July 2016 National eResearch newsletter
Welcome to the July 2016 national eResearch newsletter! As you probably know, we’re collecting content for the newsletter that is provided to us, directly or on request, as well as harvesting a range of sector newsletters across Australia, and recently Cambridge University, with more to come. We’re always keen to know of other sources of news that we should be sharing, as well as any comments on the style, content and presentation of this newsletter – what do you think would make the newsletter better, and more useful for you and your circle? And how do you use the newsletter – read it, share it, print/post it, or more? Get in touch with us via email to editor@aero.edu.au and thank you!
Dr Markus Buchhorn, AeRO CEO
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Spartan: Performance and Flexibility
The University of Melbourne has launched its new high performance computing (HPC) service, Spartan, a novel research computing cluster that combines the best of traditional HPC with the dynamic nature of the research cloud. This unique design features a nucleus of highly performant, tightly coupled machines, augmented by thousands of compute cores in the Melbourne Node of the Research Cloud. The power of high performance computing can now take advantage of the flexible and expandable cloud, providing researchers with an optimised compute environment. Find out more on the Spartan home page: https://dashboard.hpc.unimelb.edu.au/
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August Tech Talk 5-Aug
Following the success of the July Tech Talk, a new session has been announced for Friday 5 August (3pm – 4pm AEST) in various locations around Australia. The focus will be on imaging analysis related tools.
The Monthly Tech Talk is an initiative of ANDS, Nectar, QCIF, Intersect, VicNode, eRSA and Pawsey. Attendees meet simultaneously in capital city hubs and connect nationwide via videoconferencing networks.
The event is for anyone who wants to know more about NCRIS facilities and the technical aspects of research data, in particular developers, data scientists, data technologists, researchers building data tools, and librarians with an interest in the technical aspects of data librarianship.
Find out more information and register at
http://augtechtalk.eventbrite.com.au
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AARNet’s Data Transfer Benchmarking Service
AARNet is purpose-built for research but there’s more to large data transfer than the size of your pipe. Brett Rosolen, AARNet’s eResearch Data Program Manager talked about the Big Data Flow problem at QUESTnet2016 and explained how Science DMZ can help.
Significant performance improvement in link utilisation has been demonstrated in Australia through the robust deployment of DaShNet (RDSI) and national infrastructure. Bottlenecks are now *not* at Science DMZ capable end points, but often “the other end” or further up the stack, which highlights that both sender and receiver capabilities are both critical to improving Big Data flows.
The impact has been so significant that we have permanently built a data transfer benchmarking service on AARNet4 for institutions to test to from their campus network and/or data intensive science resources. This service is available now for testing all AARNet connected institutions.
Contact datamovers@aarnet.edu.au. READ MORE: http://news.aarnet.edu.au/data-movement-do-you-know-what-your-campus-network-is-actually-capable-of/.
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RDS & NeCTAR Combined HelpDesk
In response to the growing demand on national eResearch infrastructure services, Research Data Services (RDS) and National eResearch Collaboration Tools and Resources (Nectar) have partnered to provide a collaborative online and telephone helpdesk covering researcher’s support needs for both infrastructure programs.
The support desk provides researchers with guidance for using nationally funded Nectar Research Cloud and RDS infrastructure services. These include the storage, management, access and sharing of data with other researchers locally and internationally, as well as the use of servers, tools and cloud computing infrastructure for processing, analysis and collaboration. The service will support the research life cycle through to the cataloguing and archiving of data typically required at the completion of a project.
Read more at https://www.rds.edu.au//Help-desk.
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Join the Nectar Power Users Group
Rowland Mosbergen is a power user of the Nectar Research Cloud, managing five production-ready virtual machines (VMs) as lead developer for Stemformatics.
After meeting other power users of the Nectar Research Cloud at the QCIF-hosted Tech Talk on 6 May 2016, Rowland established a power users group. According to Rowland, a power user wants to build things that are “maintainable, extensible, scalable, reliable.”
The power users group allows time poor, often isolated developers a chance to query each other on new technologies and share ideas to maintain their goal of best practice. As Rowland commented, “I can ask questions at any time to a community that understands my needs.”
You can apply to join the Nectar Power Users Group here: https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/brisbane-nectar-power-users-group/join
Read the full story: https://www.qriscloud.org.au/about-qriscloud/case-studies/item/78-cloud-power-users.
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UQ-RCC/MURPA 2016 Seminar Series Starts 29-Jul
The 2016 UQ Research Computing Centre/MURPA (Monash Undergraduate Research Projects Abroad) IT seminar series will launch on Friday, 29 July with a talk by Dr Shonali Krishnaswamy, a senior data scientist at Singapore’s Institute for InfoComm Research and a Monash University Adjunct Associate Professor.
