| 
November 2004
Have it your way with MySCD Portal
SCD has released version 2.0 of MySCD Portal, a customizable
browser interface and port of entry to NCAR computing
resources. The portal lets users submit and control
jobs to supercomputers, monitor job progress, and access
and maintain user-generated data—all via the Web.
SCD's Leif Magden (left) and
Myra Custard developed MySCD Portal, a customizable
Web interface through which users can access NCAR
computing resources. |
Version 2.0 of the portal features a new Web page that
displays information on General Accounting Unit (GAU)
charges, not just in tabular format but in colorful
pie charts and other visual displays. The GAU is the
unit of common currency that users spend to access Community
Computing and Climate Simulation Laboratory resources.
“Users can now actually pull up graphs of their
charging history,” says Dick Valent, assistant
manager of SCD’s User Support Section. “When
you look at a graph, you get a whole lot more—you
can take in a lot of information at a glance, as opposed
to plodding through numbers.”
The GAU page is customizable, so users can configure
it to see what they want to see. “For instance,”
says Leif Magden, an SCD software engineer who helped
develop the portal, “if you’re a scientist
who submits jobs for several different projects, you
can get the information for all of them. You can look
at your current charging status, how much you spent
in the last 30 or 90 days, how much you were charged
for each machine—the different computers, the
Mass Storage System. You can see your charging trends
and limits, your recent charging history, your lifetime
GAU allocations.”
Besides the new GAU feature, the MySCD Portal lets
users submit jobs to the various supercomputers, get
information about where they are in the job queue, and
keep up with division events through SCD News stories
and the Daily Bulletin. And, of course, they can enter
the entire NCAR/UCAR Web world.
“Our long-term goal is to provide a Web interface
that gives users a single sign-on to SCD services,”
adds Lana Stillwell, head of the Infrastructure Applications
Group that is charged with developing the portal. “We’re
not quite there yet—we’ll be providing periodic
upgrades over the next couple of years—but we’re
on the way.”
On December 8 at 2:00 p.m., Lana is offering an Access
Grid demonstration of the new portal. The demonstration
will be watchable at the Visualization Lab on the Mesa,
and users at the other campuses will be able to tie
in at various locations. For more information, contact
Lana at lana@ucar.edu or 303-497-1244. Once you’ve
tried the new MySCD Portal, send any suggestions for
improvements to scdportal-feedback@ucar.edu.
• Lynda Lester
On the Web
You can access the SCD Portal from
the SCD home page
or directly.
Log in using your gatekeeper login and password. The
SCD Portal functions best in Netscape 6.x or higher
and Internet Explorer 5.x or higher.
For more information and additional links, see the
SCD
News version of this story.
Also in this issue...
New lasers bring new precision for APOL group
Annick Pouquet selected APS fellow
Eggs don Halloween costumes for the long drop
Super Science Saturday chills out
Mari Bradley
Delphi questions
Staff Notes home page | UCAR News Center
|
