ARCHER News

Wednesday 26th August 2020

• The state of containers - Webinar
• ARCHER2- EPCC early experiences from the test and development platform - webinar
• HPC-Europa3 Transnational Access visitor programme
• Other upcoming ARCHER training

The state of containers - Webinar

Wednesday 26th August 2020 15:00 - 16:00 BST

Michael Bareford, EPCC

It is anticipated that there will be an uptake in the use of containers for running research codes. It is hoped that containers will facilitate reproducibility and portability.

You may see a paper that presents some intriguing results produced by a numerical simulation. The paper references a definition file, allowing you to build the container (within which the research code runs) and deploy to a HPC platform of your choice. You find that you can reproduce the results. You then tweak the input settings to explore a number of what-if scenarios and in effect stand on the shoulders of the author(s).

Is this expectation realistic? I will present my attempts to run various research codes within containers on two HPC platforms, Cirrus and CSD3. Where possible, I investigate whether or not there is a performance penalty incurred by running containerised software.

More details and join link : https://www.archer2.ac.uk/training/courses/200826-containers/

ARCHER2- EPCC early experiences from the test and development platform

Wednesday 2nd September 2020 15:00-16:00 BST

Andy Turner, EPCC

EPCC have recently had remote access to the ARCHER2 test and development system (TDS) installed in the HPE Cray factory in the US. This is a small system (just 8 compute nodes) with an early version of the Shasta software stack. We have been using this access to prepare for the full ARCHER2 service - configuring the system, testing processes, testing system software and porting software.

In this webinar, I will present our experience so far with the TDS with a particular focus on topics of interest to users, including: software available, scheduler and job submission scripts, porting software and initial performance data.

Full details and join link : https://www.archer2.ac.uk/training/courses/200902-archer2-tds/

HPC-Europa3 Transnational Access visitor programme

Call for applications: next closing date 17th September 2020.

HPC-Europa3 funds collaborative research visits for computational scientists in any discipline which can use High Performance Computing (HPC).

Visits can be made to research institutes in Finland, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain or the UK.

UK-based researchers can benefit in two ways: either by visiting a research group elsewhere in Europe, or by hosting a research visitor from another country.

Coronavirus travel restrictions: Applicants will be notified of the selection panel's decisions around the end of October. We hope that international travel will be returning to normal at this time, but restrictions are changing at all times. Therefore, visit dates are flexible, and the dates proposed in the form can of course be changed if need be. Nevertheless, all visits must be complete by 31st October 2021, when the funding ends.

What does HPC-Europa3 provide?

• Funding for travel, living and accommodation expenses for visits of up to 13 weeks.
• Access to world-class High Performance Computing (HPC) facilities.
• Technical support to help you make best use of the HPC systems.
• Collaborative environment with an expert in your field of research.

Who can apply?

• Researchers of all levels, from postgraduate to full professors.
• Researchers from academia or industry.
• Researchers currently working in a European Union country or Associated State (see http://bit.ly/AssociatedStates for full list of Associated States).
• Researchers may not visit a group in the country where they currently work.
• A small number of places may be available for researchers working outside these countries - please contact staff@hpc-europa.org for more information.

How do I apply?

Apply online at http://www.hpc-europa.org

The next closing date is 17th September 2020. Closing dates are held 4 times per year. Applications can be submitted at any time. You should receive a decision approximately 6 weeks after the closing date.

For more information and to apply online, visit: http://www.hpc-europa.org/

Follow us on Twitter for project news: https://twitter.com/HPCEuropa3

Other upcoming ARCHER2 Training

• The state of containers - Webinar Wednesday 26 August 2020 15:00 - 16:00 BST
• ARCHER2: EPCC early experiences from the test and development platform - webinar, Online, Wednesday 2nd September 15:00 - 16:00 BST
• ARCHER2 for software package users, Online, Date to be confirmed
• Introduction to ARCHER2 for software developers, Online, Date to be confirmed

Further details https://www.archer2.ac.uk/training/#upcoming-training