Nice - EnginFrame Elements

Journal Content

EnginFrame Elements is designed for Technical Computing Users who just need to get on with their work.

EnginFrame Elements provides the flexibility that a technical user wants, to access their Workgroup Cluster, while simplifying access for new or less computer-savvy team members.

More companies, research institutes, and departments, are finding the need for simulation, analysis, and high performance computing with a cluster of compute servers. The hardware has become more affordable for these 4- to 64- node clusters that can be delivered pre-built and tested (such as conforming to Intel Cluster Ready™ standards), and provide a software stack of operating system and middleware. EnginFrame Elements gives the engineer or scientist the next-generation of usability to get the most out of these systems.

Many workgroup and departmental clusters often lack a dedicated system administrator, and in the past, were operated with SSH or by some (more or less complex) home grown interfaces and scripts. EnginFrame Elements brings a cost-effective, secure Web Portal to this class of system – leveraging the expertise of 10+ years of EnginFrame software.

With no upfront services or customization required, a very simple installation process and a completely self-service interface, Elements effectively delivers an "SSH++" interface: the flexibility of remote terminal emulation, in the context of a powerful Web interface, enabling a powerful but straightforward HPC user experience.

Product Highlights

Scheduler-aware

Whether the cluster is running Platform LSF, Lava or Sun GridEngine, Elements provides an easy way to monitor your jobs and cluster status. Job submission can be performed both using a Web based interface or via a terminal emulator within the browser itself.

Innovative HPC task bar

Elements provides a Web-based HPC user experience. The task bar allows one click access to your HPC data, interactive terminals, running jobs, cluster status, and application services. Above the task bar is a live list of your latest job submissions. The Home page tab, launches a comfortable all-in-one summary page.

Easy data management

All users can navigate the HPC storage as they would in a remote terminal connection, and can easily transfer data from/to the desktop, view files in the browser, or rename, delete files or directories using the Web browser.

Service design and easy path towards full EnginFrame

To automate recurring actions, Elements offers a full blown WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) editor to design job submission and other HPC cluster manipulation services. These services have the same syntax of EnginFrame service definition files, therefore paving the way for a smooth transition towards a full fledged enterprise solution.

Benefits to the HPC User

Benefit	Details
Immediate productivity	Elements provides the easiest, fastest and most advanced way to start using an HPC cluster. Immediately transfer data, submit and control jobs, retrieve results with less clicks and more flexibility than SSH.
Automate recurring tasks	When your methodologies are consolidated and you want to speed-up your work, create your own services to facilitate running complex submissions or operations with just a few clicks in the browser.
No additional software on the client	Elements only requires a standard Web browser. Java applets must be enabled if you want to use the embedded terminal emulation service.

Environmental Specifications

Category	Specifications
Scheduler	Built for Platform LSF, Lava, and Sun GridEngine.
Cluster Management	Built for simple install and configure within Platform Cluster Manager, UnivaUD UniCluster, and Red Hat HPC Solution. Compatible (but not integrated) with other Cluster Management and customized environments.
Operating System	Validated on Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL4, RHEL5), SUSE Linux Enterprise Server (SLES8, SLES9), Fedora, CentOS.
Hardware	Runs on X86 and X86-64 servers from Intel and AMD.
Client Browser	Runs with all popular browsers: Internet Explorer (IE6, IE7, IE8), Firefox, Mozilla, Safari. Requires Java run-time for the My Desktop feature.

More about EnginFrame Elements

EnginFrame Web site: http://www.enginframe.com
Comparison table between EnginFrame Pro and EnginFrame Elements.
EnginFrame on-line demo.

If you are a value-add hardware reseller, interested in offering or pre-installing EnginFrame Elements on Clusters, please contact us at partners@nice-software.com.