Announcing OSG Software version 3.4.6

We are pleased to announce OSG Software version 3.4.6.

Changes to OSG 3.4.6 include:
- XRootD 4.8.0: fixed caching issues and multiple segfaults
- CernVM-FS 2.4.4: bug fixes for servers and clients
- GlideinWMS 3.2.20: improved factory performance, Singularity support
- osg-pki-tools: use HTTPS for all OIM connections, service certificate fix
- osg-wn-client: add gfal2-http plugin
- HTCondor-CE 3.0.4: bug fixes
- osg-gridftp: add osg-configure-gratia
- osg-configure 2.2.3: minor bug fixes

Release notes and pointers to more documentation can be found at:

http://opensciencegrid.github.io/docs/release/3.4/release-3-4-6/

Need help? Let us know:

http://opensciencegrid.github.io/docs/common/help/

We welcome feedback on this release!

Announcing OSG Software version 3.3.31

We are pleased to announce OSG Software version 3.3.31.

Changes to OSG 3.3.31 include:
- XRootD 4.8.0: fixed caching issues and multiple segfaults
- CernVM-FS 2.4.4: bug fixes for servers and clients
- GlideinWMS 3.2.20: improved factory performance, Singularity support
- osg-pki-tools: use HTTPS for all OIM connections, service certificate fix
- osg-wn-client: add gfal2-http plugin
- lcmaps: enable VOMS signature checking by default
- GridFTP-HDFS: fix potential crash related to CVMFS checksums
- HTCondor-CE 2.2.4: bug fixes
- osg-gridftp: add osg-configure-gratia
- osg-configure 1.10.3: minor bug fixes

Note: This is the last regular release of this release series. At this
point, only critical issues will be addressed in this series through May
2018. After May, this release series is unsupported. Please consider moving
to the 3.4 series.

Release notes and pointers to more documentation can be found at:

http://opensciencegrid.github.io/docs/release/3.3/release-3-3-31/

Need help? Let us know:

http://opensciencegrid.github.io/docs/common/help/

We welcome feedback on this release!

Announcing VO Package Update

We are pleased to announce a data release for the OSG Software Stack.
Data releases do not contain any software changes.

This release contains VO Package v77:
- Remove voms1.egee.cesnet.cz VOMS server (auger VO)

Release notes and pointers to more documentation can be found at:

http://opensciencegrid.github.io/docs/release/3.4/release-3-4-5-4/
http://opensciencegrid.github.io/docs/release/3.3/release-3-3-30-4/

Need help? Let us know:

http://opensciencegrid.github.io/docs/common/help/

We welcome feedback on this release!

Operations Service Update - Tuesday, December 12 at 13:00 UTC

The GOC will upgrade the following services beginning Tuesday, December 12 at 13:00 UTC. The GOC reserves 8 hours in the unlikely event unexpected problems are encountered.

OASIS
  * Update cvmfs software on oasis and oasis-replica to the latest versions.
  * Rebuild oasis.opensciencegrid.org cvmfs repo from staged files in order to clean out unchunked large files.  This also removes subdirectories whose staged files had been removed: belle, gm2, lbne, icecube, and uc3.
  * Reinstall oasis-login from scratch in order to test that the reinstall process can be done cleanly, including installing the ouser.mis cron job.
  * Set atlas-nightlies.cern.ch repo to use CERN stratum 1 instead of stratum 0.
  * Other minor improvements to scripts on oasis and oasis-replica.

All Services
  * Operating system updates, reboots will be required. The usual HA mechanisms will be used, but some services will experience brief outages.

Announcing OSG CA Certificate Update

We are pleased to announce a data release for the OSG Software Stack.
Data releases do not contain any software changes.

This release contains updated CA Certificates based on IGTF 1.88:
- updated UKeScience 2B ICA based on a SHA-2 family digest (UK)
- added new PKIUNAMgrid (2017) trust anchor for roll-over (MX)

Release notes and pointers to more documentation can be found at:

http://opensciencegrid.github.io/docs/release/3.4/release-3-4-5-3/
http://opensciencegrid.github.io/docs/release/3.3/release-3-3-30-3/

Need help? Let us know:

http://opensciencegrid.github.io/docs/common/help/

We welcome feedback on this release!

Announcing VO Package Update v76

We are pleased to announce a data release for the OSG Software Stack.
Data releases do not contain any software changes.

This release contains VO Package v76:
- Drop redundant geant4-lcgadmin objects
- Add missing SNO+ VOMS servers
- Add notice to voms-mapfile-default

Release notes and pointers to more documentation can be found at:

http://opensciencegrid.github.io/docs/release/3.4/release-3-4-5-2/
http://opensciencegrid.github.io/docs/release/3.3/release-3-3-30-2/

Need help? Let us know:

http://opensciencegrid.github.io/docs/common/help/

We welcome feedback on this release!

Operations Service Update - Monday, November 27th beginning 13:00 UTC

The GOC will upgrade the following services on November 27th beginning 13:00 UTC. The GOC reserves 8 hours in the unlikely event unexpected problems are encountered.

MyOSG, OIM, Ticket
  * Changing email address from goc@opensciencegrid.org to help@opensciencegrid.org

OIM
  * Changing documentation links from TWiki to OIM internal pages.
  * Changing notification text for resource and VO registration.

JIRA
  * Addressing spurious error notices for epic projects.

Announcing OSG Software version 3.3.30

We are pleased to announce OSG Software version 3.3.30.

Changes to OSG 3.3.30 include:
- OSG PKI: Certificate requests are authenticated by default
- BLAHP: Fixed bug in Slurm memory-use parsing that caused jobs to be held
- HTCondor: Fixed issue validating VOMS proxies
- XRootD 4.7.1: Fixed occasional crash when LCMAPS callout to GUMS fails
- CVMFS 2.4.2: Server side bug fixes
- GridFTP-HDFS: Added support for CMVFS checksums
- Globus GridFTP server: Fixed IPv6 redirection and IPv4 EPSV response
- LCMAPS VOMS Plugin: Documented how to map using all FQANs
- RSV: Fixed CRL freshness probe, removed unused probes

Note: This is the last release where the target release date is the second
Tuesday of the month. In the future, we will release whenever we have
significant or pressing changes.

Release notes and pointers to more documentation can be found at:

http://opensciencegrid.github.io/docs/release/3.3/release-3-3-30/

Need help? Let us know:

http://opensciencegrid.github.io/docs/common/help/

We welcome feedback on this release!

Announcing OSG Software version 3.4.5

We are pleased to announce OSG Software version 3.4.5.

Changes to OSG 3.4.5 include:
- OSG PKI: Certificate requests are authenticated by default
- BLAHP: Fixed bug in Slurm memory-use parsing that caused jobs to be held
- HTCondor: Updated to 8.6.8 and fixed issue validating VOMS proxies
- XRootD 4.7.1: Fixed occasional crash when LCMAPS callout to GUMS fails
- CVMFS 2.4.2: Server side bug fixes
- Globus GridFTP server: Fixed IPv6 redirection and IPv4 EPSV response
- LCMAPS VOMS Plugin: Documented how to map using all FQANs
- RSV: Fixed CRL freshness probe, removed unused probes
- Upcoming: Updated to HTCondor 8.7.5 and BLAHP 1.18.34

Note: This is the last release where the target release date is the second
Tuesday of the month. In the future, we will release whenever we have
significant or pressing changes.

Release notes and pointers to more documentation can be found at:

http://opensciencegrid.github.io/docs/release/3.4/release-3-4-5/

Need help? Let us know:

http://opensciencegrid.github.io/docs/common/help/

We welcome feedback on this release!

Operations Service Update - Tuesday, November 20th beginning 14:00 UTC

The GOC will upgrade the following services on November 20th beginning 14:00 UTC. The GOC reserves 8 hours in the unlikely event unexpected problems are encountered.

MyOSG
  * Installing nodejs and associated libraries.

Event
  * Configuration Change, memory and data usage threshold. Increasing available resources to survive 4 day outages on consumer side.

Announcing changes to the OSG software release model

After the November 14 release, the software and release team will be moving to a flexible release model [1]. Under this model, we'll be free to do releases on days other than the second Tuesday of every month.

We are making this change to deliver upstream updates more quickly without having to designate them as high-priority software releases. As a user, you shouldn't notice much of a difference since we are aiming for approximately monthly software releases. We will still distribute data releases as soon as they are ready.

Let us know if you have any questions or concerns at help@opensciencegrid.org!

[1] https://opensciencegrid.github.io/technology/policy/flexible-release-model/

Announcing OSG CA Certificate Update

We are pleased to announce a data release for the OSG Software Stack.
Data releases do not contain any software changes.

This release contains updated CA Certificates based on IGTF 1.87:
- added new accredited classic DarkMatter Private Root G4 and ICA (AE)
- updated PK-Grid-2007 trust anchor with extended validity period (PK)
- extended validity period for UNAMgrid-ca trust anchor (MX)

Release notes and pointers to more documentation can be found at:

http://opensciencegrid.github.io/docs/release/3.4/release-3-4-4-3/
http://opensciencegrid.github.io/docs/release/3.3/release-3-3-29-3/

Need help? Let us know:

http://opensciencegrid.github.io/docs/common/help/

We welcome feedback on this release!

