HPCI (High Performance Computing Interface) provides an interface to a
range of types of computer aggregations (clusters, clouds, ...).

It was derived from SGE cluster-specific modules that were used
internally at Boutros Lab.

HPCI uses an HPCD (High Performance Computing Driver) module to translate
its standard interface into the appropriate access mechanisms for the type
of cluster that is selected. (If you have used the DBI/DBD modules for
accessing databases, this will seem very familiar.)

This is an early public release of HPCI, and at present, there are only
two drivers available.

Only one cluster type is directly included within the HPCI package. The
cluster type HPCD::uni runs on a "cluster" of only one machine. It simply
uses fork to submit individual stages and has facility for retries and
timeouts. This is the default cluster type used for testing, as it will
work natively on all types of Unix systems. It is also possible to use
this driver as a fallback, in cases where the only available "real"
cluster is not accessable for some reason.

Additionally, there is the HPCD::SGE driver available on CPAN. It has seen
heavy use within Boutros Lab.

It is to be hoped that drivers for additional cluster and cloud targets
will be available in the future.

There is a discussion list available.  For now, it encompasses
all discussion - in the future, if traffic warrants, it might
be split.  Subscribe through:

    mailto:BoutrosLabSoftware@oicr.on.ca
