The HPC Pool

What is The HPC Pool?

The HPC Pool is the result of a large central investment by the University as part of the Research Life Cycle Programme, in particular Change Project Z – HPC Investments. This resource should address the needs of users who have previously used systems such as N8-HPC (the regional HPC system, known as polaris, which came to end-of-life in June 2018).

It comprises 4096 cores in total provided by 128 x 32-core compute nodes. Each node contains 2 x 16-core Intel Skylake Gold 6130 CPU @ 2.10GHz, 192GB RAM and Mellanox Technologies MT27800 Family [ConnectX-5] 100Gb/s InfiniBand interconnect.

This resource is aimed at larger, multi-node batch jobs running parallel software (typically using MPI). Currently, job sizes must be 128–1024 cores.

Who Can Access the HPC Pool?

Access to the HPC Pool is not automatic. A separate application process is required, even if you have an existing CSF3 account.

We make available to the HPC Pool the CSF’s installed applications, its scratch filesystem, the home filesystem and any additional research data storage filesystems that you may have access to. This is for convenience. Jobs are submitted to the HPC Pool via the CSF batch system. However, CSF job scheduling does not affect HPC Pool job scheduling. Also, CSF job usage accounting is separate to HPC Pool job usage accounting.

Please note: If you’re not an existing user of the CSF and aren’t sure if your work is suitable for the HPC Pool (which is aimed at larger high-performance parallel software) then the CSF may be suitable for your work instead. This is a more general-purpose system that can accommodate smaller parallel jobs, 1-core jobs, and jobs where you wish to run many copies of the same application to process many datasets. Please see the general CSF information for more information and how to access the CSF. Alternatively contact us via our form and we will be happy to advise which system is most appropriate for your work.

How do I get access to The HPC Pool?

If you would like to access The HPC Pool you will need to be associated with an HPC-Pool project code.

Principal Investigators (PI) / Supervisors must apply for access for a specific research project by filling in our form with answers to ALL of the questions in the Apply for access to The HPC Pool section. An HPC project code will then be issued to the PI/Supervisor. A PI/Supervisor will be able to specify who can run jobs using their HPC project code.

Members of a PI’s group: If you are not a PI/Supervisor then you will need to find out from your PI/Supervisor if they have applied for your research project to have access. If they have, they will supply you with the project code. Please email fill in our form https://ri.itservices.manchester.ac.uk/hpc-help and ask for access to The HPC Pool supplying to project code in the form. We will then register your account and send you further details about using The HPC Pool.

How long does it take to get access?

We aim to confirm whether your application to use The HPC Pool has been granted within 2 working days of receiving your completed application form. If we need to obtain further information or have a more detailed discussion with you it may take a little longer.

If you are a user in a research group that has a project code then it should not take longer than 1 working day.

What do I do with my HPC Project Code once I have it?

If you are a PI/Supervisor please supply the code to the people who you wish to be registered against it.

If you are a user please fill in our form and ask for access to The HPC Pool supplying the project code in the form.  We will then register your account and send you a confirmation with further details about The HPC Pool in it.

The project code will also be needed in your jobscripts.

Is it possible to have more than one HPC project code?

Yes. If you have multiple distinct research projects with a need to run computational work then we would encourage this. Please note that you will need to complete an application form for every project and you will be responsible for ensuring you supply the correct project code to each person you wish to be registered against it.