GOC Service Update, Tuesday, November 7th at 14:00 UTC

The GOC will upgrade the following services on November 7th beginning 14:00 UTC. The GOC reserves 8 hours in the unlikely event unexpected problems are encountered.

Glidein
  * Update filebeat on the GOC factory. This will not require a downtime.

Ticket
  * Security notification, CCs email notification adjustment

GOC Service Update, Tuesday, October 24th at 14:00 UTC

The GOC will upgrade the following services October 24 beginning 14:00 UTC. The GOC reserves 8 hours in the unlikely event unexpected problems are encountered.

Glidein
  * install filebeat on the GOC factory. This will not require a downtime.

All Services
  * Operating system updates, reboots will be required. The usual HA mechanisms will be used, but some services will experience brief outages.

Announcing OSG CA Certificate and VO Package Updates

We are pleased to announce a data release for the OSG Software Stack.
Data releases do not contain any software changes.

This release contains updated CA Certificates based on IGTF 1.86:
- updated MaGrid CA with extended validity period (MA)
- removed discontinued pkIRISGrid CA (ES)

This release also contains VO Package v75:
- Add CMS wildcard to default map file

Release notes and pointers to more documentation can be found at:

http://opensciencegrid.github.io/docs/release/3.4/release-3-4-4-2/
http://opensciencegrid.github.io/docs/release/3.3/release-3-3-29-2/

Need help? Let us know:

http://opensciencegrid.github.io/docs/common/help/

We welcome feedback on this release!

RESOLVED: Ticket web interface experiencing problems for some users

Colleagues,

The OSG Ticketing interface was experiencing problems for some users.  Users were able to authenticate and view tickets, but unable to update tickets.  Operations identified this problem and patched the ticketing interface.  The interface seems to be operating as expected for all users now.

We apologize for any inconvenience this caused.  Please alert us if you see any more unexpected behavior.

Ticket web interface experiencing problems for some users

Colleagues,

The OSG Ticketing interface  is currently experiencing problems for some users.  Users are able to authenticate and view tickets, but unable to update tickets.  Operations has identified this problem and is currently working on the solution. If you must update a ticket immediately, there is a button on the ticket page that says, “Update w/Email.” Clicking this button will set up a message with your mail client so that you can update the ticket.

We apologize for any inconvenience this is causing and will update you when we have more information.

Announcing OSG Software version 3.4.4

We are pleased to announce OSG Software version 3.4.4.

Changes to OSG 3.4.4 include:
- Updated gsi-openssh-server to interoperate with clients using OpenSSL 1.1
- Singularity 2.3.2: Now works with Docker's updated registry RESTful API
- HTCondor 8.6.6: Bug fix release
- globus-gridftp-server-control 5.2: Allow 400 responses to stat failures
- osg-ca-scripts now properly declares its dependency on the wget package
- osg-configure works with HTCondor 8.7.2+ and when fetch-crl is missing
- HTCondor 8.7.3 in Upcoming

Release notes and pointers to more documentation can be found at:

http://opensciencegrid.github.io/docs/release/3.4/release-3-4-4/

Need help? Let us know:

http://opensciencegrid.github.io/docs/common/help/

We welcome feedback on this release!

Announcing OSG Software version 3.3.29

We are pleased to announce OSG Software version 3.3.29.

Changes to OSG 3.3.29 include:
- voms-admin-server: Updated to fix Apache struts vulnerability
- Updated gsi-openssh-server to interoperate with clients using OpenSSL 1.1
- globus-gridftp-server-control 5.2: Allow 400 responses to stat failures
- osg-ca-scripts now properly requires wget to be installed
- osg-configure works when fetch-crl is missing

Release notes and pointers to more documentation can be found at:

http://opensciencegrid.github.io/docs/release/3.3/release-3-3-29/

Need help? Let us know:

http://opensciencegrid.github.io/docs/common/help/

We welcome feedback on this release!

GOC Service Update - Monday, October 9th at 14:00 UTC

The GOC will upgrade the following services beginning Monday, October 9 at 14:00 UTC. The GOC reserves 8 hours in the unlikely event unexpected problems are encountered.

MyOSG
  * Configure backup scripts

Event
  * Enable stomp endpoint
  * Add several user accounts

Oasis-login
  * Complete gsissh configuration
  * Update to Centos7

Ticket
  * Ticket status update (close/resolve) addition

SAVE THE DATE: 2018 OSG All-Hands Meeting

On March 19-22, 2018, the Open Science Grid will host its annual All-Hands Meeting at the University of Utah campus located in Salt Lake City. Join collaborators, users, and staff to network, address recent developments, and explore new research being conducted using campus level and national cyberinfrastructure environments provided by the OSG. The workshops include co-located US ATLAS and US CMS computing meetings. 



The OSG All-Hands Meeting brings together national and international collaborators of all sizes for the purpose of sharing ideas, resources, news and best practices within the OSG community. We will send a follow up message when registration is available. Please mark your calendars and we hope to see you in March.

GOC Service Update - Tuesday, September 26th at 14:00 UTC

The GOC will upgrade the following services beginning Tuesday, September 26th at 14:00 UTC. The GOC reserves 8 hours in the unlikely event unexpected problems are encountered.

Oasis
* Update oasis-login to centos7
* Change OSG software installation to come from the goc yum repository
* Update oasis, oasis-replica, and oasis-login to the latest OSG software releases
* Move the master signing key to a Yubikey device on oasis
* Enable incoming IPv6 on oasis, oasis-replica, and oasis-itb

MyOSG
* Modifications to format of OSG sites map used by display.opensciencegrid.org

Event
* Enable STOMP plugin

RSV1
* Remove data older than 3 years
* Delete unused previous versions of the virtual machine

All Services
* Operating system updates, reboots will be required. The usual HA mechanisms will be used, but some services will experience brief outages.

TWiki goes read-only October 3, 2017

Colleagues,
   
As has been discussed in several OSG channels, the OSG Operations team will be transitioning the TWiki to a read-only state as of October 3, 2017.  All current documentation is being moved to a Github location. We will also help as much as possible by placing pointers in the TWiki that will let people know where new documentation sets will be.
   
All documentation on the TWiki will still be available to read, but not editable. This is the initial step of retiring the TWiki completely, which will occur at the start of the calendar year 2018. All TWiki documents will be archived in case they are needed.
   
Please let us know if you have any questions about this service change.

Announcing OSG Software version 3.4.3

We are pleased to announce OSG Software version 3.4.3.

Changes to OSG 3.4.3 include:
- Updated to CVMFS 2.4.1
- Updated to Singularity 2.3.1
- Updated to BLAHP 1.18.33: improved handling of Slurm and PBS jobs
- Updated to XRootD 4.7.0
- Updated to StashCache 0.8
- Updated Globus packages to latest EPEL versions
- osg-ca-scripts now use HTTPS to download CA certificates
- Added the ability to limit transfer load in globus-gridftp-osg-extensions
- Fixed a few memory management bugs in xrootd-lcmaps
- HTCondor CE 3.0.2 reports an error if JOB_ROUTER_ENTRIES are not defined

Release notes and pointers to more documentation can be found at:

https://www.opensciencegrid.org/bin/view/Documentation/Release3/Release343

Need help? Let us know:

https://www.opensciencegrid.org/bin/view/Documentation/Release3/HelpProcedure

We welcome feedback on this release!

Announcing OSG Software version 3.3.28

We are pleased to announce OSG Software version 3.3.28.

Changes to OSG 3.3.28 include:
- Updated to BLAHP 1.18.33: improved handling of Slurm and PBS jobs
- Updated to XRootD 4.7.0
- Updated to StashCache 0.8
- Updated Globus packages to latest EPEL versions
- osg-ca-scripts now use HTTPS to download CA certificates
- Added the ability to limit transfer load in globus-gridftp-osg-extensions
- Fixed a few memory management bugs in xrootd-lcmaps
- Updated to xrootd-hdfs 1.9.2
- HTCondor CE 2.2.3 reports an error if JOB_ROUTER_ENTRIES are not defined
- Updated SELinux profile to allow GUMS to access the MySQL port

Release notes and pointers to more documentation can be found at:

https://www.opensciencegrid.org/bin/view/Documentation/Release3/Release3328

Need help? Let us know:

https://www.opensciencegrid.org/bin/view/Documentation/Release3/HelpProcedure

We welcome feedback on this release!

OSG Certificate Authority Training Sessions

Dear OSG Security Contacts,

The OSG security team is asking all the VO security contacts, Registration Agents (RAs) and Grid Admins (GAs) to attend a 20-min security training about how to handle OSG certificate requests. Policies about our OSG Certificate Authority (CA) and guidelines on what to check when approving a certificate request will be discussed in each session.  There are 3 available sessions, all times are Central Standard Time (CST). Participants can subscribe to each session in advance here: https://doodle.com/poll/bsv9v3p7tye25c4v


Topic: Security Training for OSG VO contacts
Call US: +1 408 638 0968 or +1 646 558 8656 and dial the Meeting ID for the selected time.

