Application of system simulation for engineering the technical computing environment of the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratorie
This report summarizes an investigation performed by Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory's (LLNL) Scientific Computing & Communications Department (SCCD) and the Garland Location of Raytheon Systems Company (RSC) from April through August.1998. The study assessed the applicability and benefits of utilizing System Simulation in architecting and deploying technical computing assets at LLNL, particularly in support of the ASCI program and associated scientific computing needs. The recommendations and other reported findings reflect the consensus of the investigation team. The investigation showed that there are potential benefits to performing component level simulation within SCCD in support of the ASCI program. To illustrate this, a modeling exercise was conducted by the study team that generated results consistent with measured operational performance. This activity demonstrated that a relatively modest effort could improve the toolset for making architectural trades and improving levels of understanding for managing operational practices. This capability to evaluate architectural trades was demonstrated by evaluating some of the productivity impacts of changing one of the design parameters of an existing file transfer system. The use of system simulation should be tailored to the local context of resource requirements/limitations, technology plans/processes/issues, design and deployment schedule, and organizational factors. In taking these matters into account, we recommend that simulation modeling be employed within SCCD on a limited basis for targeted engineering studies, and that an overall performance engineering program be established to better equip the Systems Engineering organization to direct future architectural decisions and operational practices. The development of an end-to-end modeling capability and enterprise-level modeling system within SCCD is not warranted in view of the associated development requirements and difficulty in determining firm operational performance requirements in advance of the critical architectural decisions. These recommendations also account for key differences between the programmatic and institutional environments at LLNL and RSC.
- Research Organization:
- Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE Office of Defense Programs (DP)
- DOE Contract Number:
- W-7405-Eng-48
- OSTI ID:
- 2644
- Report Number(s):
- UCRL-ID-131878; DP0101035; ON: DE00002644
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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