Merge pull request #332 from boegel/blog_eurohpc_user_day_2024

add blog post on EuroHPC User Day 2024
EESSI · Oct 25, 2024 · a847361 · a847361
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diff --git a/docs/blog/.authors.yml b/docs/blog/.authors.yml
@@ -34,3 +34,18 @@ authors:
     description: CIT - University of Groningen
     avatar: https://avatars.githubusercontent.com/u/10762799?v=4
     slug: https://github.com/Neves-P
+  trz42:
+    name: Thomas Röblitz
+    description: University of Bergen
+    avatar: https://avatars.githubusercontent.com/u/12829274?v=4
+    slug: https://github.com/trz42
+  bedroge:
+    name: Bob Dröge
+    description: University of Groningen
+    avatar: https://avatars.githubusercontent.com/u/11991359?v=4
+    slug: https://github.com/bedroge
+  TopRichard:
+    name: Richard Topouchian
+    description: University of Bergen
+    avatar: https://avatars.githubusercontent.com/u/121792457?v=4
+    slug: https://github.com/TopRichard
diff --git a/docs/blog/posts/2024/10/EuroHPC-User-Day-2024-20241022-MultiXscale-EESSI.pdf b/docs/blog/posts/2024/10/EuroHPC-User-Day-2024-20241022-MultiXscale-EESSI.pdf
diff --git a/docs/blog/posts/2024/10/EuroHPC-User-Day-thank-you.png b/docs/blog/posts/2024/10/EuroHPC-User-Day-thank-you.png
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diff --git a/docs/blog/posts/2024/10/MultiXscale-talk.jpg b/docs/blog/posts/2024/10/MultiXscale-talk.jpg
diff --git a/docs/blog/posts/2024/10/RPi-winner.jpg b/docs/blog/posts/2024/10/RPi-winner.jpg
diff --git a/docs/blog/posts/2024/10/Snellius-selfie.jpg b/docs/blog/posts/2024/10/Snellius-selfie.jpg
diff --git a/docs/blog/posts/2024/10/Vega-talk.jpg b/docs/blog/posts/2024/10/Vega-talk.jpg
diff --git a/docs/blog/posts/2024/10/eurohpc_user_day.md b/docs/blog/posts/2024/10/eurohpc_user_day.md
@@ -0,0 +1,154 @@
+---
+authors: [boegel, laraPPr, casparvl, satishskamath, trz42, TopRichard, bedroge, Neves-P]
+date: 2024-10-25
+slug: eurohpc_user_day_2024
+---
+
+# EuroHPC User Day (22-23 Oct 2024, Amsterdam)
+
+<figure markdown="span">
+![EuroHPC User Day 2024](eurohpc_user_day_2024.png){width=30%}
+</figure>
+
+We had a great time at the [EuroHPC User Day 2024 in Amsterdam](https://eurohpc-ju.europa.eu/news-events/events/eurohpc-user-day-2024-2024-10-22_en) earlier this week.
+
+Both [MultiXscale](https://multixscale.eu) and [EESSI](https://eessi.io) were strongly represented,
+and the work we have been doing was clearly being appreciated.
+
+<!-- more -->
+---
+
+## Visit to SURF & Snellius at Amsterdam Science Park
+
+Most of us arrived in the afternoon the day before the event,
+which gave us the chance to visit [SURF](https://www.surf.nl/en) on-site.
+
+We had a short meeting there with the local team about how we could leverage [Snellius](https://www.surf.nl/en/services/snellius-the-national-supercomputer),
+the Dutch national supercomputer, for building and testing software installations for EESSI.
+
+<figure markdown="span">
+![Selfie in front of Snellius at SURF](Snellius-selfie.jpg){width=70%}
+</figure>
+
+We also got to visit the commercial datacenter at the [Amsterdam Science Park](https://www.amsterdamsciencepark.nl)
+(which will soon also host a [European quantum computer](https://www.amsterdamsciencepark.nl/news/surf-to-host-european-quantum-computer-at-amsterdam-science-park/)!)
+and see Snellius up close, where we took a nice selfie.
+
+
+## Presentation on MultiXscale and EESSI
+
+After the very interesting [first EuroHPC User Day](https://eurohpc-ju.europa.eu/news-events/events/eurohpc-user-day-2023-12-11_en) in Brussels in December 2023,
+where MultiXscale and EESSI were [mentioned as "being well-aligned with the vision of EuroHPC JU"](https://twitter.com/kehoste/status/1734169825750966726),
+we wanted to have a stronger presence at the second EuroHPC User Day in Amsterdam.
+
+We submitted a paper entitled *"Portable test run of ESPResSo on EuroHPC systems via EESSI"*
+which was based on an [earlier blog post we did in June 2024](../06/espresso-portable-test-run.md).
+Our submission was accepted, and hence the paper will be included in the upcoming proceedings of the 2nd EuroHPC User Day.
+
+As a result, we were invited to present MultiXscale and more specifically
+the EESSI side of the project during one of the parallel sessions: *HPC ecosystem tools*.
+The slides of this presentation are available [here](EuroHPC-User-Day-2024-20241022-MultiXscale-EESSI.pdf).
