRZ.
DKRZ: At the Forefront of the Earth System Research
As Germany’s national HPC center for Earth system research, DKRZ offers researchers a comprehensive suite of services. They include high-performance computing platforms, advanced and high-capacity data management, and exceptional support for high-end climate science in Germany and Europe. Climate science is fundamentally about understanding statistical properties of the climate and calculating long-term climate patterns with high accuracy. This comprehensive research requires an exceptionally well-balanced system with specialized components for efficient climate model calculation, storage, analysis, and visualization.
FishOS: Streamlining Cloud Management for DKRZ
To enhance DKRZ’s HPC system and archive with cloud capabilities, Sardina Systems implemented its award-winning cloud management solution. FishOS platform empowered DKRZ to manage its cloud system with full automation, flexibility, reliability, scalability, and zero-downtime upgrades. In addition, Sardina Systems’ team successfully performed a migration from another open-source solution. Today, the FishOS architecture perfectly meets DKRZ’s workload demands.
Addressing Climate Science Needs
Climate research presents unique data challenges. Unlike some other fields, climate research relies on massive datasets that require extensive processing and quality control before use.
Before archiving or scientific analysis, DKRZ simulation data needs to undergo processing and quality control. Climate model development involves several interconnected steps: model adaptation, experiment preparation, and data analysis. This process often requires consulting previous models or accessing specific data to achieve desired outcomes. Ultimately, processed data is distributed among the climate research community members through web portals like the World Data Center for Climate, all hosted on the cloud infrastructure.
Here’s where FishOS provides a unique advantage. The platform ensures high availability by default, which guarantees uninterrupted operations and rapid access to crucial climate data. This is essential for the climate research industry, where delays in data access can impede critical research efforts.
Supporting Dynamic Workloads
DKRZ provides services designed to assist climate researchers working with highly complex simulation models across various model development and data production workflows. Workloads may vary in intensity, requiring different levels of scaling. When workloads are particularly intense, the FishOS system automatically scales up to thousands of servers to maintain a smooth and uninterrupted workflow. Similarly, during less intensive periods, the system automatically scales down servers to reduce resource usage.
“The solution provided by Sardina makes running OpenStack on-premise an easy task. Running our cloud on the DKRZ site helps us process and analyze vast amounts of data produced by the supercomputer Levante, preventing the transfer of tremendous amounts of data across the world. Competency and cost-efficiency are far ahead of its competitors.”
Ulf Garternicht, Head of Systems Department at DKRZ.
Kenneth Tan, Sardina Systems’ co-founder and Executive Director, further comments:
“Due to our long-term successful experience in collaboration with research facilities, Sardina Systems precisely knows the importance of constant workload maintenance. We provide strong expertise and technical support for private cloud environments in Research and Science sector. The DKRZ cloud systems powered by FishOS enable integrative analysis for global climate science and the efficient use of essential data in research and application development while saving energy and optimizing TCO.”
Dr. Kenneth Tan, Executive Director at Sardina Systems.
About DKRZ
The German Climate Computing Center (Deutsches Klimarechenzentrum, DKRZ) is a central service center for German climate and earth system research. Its high-performance computers, data storage, and services form the central research infrastructure for simulation-based climate science in Germany. DKRZ offers its scientific users an extensive portfolio of tailor-made services. It maintains and develops application software relevant to climate research and supports its users in matters of data processing. Finally, DKRZ also participates in national and international joint projects and cooperation with the aim of improving the infrastructure for climate modeling.
For more information about DKRZ, visit www.dkrz.de
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