1) Time: Sep 14, 2017 10:00 AM Central Standard Time (US and Canada)
- https://fnal.zoom.us/j/942795305
- Meeting ID: 942 795 305

2) Time: Sep 19, 2017 2:00 PM Central Standard Time (US and Canada)
- https://fnal.zoom.us/j/537276995
- Meeting ID: 537 276 995

3) Time: Sep 20, 2017 9:00 AM Central Standard Time (US and Canada)
- https://fnal.zoom.us/j/657145301
- Meeting ID: 657 145 301

  Please contact the OSG security team at security@opensciencegrid.org if you have any questions.

GOC Service Update - Tuesday, September 12th at 14:00 UTC

The GOC will upgrade the following services beginning Tuesday, September 12th at 13:00 UTC. The GOC reserves 8 hours in the unlikely event unexpected problems are encountered.

Event
  * Modifications to logging levels and virtual machine memory

GRACC
  * Cleaned database of extraneous users from the OSG User School 2017.  Assigned them to proper VO, OSG.  See https://jira.opensciencegrid.org/browse/GRACC-134
  * Cleaned extraneous facilities.  Partial completion, see https://jira.opensciencegrid.org/browse/GRACC-130
  * Deployed Backup Confirmation email (https://github.com/opensciencegrid/gracc-email)

Oasis
  * Update oasis-login to centos7
  * Change OSG software installation to come from the goc yum repository
  * Update oasis, oasis-replica, and oasis-login to the latest OSG software releases
  * Move the master signing key to a Yubikey device on oasis
  * Enable incoming IPv6 on oasis, oasis-replica, and oasis-itb

RSV
  * Remove data older than 3 years
  * Delete unused previous versions of the virtual machine

Ticket
  * Adding a CC field to a ticket security notification

GOC Service Update - Tuesday, August 22nd at 14:00 UTC

The GOC will upgrade the following services beginning Tuesday, August 22nd at 14:00 UTC.

The GOC reserves 8 hours in the unlikely event unexpected problems are encountered.

Glidein

- Update GOC factory to use OSG 3.4 and HTCondor 8.6.

Repo

- Update createrepo rpm to properly cleanup temporary files after updates.

OIM

- Project name format update to include periods.

Ticket  

- Remove Gratia-Software as a contact option.

All Services 

- Operating system updates, reboots will be required. The usual HA mechanisms will be used, but some services will experience brief outages.

Announcing OSG CA Certificate Update

We are pleased to announce a data release for the OSG Software Stack.
Data releases do not contain any software changes.

This release contains updated CA Certificates based on IGTF 1.85:
- Updated URL domain information for CyGrid (CY)

Release notes and pointers to more documentation can be found at:

https://www.opensciencegrid.org/bin/view/Documentation/Release3/Release3422

Need help? Let us know:

https://www.opensciencegrid.org/bin/view/Documentation/Release3/HelpProcedure

We welcome feedback on this release!

GUMS incompatibility with RHEL 7.4

Last week, Red Hat released Enterprise Linux 7.4 with a new SELinux policy that negatively affects some Tomcat web applications including GUMS. We recommend that sites running GUMS refrain from updating their GUMS hosts to CentOS, RHEL, or Scientific Linux 7.4 until we have released a fix.

If you have any questions or concerns, please contact us at goc@opensciencegrid.org.

Announcing OSG Software version 3.3.27

We are pleased to announce OSG Software version 3.3.27.

Changes to OSG 3.3.27 include:
- Updated SELinux profile for HTCondor which is required on Red Hat 7.4
- HTCondor-CE: don't hold running jobs with expired proxy, other updates
- Default configuration improvements for condor-cron
- Several improvements to osg-configure
- Added blahp configuration option for PBS Pro
- Patched jGlobus so that proxies work with BeStMan
- HTCondor 8.4.12

Release notes and pointers to more documentation can be found at:

https://www.opensciencegrid.org/bin/view/Documentation/Release3/Release3327

Need help? Let us know:

https://www.opensciencegrid.org/bin/view/Documentation/Release3/HelpProcedure

We welcome feedback on this release!

Announcing OSG Software version 3.4.2

We are pleased to announce OSG Software version 3.4.2.

Changes to OSG 3.4.2 include:
- Updated SELinux profile for HTCondor which is required on Red Hat 7.4
- HTCondor 8.6.5: important bug fixes, see release notes
- HTCondor-CE 3.0.1: added pilot payload auditing and other improvements
- Default configuration improvements for condor-cron
- Several improvements to osg-configure
- Added blahp configuration option for PBS Pro
- Reorganize the osg-ce packages

Release notes and pointers to more documentation can be found at:

https://www.opensciencegrid.org/bin/view/Documentation/Release3/Release342

Need help? Let us know:

https://www.opensciencegrid.org/bin/view/Documentation/Release3/HelpProcedure

We welcome feedback on this release!

Apply for CODATA-RDA School of Research Data Science, Sao Paolo, 4-15 December 2017: Deadline 22 September

Applications are invited to participate in the CODATA-RDA School of Research Data Science which will be held at ICTP-SAIFR, Sao Paolo, Brazil, 4-15 December 2017.



Further information about the Sao Paolo edition of the CODATA-RDA School of Research Data Science is available at http://www.ictp-saifr.org/?page_id=15270



To apply you must use the online form which is available here http://ictp-saifr.org/sis/datasci2017step0.php 


The deadline for applications is 22 September 2017.



About the CODATA-RDA School of Research Data Science
:

What can justly be called the ‘Data Revolution’ offers many opportunities coupled with significant challenges. High among the latter is the need to develop the necessary data professions and data skills.  Researchers and research institutions worldwide recognise the need to promote data skills and we see short courses, continuing professional development and MOOCs providing training in data science and research data management.



In sum, this is because of the realisation that contemporary research – particularly when addressing the most significant, inter-disciplinary research challenges – cannot effectively be done without a range of skills relating to data.  These skills include the principles and practice of Open Science and research data management and curation, the use of a range of data platforms and infrastructures, large scale analysis, statistics, visualisation and modelling techniques, software development and annotation, etc, etc. The ensemble of these skills, we define as ‘Research Data Science’, that is the science of research data: how to look after and use the data that is core to your research.



The CODATA-RDA School of Research Data Science has developed a short course, summer school, style curriculum that addresses these training requirements.  The course partners Software Carpentry (using the Shell command line and GitHub), Data Carpentry (using R and SQL) and the Digital Curation Centre (research data management and data management plans) and builds on materials developed by these organisations.  Also included in the programme are modules on Open Science, ethics, visualisation, machine learning (recommender systems and artificial neural networks) and research computational infrastructures.



The school has been successfully piloted at ICTP in Trieste in 2016 and 2017.  The vision of the CODATA-RDA Schools of Research Data Science is to develop into an international network which makes it easy for partner organisations and institutions to run the schools in a variety of locations.  The annual event at the ICTP in Trieste will serve as a motor for building the network and building expertise and familiarity with the initiative’s mission and objectives.  The core materials are made available for reuse and the co-chairs and Working Group team will provide guidance to assist partners in organising the school, in identifying instructors and helpers etc. The first school to expand this initiative will take place at ICTP-SAIFR (South American Institute of Fundamental Research), Sao Paolo, Brazil in December 2017.



Further information about the CODATA-RDA Schools of Research Data Science is available at http://www.codata.org/working-groups/research-data-science-summer-schools



Short Report on the First CODATA-RDA School of Research Data Science, August 2016 https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.835565



Programme for the First CODATA-RDA School of Research Data Science, ICTP, Trieste, August 2016 http://indico.ictp.it/event/7658/other-view?view=ictptimetable



Materials from the First CODATA-RDA School of Research Data Science, ICTP, Trieste, August 2016 https://zenodo.org/communities/codata-rda-research-data-science-summer-school/?page=1&size=20



Programme for the Second CODATA-RDA School of Research Data Science, ICTP, Trieste, July 2017 http://indico.ictp.it/event/7974/other-view?view=ictptimetable

----------------------------------
 
CODATA 2017 International Conference, ‘Global Challenges and Data-Driven Research’, Saint-Petersburg, 8-13 October: http://codata2017.gcras.ru/

What has CODATA delivered recently? See the CODATA Prospectus: Strategy and Achievement, 2015-2016 https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.165830

----------------------------------

Dr Simon Hodson | Executive Director CODATA | http://www.codata.org

E-Mail: simon@codata.org | Twitter: @simonhodson99 | Skype: simonhodson99
Tel (Office): +33 1 45 25 04 96 | Tel (Cell): +33 6 86 30 42 59

CODATA (Committee on Data of the International Council for Science), 5 rue Auguste Vacquerie, 75016 Paris, FRANCE

3.3.26 and 3.4.1 Worker-node Tarballs Re-released

A minor configuration issue in the 3.3.26 and 3.4.1 worker-node tarballs
prevented the GFAL tools from functioning. We have created updated
tarballs with the correct configuration.

If you installed OSG worker-node tarballs directly, between July 12th and
18th, you should consider reinstalling them using the latest builds
(labeled as version 3.3.26-2 or 3.4.1-2). The tarball installations
on OASIS have been updated.

GOC Service Update - Tuesday, July 25th at 14:00 UTC

The GOC will upgrade the following services beginning Tuesday, July 25 at 14:00 UTC. The GOC reserves 8 hours in the unlikely event unexpected problems are encountered.

All Services
Operating system updates, reboots will be required. The usual HA mechanisms will be used, but some services will experience brief outages.

Announcing OSG CA Certificate Update

We are pleased to announce a data release for the OSG Software Stack.
Data releases do not contain any software changes.

