AUDITOR: Accounting for opportunistic resources

Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg, Physikalisches Institut, Hermann-Herder-Str. 3, 79104 Freiburg, Germany

^* e-mail: michael.boehler@physik.uni-freiburg.de

Published online: 6 May 2024

Abstract

The increasing computational demand in High Energy Physics (HEP) as well as increasing concerns about energy efficiency in highperformance/high-throughput computing are driving forces in the search for more efficient ways to utilise available resources. Since avoiding idle resources is key in achieving high efficiency, an appropriate measure is sharing of idle resources of underutilised sites with fully occupied sites. The software COBalD/TARDIS can automatically, transparently, and dynamically (dis)integrate such resources in an opportunistic manner. Sharing resources however also requires accounting.

In this work we introduce AUDITOR (AccoUnting DatahandlIng Toolbox for Opportunistic Resources), a flexible and extensible accounting system that is able to cover a wide range of use cases and infrastructures. AUDITOR gathers accounting data via so-called collectors which are designed to monitor batch systems, COBalD/TARDIS, cloud schedulers, or other sources of information. The data is stored in a database and provided to so-called plugins, which act based on accounting records. An action could for instance be creating a bill of utilised resources, computing the CO₂ footprint, adjusting parameters of a service, or forwarding accounting information to other accounting systems. Depending on the use case, a suitable collector and plugin can be chosen from a growing ecosystem of collectors and plugins. Libraries for interacting with AUDITOR are provided to facilitate the development of collectors and plugins by the community.