3D Compute Manager Week 5: Multi-Window Dashboard & Advanced UI
Transforming infrastructure management into a true operational dashboard
Week 5 brings a fundamental shift in how you interact with GPU infrastructure. We've built a custom windowing manager that transforms the 3D Compute Manager from a single-view interface into a comprehensive operational dashboard where you can monitor multiple aspects of your infrastructure simultaneously.
Custom Windowing Manager
Managing enterprise GPU infrastructure means tracking multiple things at once - job status, cluster health, cost metrics, and resource utilization. Traditional interfaces force you to click between different views, losing context each time you switch.
Draggable Information Cards: Every piece of information in the interface - regions, clusters, jobs, nodes - now opens in draggable cards that you can position anywhere on screen.
Pin and Persist: Click the pin button and cards stay exactly where you put them. Open additional information without losing what you're already monitoring.
Multi-Context Monitoring: Pin a job's status card while managing cluster settings. Watch cost metrics while provisioning new resources. Keep health dashboards visible while debugging performance issues.
Real-Time Updates: Pinned cards update live, so you can watch job progress or cost changes while working on other parts of your infrastructure.
Inspired by Complex Strategy Games
The windowing system draws inspiration from games like Banished, where players manage complex systems by having multiple information panels open simultaneously.
Multiple Windows Philosophy: We've moved away from the mobile app paradigm of "one thing at a time" toward desktop-class interfaces that match the complexity of what you're managing.
Large Screen Optimization: When you're managing thousands of GPUs across multiple cloud providers, you need interface density that matches the scale of your responsibilities.
Contextual Awareness: Keep relevant information visible while performing related tasks, reducing cognitive load and improving operational efficiency.
Enhanced Job Management
Improved Creation UI: Job creation now uses a cleaner, more intuitive interface that guides you through the process without overwhelming options.
Status Monitoring: Pin job status cards to track progress in real-time while working on other infrastructure tasks.
Burst Monitoring: When you burst scale a job to additional cloud resources, keep the status card pinned to watch the provisioning and execution process.
Responsive Console Design
Adaptive Layout: The API console automatically repositions itself based on screen size - staying on the right for wide screens, snapping to the bottom for narrower displays.
Real-Time Command Logging: When the console is open, it intercepts and displays every API call generated by your interface interactions.
Hidden vs Visible: The console can be hidden when not needed, then revealed to show the API commands for any actions you've taken.
Future Enhancement: We're considering persistent command logging so you can see API calls even after closing and reopening the console.
Testing at Enterprise Scale
4,000+ GPU Management: We're testing the practical limits of managing individual GPUs through the visual interface, currently running stress tests with over 4,000 nodes.
Performance Boundaries: Understanding where visual management becomes impractical helps us design the right abstractions for massive deployments.
Optimization Requirements: Managing thousands of nodes reveals performance bottlenecks that need addressing before enterprise deployment.
Technical Implementation
Custom Windowing System: Built from scratch using minimal external dependencies - just one lightweight library for drag-and-drop functionality.
Window Behavior: Cards behave like traditional desktop windows - click to focus, drag to move, pin to persist, with proper z-ordering for overlapping panels.
Resize Capability: Cards that display variable content (like graphs) can be resized, while fixed-content cards maintain optimal dimensions.
Memory Efficient: The windowing system adds minimal overhead while providing desktop-class functionality.
Dashboard-First Approach
This update represents a philosophical shift toward treating infrastructure management as an active monitoring and control task rather than a series of discrete operations.
Operational Context: Real infrastructure management requires maintaining awareness of multiple systems simultaneously while making changes to specific components.
Reduced Cognitive Load: Keeping relevant information visible reduces the mental overhead of remembering system state while performing operations.
Professional Interface: The windowing system provides the interface density and flexibility that professional operations teams need.
What's Next
Week 6 will focus on advanced filtering, grouping, and search capabilities for large-scale deployments. When you're managing thousands of nodes, you need sophisticated tools to find, organize, and operate on specific subsets of your infrastructure.
We're also implementing hierarchical views and abstraction layers that let you zoom between individual node management and high-level cluster operations seamlessly.
Strong Compute provides visual GPU infrastructure management across all major cloud providers. Subscribe towords.strongcompute.com for weekly product updates and follow ourYouTube channel for video demos of new features. Try it today: http://cp.strongcompute.ai