This release contains updated CA Certificates based on IGTF 1.84:
- Updated ROSA root certificate with extended 20yr valitity (RO)
- Updated contact details for CyGrid CA following transition to CYNET (CY)
- Removed obsoleted KISTI-2007 trust anchor - replaced by KISTIv3 (KR)
- Removed expiring LACGrid trust anchor a9082267 (BR)
- Added UK Pathfinder AAAI CA 1 to unaccredited (misc) area (UK)

Release notes and pointers to more documentation can be found at:

https://www.opensciencegrid.org/bin/view/Documentation/Release3/Release3412

Need help? Let us know:

https://www.opensciencegrid.org/bin/view/Documentation/Release3/HelpProcedure

We welcome feedback on this release!

Announcing OSG Software version 3.3.26

We are pleased to announce OSG Software version 3.3.26.

Changes to OSG 3.3.26 include:
- Bug fix in LCMAPS plugin that could cause the HTCondor-CE schedd to crash
- osg-configure uses the new GUMS JSON interface
- The BLAHP properly requests multi-core resources for Slurm batch systems
- HTCondor-CE: send memory requirements to batch systems, whole node jobs
- Gratia probes: support whole node jobs, can include ClassAd attributes
- Bug fix to CVMFS client to able to mount when large groups exist
- GridFTP server now correctly uses plugin configuration
- gridftp-dsi-posix replaces the xrootd-dsi plugin, see release notes
- Enhanced gridftp-dsi-posix: MD5 checksum, support XRootD space tokens
- Bug fix for HDFS NameNode LeaseManager to prevent endless loop

Release notes and pointers to more documentation can be found at:
https://www.opensciencegrid.org/bin/view/Documentation/Release3/Release3326

Need help? Let us know:
https://www.opensciencegrid.org/bin/view/Documentation/Release3/HelpProcedure

We welcome feedback on this release!

Announcing OSG Software version 3.4.1

We are pleased to announce OSG Software version 3.4.1.

Changes to OSG 3.4.1 include:
- Bug fix in LCMAPS plugin that could cause the HTCondor-CE schedd to crash
- osg-configure uses the new GUMS JSON interface
- The BLAHP properly requests multi-core resources for Slurm batch systems
- HTCondor-CE: send memory requirements to batch systems, whole node jobs
- Gratia probes: support whole node jobs, can include ClassAd attributes
- Bug fix to CVMFS client to able to mount when large groups exist
- GridFTP server now correctly uses plugin configuration
- gridftp-dsi-posix replaces the xrootd-dsi plugin, see release notes
- Enhanced gridftp-dsi-posix: MD5 checksum, support XRootD space tokens
- HTCondor 8.6.4: BOSCO now works without CA certificates on remote cluster
- HTCondor 8.7.2: introducing the 8.7 series in the upcoming repository

Release notes and pointers to more documentation can be found at:
https://www.opensciencegrid.org/bin/view/Documentation/Release3/Release341

Need help? Let us know:
https://www.opensciencegrid.org/bin/view/Documentation/Release3/HelpProcedure

We welcome feedback on this release!

OSG Support of the Globus Toolkit

Many in the OSG community have heard the news about the end of support for the open-source Globus Toolkit.

What does this imply for the OSG Software stack? Not much: OSG support for the Globus Toolkit (e.g., GridFTP and GSI) will continue for as long as stakeholders need it. Period.

Note the OSG Software team provides a support guarantee for all the software in its stack. When a software component reaches end-of-life, the OSG assists its stakeholders in managing the transition to new software to replace or extend those capabilities. This assistance comes in many forms, such as finding an equivalent replacement, adapting code to avoid the dependency, or helping research and develop a transition to new technology. During such transition periods, OSG takes on traditional maintenance duties (i.e., patching, bug fixes and support) of the end-of-life software. The OSG is committed to keep the software secure until its stakeholders have successfully transitioned to new software.

This model has been successfully demonstrated throughout the lifetime of OSG, including for example the five year transition period for the BestMan storage resource manager. The Globus Toolkit will not be an exception. Indeed, OSG has accumulated more than a decade of experience with this software and has often provided patches back to Globus.

Over the next weeks and months, we will be in contact with our stakeholder VOs, sites, and software providers to discuss their requirements and timelines with regard to GridFTP and GSI.

Please reach out to goc@opensciencegrid.org with your questions, comments, and concerns.

A copy of this statement can be found at https://opensciencegrid.github.io/technology/policy/globus-toolkit.

RE: What to expect from OSG 3.4

On May 30, we sent an e-mail outlining many of the changes to expect in OSG 3.4 and since then, we have released OSG 3.4.0 (details can be found here: https://twiki.opensciencegrid.org/bin/view/Documentation/Release3/Release340 ) and added relevant documentation. Most prominently, documentation is now available for installation and configuration of the LCMAPS VOMS plugin (https://twiki.opensciencegrid.org/bin/view/Documentation/Release3/InstallLcmapsVoms), including instructions to transition from edg-mkgridmap. Additionally, we have released our retirement policy and timelines for the following software:

  - GUMS (https://opensciencegrid.github.io/technology/policy/gums-retire/)
  - BeStMan (https://opensciencegrid.github.io/technology/policy/bestman2-retire/)
  - VOMS Admin Server (https://opensciencegrid.github.io/technology/policy/voms-admin-retire/)

As always, if there are any questions or concerns, please contact us at goc@opensciencegrid.org

Future support dates for OSG 3.3 sites

After last week's release of OSG 3.4.0, the software and release teams will begin the end-of-life process for the OSG 3.3 branch. This means that we will provide regular support to software in the OSG 3.3 stack until December 2017, and critical bug and security fixes until May 2018. The relevant text can be found below or at our release series support policy page (https://opensciencegrid.github.io/technology/policy/release-series/).

OSG supports at most two concurrent release series, current and previous, where the goal is to begin a new release series about every 18 months. Once a new series starts, OSG will support the previous series for at least 12 months and will announce its end-of-life date at least 6 months in advance. During the first 6 months of a series, OSG will endeavor to apply backward-compatible changes to the previous series as well; afterward, OSG will apply only critical bug and security fixes. When support ends for a release series, it means that OSG no longer updates the software, fixes issues, or troubleshoots installations for releases within the series. The plan is to maintain interoperability between supported series, but there is no guarantee that unsupported series will continue to function in OSG.

GOC Service Update - Tuesday, June 27th at 14:00 UTC

The GOC will upgrade the following services beginning Tuesday, June 27th at 1400 UTC. The GOC reserves 8 hours in the unlikely event unexpected problems are encountered.

GRACC
- Fixed generation of GRACC summaries for HTCondor jobs that were removed.  Reprocessed old records with this issue as well.

Oasis
- Modifications of virtual machine host to allow oasis components to access USB ports.

VOMS
- Update voms-admin to 2.7.0-1.22 per request.

All services
- Operating system updates; reboots will be required. The usual HA mechanisms will be used, but some services will experience brief outages.

Announcing OSG CA Certificate and VO Package Updates

We are pleased to announce a data release for the OSG Software Stack.
Data releases do not contain any software changes.

This release contains updated CA Certificates based on IGTF 1.83:
- Added new trust anchor for accredited KISTI CA v3 (KR)
- Removed obsolete GEANT TCS G1 and G2 (old Comodo-backed) trust anchors

This release also contains VO Package v74:
- Fix the edg-mkgridmap entries for project8 and miniclean
- Add new VOMS entry for CIGI
- Add LIGO entry to GUMS template
- Fix vo-client ATLAS mappings

Release notes and pointers to more documentation can be found at:

https://www.opensciencegrid.org/bin/view/Documentation/Release3/Release3402

Need help? Let us know:

https://www.opensciencegrid.org/bin/view/Documentation/Release3/HelpProcedure

We welcome feedback on this release!

Announcing OSG Software version 3.4.0

We are pleased to announce OSG Software version 3.4.0.

OSG 3.4.0 is the start of a new release series. In this series we have
streamlined and consolidated the set of packages. This release contains
all the updates of the recent OSG 3.3.25 release.

This release also contains:
- HTCondor 8.6.3 - see release notes for upgrade information
- Frontier-squid 3.5.24-3.1 - see release notes for upgrade information
- GlideinWMS 3.3.2 in the Upcoming repository

Temporarily unavailable in OSG 3.4:
- HDFS - 3.x to be included in OSG 3.4 at a later date

No longer available in OSG 3.4:
- edg-mkgridmap - replaced by LCMAPS VOMS plugin
- GUMS - replaced by LCMAPS VOMS plugin
- BeSTMan 2 - replaced by Load Balanced GridFTP
- GLExec - replaced by Singularity
- VOMS Admin Server - being retired
- Globus GRAM - available from EPEL
- GIP and OSG Info Services - BDII servers retired

In addition to the list of packages in OSG 3.4, the release notes also
contain a comprehensive list of packages not carried forward from OSG 3.3.

Release notes and pointers to more documentation can be found at:

https://www.opensciencegrid.org/bin/view/Documentation/Release3/Release340

Need help? Let us know:

https://www.opensciencegrid.org/bin/view/Documentation/Release3/HelpProcedure

We welcome feedback on this release!

Announcing OSG Software version 3.3.25

We are pleased to announce OSG Software version 3.3.25.