The 14 seminars in the series feature mostly international speakers connected via videoconferencing to a University of Queensland and Monash University audience. Videos of the seminars will be posted on RCC’s YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCOcd49t3Hxem27KV1SjjpgA
A particular coup for the series is gaining Dr Genevieve Bell as a speaker. Dr Bell is an anthropologist and Intel’s only female Fellow, the company’s highest technical rank. The topic for her seminar on 5 August is what animals reveal about the Internet of Living Things.
See the full seminar schedule: https://rcc.uq.edu.au/rccmurpa-seminars.
Subscribe to RCC Seminar Alerts so as not to miss any seminar information: http://rcc.us10.list-manage1.com/subscribe?u=b63d1ccba1962da643e65ac65&id=42c6294593.
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Shibboleth v2 End-of-Life 31-Jul-16
Are your IDM teams working towards an IdP V3 upgrade? With the End-of-Life (EOL) of Shibboleth V2 approaching on July 31 2016, the AAF has released its IdP Installer which will help Identity Providers (IdPs) with setting up, configuring and upgrading their IdPs to Shibboleth V3.
The AAF has also developed a range of self-help resources to assist IDM teams with using the installer to complete the upgrade.
Online resources: http://ausaccessfed.github.io/shibboleth-idp-installer/upgradefromv2/.
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Call for Volunteers for ResBaz Brisbane 2017
The dates for next year’s Brisbane Research Bazaar (ResBaz) have been announced, 7–9 February, and its organisers are calling for volunteers.
ResBaz 2017 will be held at The University of Queensland, St Lucia. Volunteers are required to help organise and run events, suggest activities, run stalls on the ‘festival’ day, do lightning talks and more. Register your interest by filling out this form: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/19re5URwvtjaTrnv8uXf-NjBn71SAKCqObwVpCxnVY0c/viewform
ResBaz 2017 planner Belinda Weaver of QCIF said, “After the great success of ResBaz 2016 at QUT, we want to make ResBaz 2017 an even more sensational event for researchers.”
ResBaz is a worldwide festival promoting the digital literacy emerging at the centre of modern research.
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Access the Data Sets of the 1000 Genomes Project
A Web portal enabling access to the data sets from the 1000 Genomes Project is now up and running.
The 1000 Genomes Project Mirror (http://1000genomes.genome.edu.au/) is a static webpage which links to FTP (File Transfer Protocol) access for a complete mirror of the 1000 Genomes Project.
From 2010 to 2011, the 1000 Genomes Project Consortium sequenced more than 2,500 human samples from 26 populations in order to provide a global reference and comprehensive resource on human genetic variation.
The data sets total about 260 TBs and consist of more than 250,000 publicly accessible files. The 1000 Genomes Project Mirror is a complete copy of the data sets for use by Australian researchers.
QCIF and The University of Queensland’s Research Computing Centre supported the 1000 Genomes Project Mirror, and Research Data Services funded it.
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eResearch Australasia Conference Registrations Open
Registrations are now open for the annual eResearch Australasia conference, to be held this year from 10 to 14 October 2016 at the Pullman Melbourne Hotel, Albert Park, Melbourne. Earlybird registrations apply until 7-Sep-16.
The conference aims to provide a catalyst for innovation and collaboration by bringing together researchers, practitioners, and educators from diverse disciplines in the sector as well as a forum to support the development, enhancement, and harmonisation of international, national, regional and discipline-specific eResearch infrastructures and services.
Invited speakers include: Professor Peter Doherty, Daniel S. Katz, Elyas Khan, Professor John Mattick, Liza Noonan, and Associate Professor Margaret Simons. A full programme, including Pre and Post Conference Workshops, is expected to be published by the end of July.
This year’s sponsorship levels have been updated and improved to provide a much wider variety of choices for potential participants. For more information, see https://conference.eresearch.edu.au/.
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Questnet Conference Proceedings Available
Most powerpoints, etc from sessions at the recent Questnet Conference held at Royal Pines Resort, Gold Coast (5 to 8-Jul-16) are now available on the conference website. Many sessions (Keynotes and parallel sessions) are relevant to eResearch. See http://questnet2016.net.au/.
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Digital Humanities Conference Krakow
The annual International Digital Humanities Conference is taking place in Krakow, Poland from 11 to 16-Jul-16. Details of the conference are at http://dh2016.adho.org/.
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Australian Digital Humanities Conference Presentations
The annual Australian Digital Humanities Conference was held in Hobart from 20 to 23-Jun-16. Most presentations are now available on the conference website at http://www.uqhistory.net/web/dha2016/index.php/dha2016/dha2016/schedConf/presentations.
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Note: This Newsletter is based on contributions provided by members of the eResearch community, and also draws on the many news articles and newsletters published across our sector. The Newsletter will be published monthly, on about the 16th of each month. Please send any contributions (no more than 150 words, plus a link) or pointers to any other relevant articles or newsletters to editor@aero.edu.au. Archives of these Newsletters are held at http://aero.edu.au/newsletters/.
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