Build a Grid-Aware, Cost effective, 400 Core Tier 3 Center – A “How To”

Abstract

The availability of commodity digital hardware: fast, cheap and standardized, makes building a high performance computing center possible for even small groups. Delays and overruns - some foreseeable, some not, will occur even when anticipated but still more if not. In the following we detail explicit procedures, tradeoffs and advice to create a several hundred core, Grid-aware Tier 3 facility such that a small research group can enjoy maximum utility of its research resources.