Changes to OSG 3.3.25 include:
- lcmaps VOMS plugin mapping uses the first FQAN to behave similar to GUMS
- Update to XRootD 4.6.1
- Update to GlideinWMS 3.2.19
- HTCondor-CE: Add ability to request whole node jobs from the batch system
- Install default VO mapfile with osg-ce/osg-gridftp for lcmaps VOMS plugin
- voms-admin-server security update
- Fix osg-update-vos script to pick up new vo-client changes
- osg-configure can get the default allowed_vos from the lcmaps VOMS plugin
- osg-configure can use lcmaps VOMS plugin to get the default allowed VOs
- osg-ca-scripts now refers to repo.grid.iu.edu

Release notes and pointers to more documentation can be found at:

https://www.opensciencegrid.org/bin/view/Documentation/Release3/Release3325

Need help? Let us know:

https://www.opensciencegrid.org/bin/view/Documentation/Release3/HelpProcedure

We welcome feedback on this release!

GOC Service Update - Tuesday, June 13th at 14:00 UTC

The GOC will upgrade the following services beginning Tuesday, June 13th at 14:00 UTC.  The GOC reserves 8 hours in the unlikely event unexpected problems are encountered.

Display
- Configuration management changes conclude

Jira
- Upgrade RAM to 4GiB, required by recent upgrade to 7.3

MyOSG
- VO SUMMARY output messages cleaned up to minimize root mail

Open Science Grid to host two training sessions at PEARC17 - Monday, July 10, 2017

Colleagues,

Open Science Grid (OSG) is hosting two training sessions on Monday, July 10, 2017 at the PEARC17 Conference and we would like to encourage you to attend.  Our training sessions will use OSG Connect (http://osgconnect.net/) to show you how OSG can be leveraged to help you improve your research computing workflows.  

The training sessions are as follows:

High-Throughput Computation on the Open Science Grid and AWS - 9:00am - 12:30pm
  * Detailed information: https://pearc17.sched.com/event/AQ3M

Enabling Science Beyond the Campus Edge: HPC Integration with the Open Science Grid - 1:30pm - 5:00pm
  * Detailed information: https://pearc17.sched.com/event/AQ3V

Please sign up to attend or pass this information along to any colleagues you know that might benefit from these two opportunities!  

PEARC17 early registration and hotel booking deadline - May 31

May 31 is the deadline for Practice and Experience in Advanced Research Computing (PEARC17) attendees to take advantage of early registration and guaranteed hotel room rates.

Go to http://pearc17.pearc.org to register for the conference and check the latest program schedule. To book rooms, go to http://pearc17.pearc.org hotel or call 888-421-1442 and reference the conference name.

PEARC17 attendees staying at the Hyatt Regency New Orleans will experience the best of the Big Easy. The hotel is located in the heart of downtown, next to the Mercedes-Benz Superdome, Smoothie King Center and Champions Square. Nearby attractions include taking a ride on the Loyola Avenue Streetcar, which passes directly in front of the hotel, or a walk to the historic French Quarter, Arts District, Audubon Aquarium of the Americas, the National World War II Museum, and the scenic Mississippi Riverfront—all located within a mile of the hotel. Attendees will also savor some of the city’s best cuisine at the hotel's restaurants and dining options: 8 Block Kitchen & Bar, Vitascope Hall, Q Smokery & Cafe, Pizza Consegna and Borgne by celebrity Chef John Besh.

To help plan your visit to the Big Easy, the PEARC17 web site has information about things to do and see in and around New Orleans, as well as additional informative links. See http://pearc17.pearc.org/new-orleans.

GOC Service Update - Tuesday, May 23rd at 14:00 UTC

The GOC will upgrade the following services beginning Tuesday, May 23rd at 14:00 UTC. The GOC reserves 8 hours in the unlikely event unexpected problems are encountered.
Repo
  * Defining new content locations in preparation for OSG 3.4


Ticket
  * Submit form update


MyOSG
  * Redirect to new meshconfig setup


Display
  * Update scripts to remove extraneous error messages


All services
  * Operating system updates; reboots will be required. The usual HA mechanisms will be used, but some services will experience brief outages.


Announcing VO Package Update

We are pleased to announce a data release for the OSG Software Stack.
Data releases do not contain any software changes.

This release contains VO Package v73:
- Update edg-mkgridmap CDF entry to match vomses
- Remove LIGO server from GUMS template
- Remove unused CDF glidecaf settings
- Drop /production role for DES vomsUserGroup
- Update default CMS mappings
- Update default Fermilab / FIFE mappings

Release notes and pointers to more documentation can be found at:

https://www.opensciencegrid.org/bin/view/Documentation/Release3/Release33242

Need help? Let us know:

https://www.opensciencegrid.org/bin/view/Documentation/Release3/HelpProcedure

We welcome feedback on this release!

Announcing OSG Software version 3.3.24

We are pleased to announce OSG Software version 3.3.24.

Changes to OSG 3.3.24 include:
- osg-configure 1.7.0: support lcmaps VOMS plugin, drop BDII configuration
- CVMFS X.509 helper: fix for running inside a container
- Added gsissh to tarball installations

Changes to the Upcoming Repository include:
- HTCondor 8.6.2: Bug fixes
- GlideinWMS 3.3.2: BOSCO multiple remote directories, AWS VM improvements

Release notes and pointers to more documentation can be found at:

https://www.opensciencegrid.org/bin/view/Documentation/Release3/Release3324

Need help? Let us know:

https://www.opensciencegrid.org/bin/view/Documentation/Release3/HelpProcedure

We welcome feedback on this release!

Details set for Advanced Research Computing on Campuses Workshop at PEARC17

Details set for Advanced Research Computing on Campuses Workshop at PEARC17

The Advanced Research Computing on Campuses (ARCC) workshop is co-locating with PEARC17 this July in New Orleans with the aim of beginning to more broadly integrate with the ongoing PEARC annual conference. ARCC will present a full-day tutorial, a series of lightning talks, and Birds of a Feather sessions. Plenaries, breaks, meals, and other activities will be shared with PEARC17 attendees.

An ARCC-hosted tutorial, “Enabling and Advancing Research Computing on Campuses” will be on Monday, July 10, and will provide a broad overview of research computing on campuses including evolving trends in cyberinfrastructure, computing, and people resources on campuses. Other ARCC sessions are scheduled for July 11 and 12. ARCC sessions are open to all PEARC17 attendees.

As part of the community organizations that are supporting the PEARC17 conference, ACI-REF and the National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA) are co-locating the 2017 ARCC best practices workshop with PEARC17. Last year's 2016 ARCC workshop drew more than 100 attendees from universities across the country.

"On behalf of the members of the ACI-REF consortium, we strongly support this effort to bring the broader cyberinfrastructure community together under one roof for an exchange of ideas and new discovery," said Gwen Jacobs, PhD,  Director of Cyberinfrastructure, University of Hawaii. "In ACI-REF we have seen the benefit first hand of the gains made when groups come together to exchange expertise and learn from each other.  Co-locating our ARCC meeting with PEARC17 will broaden the scope and impact of the meeting for all participants. We're excited to be part of this community effort."

See the ARCC Best Practices Workshop ( https://www.pearc.org/arcc17 ) page for details, and register ( https://vc.swoogo.com/pearc17/ ) for PEARC17 to attend.

GOC Service Update - Tuesday, May 9th at 14:00 UTC

The GOC will upgrade the following services beginning Tuesday, May 9th at 14:00 UTC. The GOC reserves 8 hours in the unlikely event unexpected problems are encountered.

Jira
Update /etc/init.d service file
Update cron file

OASIS
Update oasis and oasis-replica to the latest cvmfs software
Add the syr.edu stashcache server and the BNL stratum 1 for osgstorage.org repositories
Change the cern.ch configuration to use OSG DNS aliases for the FNAL and BNL stratum 1s

MyOSG
GRACC graphs

RESOLVED: OSG PKI Currently Experiencing Difficulties Issuing Certificates

Colleagues,

The OSG PKI (OIM to CILogon) was experiencing difficulties issuing both personal and host certificates. Certificates were able to be requested and approved, but once the requester clicked the issue button, the operation failed.  This issue has been fixed. Any certificates that failed during the issuing stage will need to be re-requested.  We apologize for any convenience this has caused and if you have any questions, please don't hesitate to contact us using the information below.

OSG PKI Currently Experiencing Difficulties Issuing Certificates

Colleagues,

The OSG PKI (OIM to CILogon) is currently experiencing difficulties issuing both personal and host certificates. Certificates are able to be requested and approved, but once the requester clicks the issue button, the operation fails.  Contact has been made with CILogon and we are looking into the situation.  This outage could last until tomorrow, but we will update you as we learn more. We apologize for any inconvenience.

GOC Service Update - Tuesday, April 25th

The GOC will upgrade the following services beginning Tuesday, 25/Apr at 14:00 UTC. The GOC reserves 8 hours in the unlikely event unexpected problems are encountered.

MyOSG
Modify some links associated with BDII and GratiaWeb. Adding GRACC graphs.

Ticket Exchange
FNAL configuration update

OIM
Modify Gratia references to appropriate Gracc equivalent

Display
Update to CentOS7, replace Gratia references with appropriate GRACC equivalent

Web services
Apply standard software updates

All services
Operating system updates; reboots will be required. The usual HA mechanisms will be used, but some services will experience brief outages.

