Versions Compared

Key

  • This line was added.
  • This line was removed.
  • Formatting was changed.

...

  1. Introduce researchers of all stripes to the C3 AI Suite.
  2. Help researchers determine what level of training they will need to leverage C3.ai's resources.
  3. Point researchers directly to relevant documentation they will need.
  4. Provide worked examples of different research workflows, and how they may be ported into the C3.ai environment , or may use C3.ai's resources.

If you have questions not covered by this guide, please contact the DTI team at the email help@c3dti.ai .

Introduction to the C3 AI Suite

The C3 AI Suite is a data analytics engine designed to make the ingestion and analysis of heterogeneous data sources as painless as possible. The C3 AI Suite joins data from multiple sources into a single unified federated data image. With the federated data image defined, C3 .ai AI then provides an API to access that data and, and in the case of time-series data, perform numerous transformations and computations, all producing normalized time-series data at regular intervals.

If you want more background on the C3 AI Suite, there is a one-hour C3.ai DTI webinar describing its capabilities here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cYoU1CTw8K8its capabilities here.

C3 .ai AI also supports R and Python Jupyter notebook analysis of the federated data image. These notebooks provide a great way for researchers to analyze data close to where the data is stored. While C3 .ai AI supports many data science capabilities familiar to the researcherresearchers, some expected functionality may be missing. For these cases, C3 .ai AI supports implementing new data processing functions in Python and JavaScript.

Like any other API, porting your own workflows will take some care and time to learn properly. Please leverage this guide to make understanding the C3 AI Suite and porting your workflow as quick and easy as possible.

Services available from C3

...

AI

How does C3

...

AI differ from traditional HPC systems?

  • Traditional HPC systems are similar to Hardware as a Service (HaaS), while C3 .ai AI is more like a Platform as a Service (PaaS). Users are encouraged to work within the platform's API to achieve the best performance out of the C3 AI Suite.ai.
  • C3 .ai AI offers a state-of-the-art data integration system as the basis for all Data Science operations. This is in contrast to HPC systems where all components of data management and the analysis pipeline must be installed and managed independently.

What types of software can be run on C3

...

AI?

  • Nearly any Python module may be installed and used through pip or conda.
  • Nearly any R package may be installed and used within the R juptyer Jupyter environment.

What types of software cannot be run on C3

...

AI?

  • General binary executables are not supported by C3 .ai AI out of the box.
  • MPI-based Python software.
  • Packages which must be built from scratch on the platform , or require specific hardware drivers.
  • Python modules which require special built binaries may not run as well.

...

See this page for a comprehensive list and categorization of the available training materials. This includes C3 .aiAI Documentation, DTI introductions, and DTI created examples and exercises.

...

Use this guide to determine what training you need to utilize C3 .ai resources AI resources effectively. We have identified four categories four levels of usage of the C3 AI Suite. We For each we include basic examples of workflows which might fall into that level, pros and cons of operating on that level, and a list of training resources we recommend resources researchers completing researchers complete on the DTI training environment before starting their C3 .ai AI allocations. This will ensure researchers will be able to use their allocation as efficiently as possible.

Examine the high level overviews of each level below , then click the section titles to go to more in-depth discussions related to that each level, like the recommended training.

...

Level 2: Full C3 AI COVID-19 Data Lake Access

Full access to the Datalake datalake offers access to all stored COVID-19 Datalake data while still allowing the researcher to use whatever analysis framework they so choose with their own compute resources. This level offers the fastest startup time while still ensuring access to all data. Once you learn how to query data in C3, that data can be streamed to your compute resources where you can use your language and tools of choice.

...

Some researchers will want to write their own C3 AI package and leverage more of the C3 AI Suite. C3 AI allows researchers to define their own types and methods to integrate their data into the C3 AI Suite – either independently or alongside the COVID-19 Datalake. This allows researchers to use C3 AI data analytics methods, such as timeseries metrics, just as they would on other Datalake data. Researchers will also have the ability to share their data with other researchers in the DTI by sharing their package. Adding another researcher's package as a dependency to your package will also bring another researcher's data into your package as well.

...

Some researchers will want to bring state-of-the-art ML workflows to C3 .aiAI. C3 .ai AI can support such workflows , but extra work may be needed.

...

As part of the initial C3.ai DTI, C3 AI is curating the Covid-19 Datalake. Follow the link above for more detailed information about this Datalake.

Accessing C3

...

AI

This section introduces the process to access C3 .aiAI resources. Generally speaking, once you receive your grant, the DTI team will reach out and discuss with you what your needs are. The process will be:

  1. Determine which researchers will require access to a C3 AI environment.ai environment
  2. Each researcher will be given a C3 .ai developer portal AI Developer Portal login.
  3. Each research group will be given a tag on the C3.ai DTI training cluster.
  4. Once training is complete, discuss with the DTI team what your needs for a C3 .ai AI cluster will be.
  5. The C3.ai DTI will work with C3 .ai AI to stand up a new tag for your research.
  6. Access to that tag will be granted to your researchers.
  7. Research can then proceed until your allocation is exhausted!

...

In addition to the materials mentioned abovein this guide, the DTI will also hold regular office hours to field any question from researchers, and perform tutorials and demonstrations. Please see the link above for the current schedule.

...

We've recorded videos describing the C3 AI Suite concepts and usage. You can find these videos throughout our documentation. This page is a collation of all the videos in one place.

C3

...

AI Allocation Management (PLANNED)

This section introduces How how researchers will be expected to manage their allocation while on the C3 AI Suite.

...