Cray programming environments within containers on Cray XC systems

Abstract

Summary We present a methodology to enable the complete software development life cycle on Cray XC systems within a container that can hold any version of the Cray Programming Environment (CPE). The installation of the CPE inside a container facilitates many aspects of the typical HPC support and operation workloads of managing Cray XC systems such as testing new CPEs, comparing CPE performances, or keeping software built with an old CPE running on updated systems. The procedure for creating a container with a CPE inside consists of three steps: the creation of a container holding the targeted CPE, the compilation of the desired software within such containers, and the packaging of the resulting binaries, libraries, and dependencies within a second lightweight container. We showcase the methodology by fulfilling a user requirement of running a two‐year‐old version of the COSMO model built with an old CPE 16.11 on today's system.

Foreword to the Special Issue of the Cray User Group

“…Interest in the use of containers for deploying applications on HPC systems has increased rapidly in the last few years thanks to the advantages they can bring with respect to portability and reproducibility. Martinasso et al present a method to provide the Cray programming environment inside a container and demonstrate proof of concept whereby a weather code built with a legacy programming environment is executed on a present‐day Cray XC system.…”