Announcing OSG CA Certificate Update

We are pleased to announce a data release for the OSG Software Stack.
Data releases do not contain any software changes.

This release contains updated CA Certificates based on IGTF 1.82:
- Added new G2 UGrid trust anchor (UA)
- Extended validity for AEGIS CA (RS)
- Withdrawn discontinued FNAL KCA (US)
- Extended validity for REUNA CA (CL)

Release notes and pointers to more documentation can be found at:

https://twiki.opensciencegrid.org/bin/view/Documentation/Release3/Release33223

Need help? Let us know:

https://twiki.opensciencegrid.org/bin/view/Documentation/Release3/HelpProcedure

We welcome feedback on this release!

Announcing OSG Software version 3.3.23

We are pleased to announce OSG Software version 3.3.23.

Changes to OSG 3.3.23 include:
- LCMAPS VOMS plugin: Use VOMS attributes to map users
- HTCondor-CE 2.1.5: LCMAPS VOMS integration, package Slurm configuration
- CVMFS 2.3.5: Fixes, including automount fix when autofs restarts on EL7
- Pegasus 4.7.4: Updated from version 4.6.1
- OSG CE 3.3-12: Removed gip and osg-info-services, see release notes

Changes to the Upcoming Repository include:
- LCMAPS 1.6.6-1.3: Enable VOMS attribute checking by default
- Frontier Squid 3.5.24-3.1: Fix for crashes under heavy load

Release notes and pointers to more documentation can be found at:

https://www.opensciencegrid.org/bin/view/Documentation/Release3/Release3323

Need help? Let us know:

https://www.opensciencegrid.org/bin/view/Documentation/Release3/HelpProcedure

We welcome feedback on this release!

GratiaWeb to GRACC transition

OSG has been building a modernized accounting system, GRÅCC, to better meet OSG and stakeholder accounting needs in the years to come. In addition to new ways to collect and store accounting data, there is a new web interface:

    https://gracc.opensciencegrid.org/

   OSG staff have started using this new URL over the past two months, and now we believe that it is ready for everyone to use. At this time, we strongly encourage users to switch to it. If you find issues, please contact OSG Operations <goc@opensciencegrid.org>.

   Due to the shutdown of the Gratia database at FNAL on May 1st, we plan to retire the older accounting reporting service (GratiaWeb) on 18 April 2017.

    http://gratiaweb.grid.iu.edu/

   This schedule leaves a bit of room to fix any problems that crop up due to the transition from one reporting service to the other. Please contact OSG Operations with any concerns or if you will need assistance migrating from GratiaWeb to GRÅCC.

Applications for OSG User School 2017 due April 14!

NOTE: The application deadline for the OSG User School 2017 is soon!
Submit applications and recommendations by Friday, April 14th.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

If you could access hundreds or even thousands of computers for your
scholarly work, what could you do? How could it transform your work?
What discoveries might you make?

We are seeking applicants for the Open Science Grid (OSG) User School
2017, which takes place July 17-21 at the beautiful University of
Wisconsin in Madison. Participants will learn to use high throughput
computing (HTC) to harness vast amounts of computing power for research,
applicable to nearly any field of study (e.g., physics, chemistry,
engineering, life sciences, earth sciences, agricultural and animal
sciences, economics, social sciences, medicine, and more).

http://research.cs.wisc.edu/htcondor/htc.html
https://www.opensciencegrid.org/news/research-highlights-list/

Using lectures, discussions, roleplays, and lots of hands-on work with
OSG experts in HTC, participants will learn how HTC systems work, how to
run and manage many jobs and huge datasets, how to implement a realistic
scientific computing workflow, and where to turn for help and more info.

Worried about costs? We pay all basic travel, hotel, and food costs for
applicants who are selected to attend. This is a valuable offer!

Ideal candidates are graduate students whose research involves or could
involve large-scale computing - work that cannot be done on one laptop
or a handful of computers. Also, we accept some post-doctoral students,
faculty, staff, and advanced undergraduates, so make a strong case for
yourself regardless of your current role!

IMPORTANT DATES
  Application Period (OPEN NOW): 1 March - 14 April 2017
  OSG User School: 17-21 July 2017

MORE INFORMATION AND APPLICATIONS
  Web: http://www.opensciencegrid.org/UserSchool
  Email: user-school@opensciencegrid.org
  Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/OSGUserSchool
  Twitter: https://twitter.com/OSGUserSchool

Please forward this announcement to anyone who might benefit from the
OSG User School. And consider posting our flyer where appropriate:

https://www.opensciencegrid.org/userschoolflyer/
https://twiki.opensciencegrid.org/twiki/pub/Education/OSGUserSchool2017/osg-user-school-2017-flyer.pdf

Re: XRootD 4.6.0 removed from OSG 3.3.22

On March 11th, OSG Software removed XRootD 4.6.0 from the Yum (RPM) repositories, due to defects in the software. However, the OSG worker node tarballs had already been created with some elements of the XRootD 4.6.0 release. We discovered issues related to the tarball contents last week, and on March 29th, OSG Software rebuilt and re-released the OSG 3.3.22 worker node tarballs to use XRootD 4.5.0 instead.

If you installed OSG worker node tarballs (directly or from OASIS) between March 11th and 29th, you should consider reinstalling them using the latest builds (labeled as version 3.3.22-2).

GOC Service Update - Tuesday, April 11th at 14:00 UTC

The GOC will upgrade the following services beginning Tuesday, April 11th at 14:00 UTC. The GOC reserves 8 hours in the unlikely event unexpected problems are encountered.

MyOSG
- Modify some links associated with BDII and GratiaWeb

Jira Update
- Upgrade Jira to 7.3.1, and underlying OS to RHEL 7

Ticket Security Notification changes
- Update certain options on the security ticket creation form per https://jira.opensciencegrid.org/browse/TICKET-129

Travel Support Available for PEARC17 Student Contributors

PEARC17, Practice & Experience in Advanced Research Computing 2017, is now offering financial support opportunities for students with submissions to the main conference program—thanks to support from XSEDE, the San Diego Supercomputer Center, and through the fundraising efforts of STEM-Trek and Virginia Tech. The deadline to apply is May 25, 2017.

Funding is available to cover costs of airfare, shared lodging, and registration fees. Due to funding constraints, participation in the PEARC17 Student Program is limited to students at U.S. and Canadian institutions, and partial support is requested from the student’s institution.

To receive travel support for the PEARC17 Student Program, students need to  APPLY HERE no later than May 25, and are required to participate in all student activities, including the volunteer program. Student authors will be notified of accepted papers by mid-April and accepted posters by mid-May.

Learn more about the PEARC17 Student Program and participation opportunities here  http://pearc17.pearc.org/student-program.

ABOUT PEARC17

PEARC17—Practice & Experience in Advanced Research Computing 2017 - unites the high-performance computing and advanced digital research communities, addressing the challenges of using and operating advanced research computing within academic and open science communities. Being held in New Orleans July 9-13, PEARC17 offers a robust technical program, as well as networking, professional growth and multiple student participation opportunities. See pearc17.pearc.org for more information.

Announcing VO Package Update

We are pleased to announce a data release for the OSG Software Stack.
Data releases do not contain any software changes.

This release contains VO Package v72:
- Added VOMS server to OSG VO: voms.grid.iu.edu
- Removed CSIU, NYSGRID, and OSGEDU VOs

Release notes and pointers to more documentation can be found at:

https://www.opensciencegrid.org/bin/view/Documentation/Release3/Release33222

Need help? Let us know:

https://www.opensciencegrid.org/bin/view/Documentation/Release3/HelpProcedure

We welcome feedback on this release!

Be a mentor at PEARC17 and make a difference!

Make a difference in the lives of next-generation scientists and science leaders at PEARC17—Practice & Experience in Advanced Research Computing 2017 in New Orleans, July 9-13. As a mentor, you will give students the opportunity to learn from your expertise as they explore a variety of related issues, such as differing specialties, postgraduate training, and work/life balance; plus enjoy Monday’s complimentary student-mentor dinner. Many mentorships turn into lifetime friendships and have countless benefits.  

Check "I want to be a mentor" when you register for the PEARC17 conference, which will take place in New Orleans, July 9-13. The conference is open to professionals and students in advanced research computing. Registration for the conference and hotel are now open.


ABOUT PEARC17

Practice & Experience in Advanced Research Computing 2017—unites the high-performance computing and advanced digital research communities, addressing the challenges of using and operating advanced research computing within academic and open science communities. Being held in New Orleans July 9-13, PEARC17 offers a robust technical program, as well as networking, professional growth and multiple student participation opportunities. See pearc17.pearc.org for more information, and follow us PEARC on Twitter at (PEARC_17) and on Facebook (PEARChpc).

Center for Network and Storage-Enabled Collaborative Computational Science Symposium

Dear Colleagues,

Please join us May 18-19 in Ann Arbor for the first symposium of the Center for Network and Storage-Enabled Collaborative Computational Science (CNSECCS).

The symposium is intended to bring together scientists, researchers and infrastructure specialists to share experiences and best practices, and to discuss both challenges and possible solutions that enable scientists to work together on “big, distributed or diverse data”.

