HPC

High Performance Computing

CSDMS has purchased compute nodes on the Blanca condo cluster managed by the University of Colorado Research Computing group (CURC). These nodes form the basis of the CSDMS High Performance Computing Cluster (HPCC), providing access to a state-of-the-art supercomputing resource for every CSDMS member.

Get an account

The CSDMS HPCC is freely available to the CSDMS community. However, there are a few steps required to obtain an account.

If you run into any problems completing these steps, let us know at the CSDMS Help Desk.

Step 1

If you're not already one, become a CSDMS member.

Step 2

Make an ACCESS account. ACCESS is the Advanced Cyberinfrastructure Coordination Ecosystem: Services & Support program, funded by National Science Foundation to support research cyberinfrastructure in the U.S.

Note: If you already have an XSEDE/ACCESS account, or a CU IdentiKey, skip this step and proceed to Step 3.

Step 3

Send an email to csdms@colorado.edu with the following information:

• your first and last name
• your email address (institutional address preferred, if available)
• your CSDMS username
• a short (one or two sentence) description of how you plan to use your account

Step 4

Send an email to rc-help@colorado.edu with the following information:

• your first and last name
• your email address
• your ACCESS/XSEDE username, or your CU IdentiKey
• if available, your institutional affiliation, department, and role (e.g., undergraduate, graduate student, postdoc, staff, instructor, or faculty)

In the email, please state that you are a CSDMS member and you wish to access the CSDMS compute nodes on Blanca.

CURC will communicate with CSDMS to approve your Blanca login.

Documentation

• Research Computing User Guide
• Blanca

Hardware

Each Blanca compute node has:

• 2x 14-core 2.4 GHz Intel “Broadwell” processors
• 128 GB RAM at 2400 MHz
• 1x 1 TB 7200 RPM hard drive
• 10 gigabit/s Ethernet

As of 2024-05-02, four compute nodes are available in the CSDMS HPCC. In addition to these reserved nodes, CSDMS members have access, depending on current usage, to the other compute nodes in the Blanca cluster. See the Blanca documentation for details.

Software

Modules are used on Blanca to load software into a user environment. CURC also provides support for installing custom or third-party software. Help requests should be sent to rc-help@colorado.edu.

Logging in

See the instructions from CURC on logging in to Blanca through their Open OnDemand portal.

Running jobs

CURC provides information on submitting and running jobs on Blanca, either interactively or through batch process.

Getting help

Email rc-help@colorado.edu if you have problems connecting to or working on Blanca.

Attribution

When reporting results obtained through the CSDMS HPCC, we request the following acknowledgement:

   We acknowledge computing time on the CSDMS High Performance Computing Cluster.

Please notify us of any tech reports, conference papers, journal articles, or theses which contain results obtained through the CSDMS HPCC. Your assistance will help ensure that our online bibliography of results is as complete as possible. Citations should be sent to csdms@colorado.edu.