The EuroHPC systems are open and you can already apply for calculation time

By Cecilie Maagaard Winther , 07/05/21
On March 1, the first of the EuroHPC facilities were opened, and now it is also open to apply for computing time.
Photo: Gregor Gomboc (https://www.izum.si/en/hpc-en/)
Foto: Gregor Gomboc © https://www.izum.si/en/hpc-en/

The first of a total of 8 new European supercomputers is now up and running, and through a series of ongoing small calls for projects, researchers can apply for computing time for smaller projects.

The EU has joined forces to establish a range of world-class supercomputers. It has become the collaboration "The European High Performance Computing Joint Undertaking" also called EuroHPC JU. The collaboration culminates in 3 pre-exascale and 5 petascale supercomputers, and it is now one of the petascale computers that is up and running. This is the Slovenian Vega, which started on 1 March and where EuroHPC has access to 35 per cent. of the resources.

Smaller projects can apply

Foto: Gregor Gomboc © https://www.izum.si/en/hpc-en/

Now it is also open for European researchers to apply for computing time on the computer. EuroHPC has launched the so-called "Benchmark And Development Access Calls", which are intended as a kind of playground or as an opportunity for researchers to test their code to see if it is effective or not.

The benchmark and development calls are intended for smaller projects, where the duration is regulated by the conditions of the call, as a kind of exercise before a potentially larger application.

The special thing about the new calls is also that they run continuously with a deadline or "cut-off" on the first of each month. Therefore, researchers can apply for calculation time, just when it suits them, and not just a few times a year. There is also typically a fast response time of only 2 weeks after the cut-off date for this type of call.

The schedule will usually look like this:

Action

Description

Application sent

Always open to applications. "Cut-off" date every first of the month.

Administrative validation

2 days after submission of application

Review of application

2 weeks after "cut-off" date

Access start date

2-3 weeks after "cut-off" date

Get help with the application

PRACE is responsible for processing all applications for EuroHPC in 2021, and you must use their application portal. It is also possible to draw on experienced forces in relation to sparring for applicants from Danish universities.

Contact DeiC HPC-chef Eske Christiansen to find a match, that can be talked with in relation to writing an application.

Requirements and rules concerning the use of EuroHPC systems are also described in EuroHPC's "Access Policy", which can be found via the link here.

More information on submitting applications and the different deadlines for EuroHPC calls can be found at the link here

Currently, as described, only the Vega plant in Slovenia is online.

Vega has three configurations:

  • CPU standard
  • CPU Lange Memory
  • GPU

The Vega system has the following hardware:

The Vega system has the following hardware:

CPU Standard

798 x nodes, each node with 2xAMD Epyc 7H12, 256GB DDR4, 1xHDR100, 1×1.92 TB M.2 SSD.

CPU Large Memory

192 x nodes, each node with 2xAMD Epyc 7H12, 1TB DDR4, 1xHDR100, 1×1.92 TB M.2 SSD

GPU

60 x nodes, each node with 4xNvidia A100 (Nvlink), 2xAMD Epyc 7H12, 512GB DDR4, 2xHDR100, 1×1.92 TB M.2 SSD

Storage capacity

High-performance NVMe Lustre (1PB system total), large-capacity Ceph (23PB system total)

Build for

Traditional Computational, AI, Big Data/HPDA, Large-scale data processing

The EuroHPC systems will continuously become available online, which is why it will also be possible to apply for calculation time on the other systems on an ongoing basis.

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