Let's Get Our Heads Out of the Clouds: A scalable and sustainable approach to HPC Training Labs for Resource Constrained Environments and anyone else stuck in the Clouds

Abstract

In this paper, we present an approach to hands-on High Performance Computing (HPC) System Administrator training that is not reliant on high performance computing infrastructure. We introduce a scalable, standalone virtual 3-node OpenHPC-based training lab designed for Resource Constrained Environments (RCE's) that runs on a participant's local computer. We describe the technical components and implementation of the virtual HPC training lab and address the principles and best practices considered throughout the design of the training material.