SCSC meeting minutes 2011-01-28

DRAFT

Present: Amber Boehnlein, Arno Candel, Ashley Deacon, Richard Dubois, Thomas Eriksson, Imre Kabai, Stuart Marshall, Randy Melen, Brian Moritz, Amedeo Perazzo, Vineet Rawat.

Meeting agenda page

Minutes:

• Amber was introduced to members of the committee
• Richard briefly described the differences between the SCSC's and IT SubCouncil's mandates
• IT SubCouncil update
  • Imre discussed the Methodology for making IT Roadmaps
    • Roadmaps:
      • provide high-level project plans including all dependencies, costs, incurred losses if the project were not completed, and resources;
      • have an outlook of 0-5 years;
      • are sliced according to 30 IT technology domains; and
      • are presented to the CIO and IT SubCouncil
    • Database roadmap provides an example
  • Stuart summarized the state of desktop and Apple support SLAs
    • input is still required to identify user needs (to be discussed with, perhaps, Rafael, Tony)
    • desktop support document needs further development (lack of structure/organization, some content missing)
    • committee members requested access to the desktop and Apple support documents
  • Stuart discussed the review of IT's eleven service portfolios; future SubCouncil meetings will cover the items in detail
• Imre updated the status of the forum tool search
  • handout provided with relevant details
  • FUDForum is the recommended tool
    • test instance available here
    • Crowd was explained (consolidates identities from multiple sources, e.g., JIRA, UNIX, Windows, and its own credentialling); Confluence will soon switch over
• Richard and Randy updated search for new storage vendor(s)
  • some possibilities included NexSAN, Dell (mid-range), other suggestions provided by Amedeo
  • Randy described problems getting no-cost P.O.s and getting vendors for test rackings due to required safety training
  • Amedeo, Stuart and Tom will meet with Lance to discuss how they can help
• Arno updated the Sci. Comp. seminar series planning (reviewed minutes of previous meeting)
  • Richard reported that we'd get no help from above in funding coffee and snacks (lab policy that only the colloquium series gets this type of support)
  • Amedeo has someone in mind to represent LCLS; Brian will look for a Photon Science rep., if unsuccessful, he'll take the job
  • expressed need for SLAC Sci. Comp. mailing list (or equivalent), Henry had some ideas about mailing lists for campus
  • Stuart mentioned only audio recording available in Kavli (though much of the infrastructure is there)
  • no objections to the proposed timeline, Ashley suggests coordinating timing with other seminar series (alternating weeks, months, etc.)
  • Randy believes the IT&T seminar series failed due to a lack of a broad set of interesting talks, stressing the need for a strong lineup at the outset
  • possible venues discussed, Kavli 3rd floor seems best, seats about 40 to promote interactivity, but is in high demand and may be tough to book
• Richard discussed shifting the timeline by a couple of months to allow Amber (who starts April 25, tentatively) to settle in and participate in the organization of the Sci. Comp. Jamboree
  • Sci. Comp. Jamboree at end of May (~6 weeks to organize with Amber)
  • major goal will be a Tech. Roadmap around four months after the Jamboree
  • SCSC to serve as organizing committee for Jamboree
• Richard discussed other business
  • Amedeo has been asked to serve as the SCSC's deputy chair and is considering the offer
  • Skype usage (and the 56kbps penalty box) continues to be a problem
    • visitors in particular get no information about what they've done wrong
    • CERN has instructions on disabling Skype's supernode here
    • Randy proposed meeting with Bob, Les and Norm to figure out how to best resolve the issue
      • those who would like to be included should contact Randy
  • Recharge probably needs revisiting, it may not be workable in its current form
    • How can the 5.5 FTEs deal with the fluctuation in support requirements?
      • Is there other lab work they can shift to and from?
      • Should the ALDs absorb the fluctuations via fixed costs?
• Next meeting: Monday, February 14, 2011

Actions:

• Stuart to provide desktop and Apple support documents
• Imre to upload his handout re. forum tool search
• All are welcome to test FUDForum and provide feedback
• Amedeo, Stuart and Tom to meet with Lance to discuss possible roles in storage vendor search
• Amedeo and Brian to look for Sci. Comp. seminar working group members from LCLS and Photon Science, respectively
• Arno to investigate timing and venue for seminars, funding for coffee and cookies, SLAC-wide promotion
• Sci. Comp. seminar working group to line up possible speakers from their directorates
• Richard to update the timeline with a delay of about two months
• Think about theme/direction for Jamboree to tie together the lab's Sci. Comp. efforts
• Amedeo to respond to SCSC's deputy-chair offer
• Randy to organize meeting regarding Skype usage at SLAC (all those interested in attending should contact Randy)