A Web-based graphical interface for general-purpose high-performance computing clusters

In this paper we present our work on the development of a Web-based graphical interface for users to remotely log into high-performance computing clusters. We show that the conventional thin-client Web technology has limitations for applications with complex user interface requirements and the rich-client technology such as the Curl is the preferred technology for our graphical interface development. The Curl technology takes the advantage of the processing power of clients to transfer some of the server's jobs to the client. Therefore, it can significantly ease the processing burden on the server and reduce the network traffic. More importantly, adopting the Curl technology we are able to establish a system which can provide just-in-time service delivery to remote users.