Speakers will come from a wide range of research domains, as well as federal funding agencies:

  * Amy Friedlander, Deputy Division Director, Division of Advanced Cyberinfrastructure (CISE/ACI), National Science Foundation.
  * Richard Carlson, Program Officer, Advanced Scientific Computing Research (ASCR), Department of Energy
  * Nina Silverberg, Program Director, Alzheimer's Disease Centers program, Division of Neuroscience, National Institutes of Health

We are also accepting abstracts from potential presenters through the beginning of April.

For more information and to register, visit:
http://micde.umich.edu/centers/cnseccs/2017-symposium/

For more about the center, see:
http://micde.umich.edu/centers/cnseccs/

And for any questions, please email
micde-contact@umich.edu.

We hope to see you there!

Best regards,

Shawn McKee, Director, CNSECCS

XRootD 4.6.0 removed from OSG 3.3.22

XRootD 4.6.0 was pulled from the OSG repositories. The OSG repositories still contain XRootD 4.5.0.
XRootD 4.6.0 was in the OSG repositories from Tuesday, March 11th until Friday, March 17th.

End users encountered XRootD failures when using GSI authentication.
The problems have been traced to a defect in the CRL verification code.
XRootD running in a server mode will likely experience problems,
since reading the served file usually requires authentication.
XRootD running in the manager mode may not experience any difficulties,
since the redirector typically does not do authentication.

To check if you have the affected components installed, run
`rpm -qa | grep xrootd` to display the versions of your xrootd packages.
If any of them are version 4.6.0, run `yum downgrade <package>` on those
packages.

We are awaiting the 4.6.1 XRootD release which corrects these issues.
We will test and release it next available OSG release.

We apologize for any inconvenience. Our release testing did not catch
this problem. We are augmenting our release processes to catch this
specific problem as well as similar issues that may come up in other
packages.

GOC Service Update - Tuesday, March 28th at 14:00 UTC

The GOC will upgrade the following services beginning Tuesday, March 28th at 14:00 UTC. The GOC reserves 8 hours in the unlikely event unexpected problems are encountered.

Condor Collectors
- Update HTCondor View

Data
- Update internal database servers data1 and data 2

Repo
- Rebuild production instances at RHEL6

Web Services
- Apply standard software updates

All services
- Operating system updates; reboots will be required. The usual HA mechanisms will be used, but some services will experience brief outages.

OSG BDII Decommissioning

OSG Collaborators,

As has been previously announced, OSG Operations and Technology are planning the retirement of the BDII information service located at is.grid.iu.edu on March 31st, 2017. As of that date, the SLA for the BDII will expire. In addition to this, on April 4th, at 9:00 US Eastern time, Operations will power off both instances of the BDII.

This is the final announcement regarding the decommissioning of this service.

Announcing OSG Software version 3.3.22

We are pleased to announce OSG Software version 3.3.22.

Changes to OSG 3.3.22 include:
- HTCondor: Patched to avoid Job Router crash when submit requirements fail
- New default configuration: GUMS uses proper TLS version(s) with VOMS admin
- BLAHP 1.18.29: Better Slurm integration, fixed problem with proxy refresh
- HTCondor-CE 2.1.4: Respect 'RequestCpus', Added JSON attributes for AGIS
- Gratia probe 1.17.4: Now picks up 'RequestCpus' with HTCondor-CE
- Update to CVMFS 2.3.3
- Update to GlideinWMS 3.2.18
- Update to XRootD 4.6.0
- HDFS: GridFTP prints proper error message when HDFS quota is exhausted
- VOMS 2.0.14-1.3: Now validates top-level group of proxy

Changes to the Upcoming Repository include:
- HTCondor 8.6.1: New stable series of HTCondor in Upcoming
- Update to frontier-squid 3.5.24

Release notes and pointers to more documentation can be found at:

https://www.opensciencegrid.org/bin/view/Documentation/Release3/Release3322

Need help? Let us know:

https://www.opensciencegrid.org/bin/view/Documentation/Release3/HelpProcedure

We welcome feedback on this release!

PEARC17 paper submission deadline extended to March 13

PEARC17 to be held July 9-13, 2017, in New Orleans, Louisiana

The technical paper submission (Technology; Software & Data; Workforce, Diversity, and Evaluation; and Accelerating Discovery)  deadline for the inaugural PEARC Conference has been extended one week to March 13, 2017. Technical papers must be submitted through the PEARC17 EasyChair site at https://easychair.org/my/conference.cgi?conf=pearc17.

The full PEARC17 Call for Participation contains details about each of the four technical tracks of papers. The technical track paper submissions may be full papers (strongly preferred) or extended abstracts.

PEARC17, which will take place in New Orleans, July 9-13, 2017, is open to professionals and students in advanced research computing. Registration for the conference and the hotel are now open. Poster, Visualization Showcase and Birds-of-a-Feather submissions are due by May 1. Opportunities for student travel support to the conference are available via the PEARC17 Student Program.

The PEARC (Practice & Experience in Advanced Research Computing) conference series is being ushered in with support from many organizations and will build upon earlier conferences’ success and core audiences to serve the broader community. Organizations supporting the new conference include XSEDE, the Advancing Research Computing on Campuses: Best Practices Workshop (ARCC), the Science Gateways Community Institute (SGCI), the Campus Research Computing Consortium (CaRC), the ACI-REF consortium, the Blue Waters project, ESnet, Open Science Grid, Compute Canada, the EGI Foundation, the Coalition for Academic Scientific Computation (CASC), and Internet2.

Follow PEARC on Twitter (PEARC_17) and on Facebook (PEARChpc).

PEARC17—Practice & Experience in Advanced Research Computing 2017—is building on the successful XSEDE conference series and expanding its scope to include everyone engaged with the challenges of using and operating advanced research computing on campuses or for the academic and open science communities. Being held in New Orleans July 9-13, PEARC17 offers a robust technical program, as well as networking, professional growth and multiple student participation opportunities. See pearc17.pearc.org for details.

Announcing OSG CA Certificate and VO Package Updates

Please announce this release at your earliest convenience.

We are pleased to announce a data release for the OSG Software Stack.
Data releases do not contain any software changes.

This release contains updated CA Certificates based on IGTF 1.81:
- Added accredited DarkMatter classic QV-intermediate ICAs (AE)
including QuoVadis Root CA 2 G3 and Root CA 3 G3 higher level CAs (BM)
- Updated contact information for EUN EG-GRID CA (EG)
- Withdrawn classic UKeScienceCA-2A in advance of repurposing (UK)

This release also contains VO Package v71:
- Removed INFN CDF VOMS servers

Release notes and pointers to more documentation can be found at:

https://www.opensciencegrid.org/bin/view/Documentation/Release3/Release33213

Need help? Let us know:

https://www.opensciencegrid.org/bin/view/Documentation/Release3/HelpProcedure

We welcome feedback on this release!

First major PEARC17 Conference call-for-participation deadline approaching

First major PEARC17 Conference call-for-participation deadline approaching
 
Technical papers and tutorials proposals for the inaugural PEARC conference for advanced research computing due March 6
 
The first major call-for-participation deadline for the inaugural PEARC Conference is March 6, 2017. PEARC17, which will take place in New Orleans, July 9-13, 2017, is open to professionals and students in advanced research computing. Technical papers and tutorials submissions are due by March 6 and must be submitted through EasyChair, which can be found on the PEARC17 Call for Participation webpage here.

The official Call for Participation contains details about each of the four technical tracks of papers, and tutorials. The technical track paper submissions may be full papers (strongly preferred) or extended abstracts. External Program and Workshop proposals are due March 31 and Poster, Visualization Showcase and Birds-of-a-Feather submissions are due May 1.

The PEARC (Practice & Experience in Advanced Research Computing) conference series is being ushered in with support from many organizations and will build upon earlier conferences’ success and core audiences to serve the broader community. In addition to XSEDE, organizations supporting the new conference include the Advancing Research Computing on Campuses: Best Practices Workshop (ARCC), the Science Gateways Community Institute (SGCI), the Campus Research Computing Consortium (CaRC), the ACI-REF consortium, the Blue Waters project, ESnet, Open Science Grid, Compute Canada, the EGI Foundation, the Coalition for Academic Scientific Computation (CASC), and Internet2.

Follow PEARC on Twitter (PEARC_17) and on Facebook (PEARChpc).

GOC Service Update - Tuesday, February 28th at 14:00

The GOC will upgrade the following services beginning Tuesday, 28/Feb at 14:00 UTC. The GOC reserves 8 hours in the unlikely event unexpected problems are encountered.

Data

* Update internal database servers data1 and data 2

Reports

* Upgrade production report generator to CentOS 6.8

VOMS

* Upgrade production instance to CentOS 6.8
* Take over operation of OSG VO voms from FNAL

Twiki

* Back up configuration changes

Web Services

* Basic updates and patches to OSG web presence.

All Services

* Operating system updates; reboots will be required. The usual HA mechanisms will be used, but some services will experience brief outages.

Announcing OSG CA Certificate Update

We are pleased to announce a data release for the OSG Software Stack.
Data releases do not contain any software changes.

