Measuring TeraGrid: Workload characterization for a high-performance computing federation

TeraGrid has deployed a significant monitoring and accounting infrastructure in order to understand its operational success. In this paper, we present an analysis of the jobs reported by TeraGrid for 2008. We consider the workload from several perspectives: traditional high-performance computing (HPC) workload characteristics; grid-oriented workload characteristics; and finally user- and group-oriented characteristics. We use metrics reported in prior studies of HPC and grid systems in order to understand whether such metrics provide useful information for managing and studying resource federations. This study highlights the importance of distinguishing between analyses of job patterns and work patterns; that small sets of users dominate the workload both in terms of job and work patterns; and that aggregate analyses across even loosely coupled federations, with incomplete information for individual systems, reflect patterns seen in more tightly coupled grids and in single HPC systems.