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# System prepended metadata

title: EESSI/Azure/SURF sync meeting 20210917

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# EESSI/Azure/SURF sync meeting 20210917

## Agenda

- EESSI status: funding
  - Hoping to hear back from the NeIC proposal soon.
- easy communication via `#azure-resources-mgmt` in EESSI Slack
- current status on adminstrative setup [Martin]
  - Some issues setting up the subscriptions but they are resolved now
    - Took longer than expected
    - 2 in place, one for Research Cloud (small), one for EESSI
  - 25K budget for now
    - Alarms in place if we get close to this, can be updated
    - Current spend is 20euro but expect this to grow rapidly
  - API key access? [Terje, Bob]
    - Will look into this
    - Some [notes on this in Magic Castle](https://github.com/ComputeCanada/magic_castle/blob/main/docs/terraform_cloud.md#azure)
- CernVM-FS Stratum 1 for EESSI in Azure (us-east1) [Bob]
    - Quite small VM, large disk
    - Not using a lot of credits
    - Running in region us-east1, as we already have some European Stratum 1 servers
- access to AMD Milan instances? [Kenneth]
  - Not available on AWS (AFAIK)
  - Just access to one node for build purposes
  - Will need to check what number of cores we can access (curreurrent had limit of 200 cores per VM type)
- no costs for egress traffic? [Henk-Jan]
    - Important for the Stratum 1, which will/can generate quite a lot of outgoing traffic to the EESSI clients
    - *(details regarding SURFcumulus contract omitted from public notes)*
- leveraging Azure sources in GitHub Actions for EESSI [Alan]
  - Would like to do testing of EESSI software inside GitHub Actions
    - Use case is not just by EESSI itself
    - Have created an EESSI GitHub Action that makes EESSI available for CI workflows in GitHub Actions
      - Might get some heavy traffic if it got popular
      - Could limit the action to only listen to the network inside GitHub Actions
    - Can potentially use something like CloudFlare in front of an S3 bucket
  - Also create our own GitHub Action runners for EESSI
  
- legal point on possible limitations of the usage of the current accounts [Ivar]
  - Are there potential problems with the SURF contract since there are non-Dutch collaborators?
  - Julian: No major concern given the size of the subscription relative to the SURF contract, and the fact that it is for testing and not production.
  - Ivar: When will EESSI be in production?
    - We can't commit to anything there until we have funding
- What's next?
  - Keep chugging along
  - Will raise questions as they arise

## Attendees

- Alan O'Cais (JSC)
- Bob Dröge (Univ. of Groningen)
- Carsten Schelp (SURF)
- Julian Kreuk (Azure)
- Kenneth Hoste (Ghent University)
- Laura Redfern (Microsoft)
- Martin Brandt (SURF)
- Ivar Janmaat (SURF, team lead Research Cloud)
- Hugo Meiland (Azure)
- Davide Vanzo (Azure)
- Ahmad Hesam (SURF Research Cloud)