This release contains updated CA Certificates based on IGTF 1.80:
- Discontinued BEGrid2008 (BELNET) classic authority (BE)

Release notes and pointers to more documentation can be found at:

https://www.opensciencegrid.org/bin/view/Documentation/Release3/Release33212

Need help? Let us know:

https://www.opensciencegrid.org/bin/view/Documentation/Release3/HelpProcedure

We welcome feedback on this release!

Announcing OSG Software version 3.3.21

We are pleased to announce OSG Software version 3.3.21.

Changes to OSG 3.3.21 include:
- osg-configure 1.6.1: Additional support for ATLAS AGIS
- GlideinWMS 3.2.17: See Release Notes
- Important bug fixes for CVMFS server
- HTCondor 8.4.11: Final bug fix release of the 8.4 series
- HTCondor-CE 2.1.2: Avoid crash by being more liberal in what we accept
- Added 2 scripts to manage VO and CA certificates in tarball installations

Changes to the Upcoming Repository include:
- Singularity 2.2.1: Moderate Severity security update

Release notes and pointers to more documentation can be found at:

https://www.opensciencegrid.org/bin/view/Documentation/Release3/Release3321

Need help? Let us know:

https://www.opensciencegrid.org/bin/view/Documentation/Release3/HelpProcedure

We welcome feedback on this release!

GOC Service Update - Tuesday, February 14th at 14:00 UTC

The GOC will upgrade the following services beginning Tuesday, February 14th at 14:00 UTC. The GOC reserves 8 hours in the unlikely event unexpected problems are encountered.

Oasis
- Upgrade oasis and oasis-replica to CenOS 7.3

OIM
- Update to OIM to reject requests for host certs that put the user over quota - https://jira.opensciencegrid.org/browse/SOFTWARE-2472
- OIM 3.68

Event
- SSL/TLS integration for RabbitMQ instance

Reports
- Upgrade production report generator to CentOS 6.8

VOMS
- Upgrade production instance to CentOS 6.8
- Take over operation of OSG VO voms from FNAL

XSEDE Ticket Exchange

Colleagues,

The OSG Operations ticketing interface is now able to exchange tickets with the XSEDE ticketing interface.  This means that if you are having issues with XSEDE or need support from the XSEDE operators, you can open a ticket with us (https://ticket.opensciencegrid.org) and let us know that the ticket needs to go to XSEDE.  Once we have this information we can send the ticket to XSEDE and they will be able to work in their ticket environment while you continue to work in the OSG environment.  

This should help everyone on both sides in their support workflows.  Please let us know if you have any questions.

Announcing OSG CA Certificate and VO Package Updates

We are pleased to announce a data release for the OSG Software Stack.
Data releases do not contain any software changes.

This release contains updated CA Certificates based on IGTF 1.79:
- Updated UNLPGrid CA with extended validity period (AR)
- Fixed regular expressions in CILogon and NCSA CA namespaces files (US)
- Included rollover CA IRAN-GRID-CGC-G2 (IR)
- Corrected an incorrect line in selected info files for DigiCert (US)
- Discontinued expiring NECTEC CA (TH)

This release also contains VO Package v70:
- Deleted MCDRD VO

Release notes and pointers to more documentation can be found at:

https://www.opensciencegrid.org/bin/view/Documentation/Release3/Release33202

Need help? Let us know:

https://www.opensciencegrid.org/bin/view/Documentation/Release3/HelpProcedure

We welcome feedback on this release!

Reminder: OSG All-Hands Meeting Registration is now open! Registration Closes Feb 19!

REMINDER: Registration closes in just 25 days!

OSG All Hands Meeting 2017 - San Diego Supercomputer Center - University
of California San Diego

Registration for the All-Hands Meeting of the Open Science Grid hosted by
the San Diego Supercomputer Center (http://www.sdsc.edu/), March 6-9,
2017, La Jolla, CA

Topics to be discussed will include:

* Cyberinfrastructure partnerships: university research computing
HPC centers, XSEDE XD providers, DOE laboratories, NSF Large Facility
computing organizations and commercial cloud providers. Technologies,
strategies, ideas, and discussions on how OSG can foster partnerships
across the widest possible range of CI.

* How high throughput computing accelerates research, and how OSG can help
users scale up.

* Usability challenges and solutions for distributed high throughput
computing applications.

* Connecting virtual organizations, campus researchers and XSEDE users to
the OSG: command line, science gateways, and workflow frameworks.

* Training and education workshops.

* Serving more of the "long tail" of science with high throughput parallel
computing: incorporating multi-core, GPU and virtual cluster resources
into science workflows using shared and allocated distributed
infrastructure.

* Advanced network analytics services for national Science DMZ
infrastructure.

As has been the custom, the 2017 OSG AHM will be co-located with the U.S.
Large Hadron Collider (LHC at CERN) computing facility meetings.

Logistical information, registration and agenda are available at
https://www.opensciencegrid.org/AHM2017 (This will redirect to the
eiseverywhere.com domain.)

If you have any questions, please see the contact page on the above link
for who to email.

We look forward to seeing you in March!

2017 Open Science Grid All-Hands Meeting Registration Now Open!

OSG All Hands Meeting 2017 - San Diego Supercomputer Center - University
of California San Diego

Registration for the All-Hands Meeting of the Open Science Grid hosted by
the San Diego Supercomputer Center (http://www.sdsc.edu/), March 6-9,
2017, La Jolla, CA

Topics to be discussed will include:

* Cyberinfrastructure partnerships: university research computing
HPC centers, XSEDE XD providers, DOE laboratories, NSF Large Facility
computing organizations and commercial cloud providers. Technologies,
strategies, ideas, and discussions on how OSG can foster partnerships
across the widest possible range of CI.

* How high throughput computing accelerates research, and how OSG can help
users scale up.

* Usability challenges and solutions for distributed high throughput
computing applications.

* Connecting virtual organizations, campus researchers and XSEDE users to
the OSG: command line, science gateways, and workflow frameworks.

* Training and education workshops.

* Serving more of the "long tail" of science with high throughput parallel
computing: incorporating multi-core, GPU and virtual cluster resources
into science workflows using shared and allocated distributed
infrastructure.

* Advanced network analytics services for national Science DMZ
infrastructure.

As has been the custom, the 2017 OSG AHM will be co-located with the U.S.
Large Hadron Collider (LHC at CERN) computing facility meetings.

Logistical information, registration and agenda are available at
https://www.opensciencegrid.org/AHM2017 (This will redirect to the
eiseverywhere.com domain.)

GOC Service Update - Tuesday, January 24th at 14:00 UTC

The GOC will upgrade the following services beginning Tuesday, January 24th at 14:00 UTC. The GOC reserves 8 hours in the unlikely event unexpected problems are encountered.

OASIS

* Update cvmfs packages on oasis and oasis-replica to the latest version

* Update frontier-squid on oasis-replica to the latest version

* Enable garbage collection on oasis-replica for the osgstorage.org repositories

* Remove requirement in the oasis-replica install process that external repository servers are responding

Web Services

* Update all software packages associated with OSG Web Pages.

All Services

* Operating system updates; reboots will be required. The usual HA mechanisms will be used, but some services will experience brief outages.

Announcing OSG Software version 3.3.20

We are pleased to announce OSG Software version 3.3.20.

Changes to OSG 3.3.20 include:
- HTCondor 8.4.10*: Running in SELinux should work now, other bug fixes
- gratia-probe 1.17.2: Improved ability to report local jobs to OSG or not
- Updated to XRootD 4.5.0
- Updated gridftp-hdfs to enable ordered data
- osg-configure 1.5.4: Further updates to support ATLAS AGIS
- Ensure HTCondor-CE gratia probe is installed when installing osg-ce-bosco
- Updated to VOMS 2.0.14
- Completed conversion of packages to use systemd-tmpfiles on EL 7

Changes to the Upcoming Repository include:
- Updated to HTCondor 8.5.8*
- Added Singularity (version 2.2) as a new, preview technology
- Updated to frontier-squid 3.5.23-3.1, a technology preview of version 3

*NOTE: When updating or installing HTCondor on an EL 7 system with SELinux
enabled, make sure that policycoreutils-python is installed before HTCondor.
This dependency will be properly declared in the HTCondor RPM in the next
release.

Release notes and pointers to more documentation can be found at:

https://www.opensciencegrid.org/bin/view/Documentation/Release3/Release3320

Need help? Let us know:

https://www.opensciencegrid.org/bin/view/Documentation/Release3/HelpProcedure

We welcome feedback on this release!

Emergency Service Downtime for OSG Connect, CI Connect, and Stash Data Services

OSG Connect, CI Connect and Stash data services will be in an emergency downtime today due to a data center issue.  Apologies for the inconvenience.

Sincerely,
The OSG User Support Team

GOC Service Update - Tuesday, January 10th at 14:00 UTC

The GOC will upgrade the following services beginning Tuesday, January 10th at 14:00 UTC. The GOC reserves 8 hours in the unlikely event unexpected problems are encountered.

OIM
Fixing a bug with displaying CILogon as the cert signer

OASIS
Add space to the data filesystem
Add an extra disk volume to the oasis machine in preparation for upgrade to el7
Update cvmfs packages on oasis and oasis-replica to the latest version
Update frontier-squid on oasis-replica to the latest version
Enable garbage collection on oasis-replica for the osgstorage.org repositories
Change the ligo.osgstorage.org configuration to not require lsb_release