[Researchnews] UCR HPC Center Newsletter

[VCREDadmin]

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WEBSITE<https://hpcc.ucr.edu/>  -  SLACK<https://ucr-hpcc.slack.com/>  -  TWITTER<https://twitter.com/ucr_hpcc>  -  GITHUB<https://github.com/ucr-hpcc/ucr-hpcc.github.io.git>
This e-newsletter summarizes recent activities, trends and resource updates of UCR's High-Performance Computing Center (HPCC). The mission of the HPCC is to provide state-of-the-art research computing infrastructure and training accessible to all UCR researchers and affiliates at low cost.

Growth and Expansions
Move to Larger Server Room
To keep up with increasing demands of currently ~150 user groups and ~800 active users, the size of HPCC's clusters and big data storage systems continues to grow rapidly. As a result, the HPCC has now outgrown the capacity of its current server room in the Genomics Building. To solve the current space, electrical power and cooling shortage, most of HPCC's clusters will soon be moved to a much larger server room on campus with sufficient capacity to allow the HPCC to continue to grow at its current or an even higher pace. This move is scheduled to take place in the first half of 2023 after the assigned server room has been largely vacated by ITS and remodeled to accommodate the elevated power and cooling demands of an HPC cluster operation.
Ownership Model
For user groups with very large computing or storage needs (e.g. 24/7/365 access to hundreds of CPUs, dedicated GPUs, or 50-250TB), the HPCC provides cost-effective ownership solutions, where user labs can purchase compatible CPU or GPU nodes, or hard drives for their groups that will be added to the cluster or central storage, respectively. This ownership model is very efficient and has become very popular in recent years. User labs interested in learning more about this option, want to contact the HPCC staff or director directly to discuss technical needs and to obtain vendor quotes.

Equipment Grant
The HPCC has recently submitted another NSF MRI equipment grant with the generous help from several user PIs*. If successful, this grant will provide almost $900,000 in funding to expand our clusters by approximately 3,500 CPU cores (Intel and AMD), a considerable number of the latest NVIDIA A100 GPUs or better, and ultra fast network switches. *Please note: not all PIs have been contacted to help with this grant since we wanted to keep the collective time investment to a minimum.

System Maintenance & Upgrades

HPCC System Upgrades
As announced in a separate email with the subject line HPCC System Upgrades, we are deploying Rocky 8 and DUO on all HPCC systems. This is a staged rollout with a testing phase that will take place from Feb 18 to Mar 17, 2022. For additional details please visit the corresponding News and Updates page here<https://hpcc.ucr.edu/changes/>.
Scheduled Downtimes
There are currently no other exceptions or downtimes scheduled.

Training and Events

Training Events
Due to a severe personnel shortage in the HPCC, we have to postpone our regular training events until the above major system upgrades will be completed. The events will resume in April/May, and will be offered more frequently once we have refilled the open positions. Users looking for training events want to consult our extensive online manuals<https://hpcc.ucr.edu/manuals/> and workshop<https://hpcc.ucr.edu/events/small/> materials from previous events. Video recordings are also available. Upon request, the HPCC provides personalized training as well.

Classroom Support
Currently, the HPCC supports many undergraduate and graduate classes in a wide range of disciplines. Instructors interested in using our cluster for classroom teaching, are asked to discuss with us their specific needs several weeks prior to the start of a class. Usually, we require instructors to have an active HPCC subscription. Additional restrictions and/or charges may apply if classes are very large (e.g. over 35 students).

Annual User Meeting
Currently, we are planning to have our annual user meeting in mid June. Details will be announced via email, Slack and on our website.

Positions

Undergraduate Student Positions
Several positions are open for undergraduate students interested in HPC systems administration. The required skills for these positions include: experience with Bash/shell command-line, Python programming, Git versioning and some prior Linux systems administration.


Contacts
Jordan Hayes
Senior HPC Systems Administrator
jordan.hayes at ucr.edu<mailto:jordan.hayes at ucr.edu>

Thomas Girke
Professor
Director of HPC Center
thomas.girke at ucr.edu<mailto:thomas.girke at ucr.edu>


WEBSITE<https://hpcc.ucr.edu/>  -  SLACK<https://ucr-hpcc.slack.com/>  -  TWITTER<https://twitter.com/ucr_hpcc>  -  GITHUB<https://github.com/ucr-hpcc/ucr-hpcc.github.io.git>






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