+
+<figure markdown="span">
+![MultiXscale talk during parallel session at EuroHPC User Day](MultiXscale-talk.jpg){width=70%}
+</figure>
+
+During the Q&A after our talk various attendees asked interesting questions about specific aspects of EESSI,
+including:
+
+* Where are both the central and mirror servers of EESSI hosted? (answer: currently at the University of Groningen,
+and in AWS & Azure, respectively, but they can be easily relocated if there is a reason to);
+* Are customized builds of software possible on top of EESSI? (answer: yes, see also [here](../../../../using_eessi/building_on_eessi.md));
+* What are the challenges with supporting NVIDIA GPUs? (answer: see [here](../../../../site_specific_config/gpu.md)).
+
+Some attendees also provided some nice feedback on their initial experience with EESSI:
+
+!!! quote "Quote by one of the attendees of the MultiXscale talk"
+
+    It's very easy to install and configure CernVM-FS to provide access to EESSI
+    based on the [available documentation](../../../../getting_access/native_installation.md).
+
+    Any sysadmin can do it: it took me half a day, and that was mostly due to my own stupidity.
+
+
+## Mentioning of MultiXscale and EESSI by other speakers
+
+It was remarkable and satisfying to see that MultiXscale and EESSI were being mentioned several times through the event,
+often by people and organisations who are not actively involved with either project.
+Clearly the word is starting to spread on the work we are doing!
+
+Valeriu Codreanu (head of High-Performance Computing and Visualization at SURF) had some nice comments
+to share during his opening statement of the event about their involvement in MultiXscale and EESSI,
+and why a well-designed shared stack of optimized software installations is really necessary.
+
+When an attendee of one of the plenary sessions raised a question on a lack of a uniform software stack across EuroHPC systems,
+Lilit Axner (Programme Manager Infrastructure at EuroHPC JU) answered that a federated platform for EuroHPC systems is currently in the works,
+and that more news will be shared soon on this.
+
+<figure markdown="span">
+![System overview of Vega being presented](Vega-talk.jpg){width=70%}
+</figure>
+
+In the short presentation on the [EuroHPC JU system Vega](https://izum.si/en/vega-en) we got explicitly mentioned again,
+alongside [CernVM-FS](https://cernvm.cern.ch/fs/) and [EasyBuild](https://easybuild.io) which are both used in the EESSI
+project.
+
+
+
+## Live demo of EESSI at walk-in networking session
+
+On Wednesday, the MultiXscale project was part of the walk-in networking session *Application Support, Training and Skills*.
+
+<figure markdown="span">
+![MultiXscale booth at EuroHPC User Day](MultiXscale-booth-1.jpg){width=70%}
+</figure>
+
+During this session we were running a live demonstration of a small
+[Plane Poiseuille flow](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hagen%E2%80%93Poiseuille_equation#Plane_Poiseuille_flow)
+simulation with [ESPResSo](https://github.com/espressomd/espresso).
+
+The software was being provided via EESSI, and we were running the simulation on various hardware platforms,
+including:
+
+* An on-site cluster consisting of 4 Arm-based Raspberry Pi 3B+ boards;
+* A RISC-V StarFive VisionFive 2 SBC;
+* An Arm A64FX node of the EuroHPC system [Deucalion](https://rnca.fccn.pt/en/deucalion/);
+* An A100 GPU in the EuroHPC system [Vega](https://izum.si/en/vega-en);
+
+<figure markdown="span">
+![MultiXscale booth at EuroHPC User Day](MultiXscale-booth-2.jpg){width=70%}
+</figure>
+
+Attendees could participate in a contest to win a Raspberry Pi 5 starter kit
+by filling out a form and answering a couple of questions related to MultiXscale.
+
+At the end of the session we did a random draw among the participants who answered the questions correctly,
+and Giorgos Kosta (CaSToRC - The Cyprus Institute) came out as the lucky winner!
+
+<figure markdown="span">
+![EuroHPC User Forum being presented](RPi-winner.jpg){width=40%}
+</figure>
+
+
+## EuroHPC User Forum
+
+Last but not least, the [EuroHPC User Forum](https://eurohpc-ju.europa.eu/user-forum-coordination-group-strengthen-ties-between-eurohpc-users-officially-established-2024-10-23_en)
+was being presented during a plenary session.
+
+Attendees were invited to connect with the EuroHPC User Forum representatives and each other
+via the dedicated Slack that has been created for it.
+
+![EuroHPC User Forum being presented](user-forum-1.png){width=48%}
+![EuroHPC User Forum being presented](user-forum-2.png){width=48%}
+
+Lara Peeters, who is also active in [MultiXscale EuroHPC Centre-of-Excellence](https://multixscale.eu),
+is part of the EuroHPC User Forum, representing Digital Humanities.
+
+
+## EuroHPC User Day 2025 in Denmark
+
+We are already looking forward to engaging with the EuroHPC user community next year in Denmark!
+
+<figure markdown="span">
+![EuroHPC User Day closing](EuroHPC-User-Day-thank-you.png){width=70%}
+</figure>
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