Chalmers oanvända datorkraft - Distribuering av arbete och energihantering med HTCondor
Chalmers University of Technology today have numerous computers which are never powereddown, at the same time there is a need for more computation power for researchers.Hence, we have investigated the possibility to use the computers for computing power andsecondly, if there is no work to be done, to put them into power saving mode.We have made a thorough study where we compared different distributing systems andin the end HTCondor was chosen as the best to implement. HTCondor is an excellent systemfor opportunistic use of computing power, i.e. make use of computers that no one elseis currently using. The system is used at several universities around the world with goodresults and would be excellent at Chalmers, where there is a need for such a system.Our implementation shows that HTCondor is well capable of handling unused computingpower. HTCondor can handle most file types that may be run on the system. The system canalso put computers in sleep mode when they are not in use and turn them on when needed.To simplify for the users of HTCondor we have created a user interface that have all necessaryfunctions required to make use of the system as no good such interface was available.There are doubts from Chalmers regarding the idea of shutting down computers, they arguethat the computers always must be available and that problems may arise when turningthem on, for example programs that do not start. Our investigation shows that there areno bigger problems with turning on and off computers, which is shown in a energy study inwhich sleep mode is determined to be the best energy saving option for Chalmers.