The Fermilab Central Computing Facility architectural model

The goal of the current Central Computing Upgrade at Fermilab is to create a computing environment that maximizes total productivity, particularly for high energy physics analysis. The Computing Department and the Next Computer Acquisition Committee decided upon a model which includes five components: an interactive front end, a Large-Scale Scientific Computer (LSSC, a mainframe computing engine), a microprocessor farm system, a file server, and workstations. With the exception of the file server, all segments of this model are currently in production: a VAX/VMS Cluster interactive front end, an Amdahl VM computing engine, ACP farms, and (primarily) VMS workstations. This presentation will discuss the implementation of the Fermilab Central Computing Facility Architectural Model. Implications for Code Management in such a heterogeneous environment, including issues such as modularity and centrality, will be considered. Special emphasis will be placed on connectivity and communications between the front-end, LSSC, and workstations, as practiced at Fermilab. 2 figs