While containerization revolutionized the delivery and execution of software, it introduces new challenges as the usual practice with one big software file-system with a subsequent module load to rule all environments is not feasable with containers.
The talk introduces the 'HPC Container Conformance' Project which aims to provide guidance on how to build container images and how to annotate them so that end-users and system admins can integrate them in their workflows.
The talk also introduces the MetaHub Registry, an OCI compliant container registry to serve environment/hardware specific images and reduce overall complexity of herding all the container images. By using profiles when logging in MetaHub is aware of the context the image is going to be executed and picks the right image from previously pushed/configured container images. Centralising the logic of picking the right software variant (module load) within the registry enables a series of enhancements to the user experience and a reduction in complexity which allows users and admins to focus on their science.
Speakers: Christian Kniep