IFCA HPC Userguide

General description

The IFCA HPC service operates several distinct systems (or partitions) that combines INTEL and AMD architectures to provide resources to various research communities: the Spanish Supercomputing Network (RES), the University of Cantabria (UC), Internal research groups belonging to IFCA itself, and any other entity or organisation that contracts the services through the available Service Catalogue on the CSIC or UC websites.

IFCA HPC Partitions

The IFCA HPC general purpose system, houses 115 nodes based on different architectures that results in 10.770 processor cores as arranged in the table below.

Accessing the Login Nodes

The login environment consists of two public twin machines Intel(R) Xeon(R) Silver 4208 CPUs @ 2.10GHz (32 cores) with 192GB of RAM. Access to these machines via the SSH protocol:

mypc~$ssh <username>@login1.ifca.es
mypc~$ssh <username>@login2.ifca.es

Prior to attempting system access, users must fulfill these prerequisites:

1. System Account: A user account must be created on the system by submitting a request newuser
2. Two-Factor Authentication (2FA): One-Time Password (OTP) authentication must be activated for your account.
3. First factor is the passwd and the second factor is the OTP (6 digits numbers)
4. If you have configured the ssh pub key under ./ssh/authorized_keys you don't have to user passwd+otp

Service Management Information

Contact Information

For any queries concerning the HPC service, you can raise a support ticket through the RT system if you already have an account, or alternatively, by sending an email to:

• computing.support@ifca.unican.es

Using the RT (Request Tracker) system is generally the preferred method as it ensures your query is formally logged, tracked, and assigned to the correct support team member, speeding up resolution. Always include the project name and any relevant job IDs when submitting a query or any other relevant information.

Service Agreements

• SLA on HPC Altamira service

Policies

• Use of the system implies acceptance of the usage policies as defined by the IFCA (Instituto de Física de Cantabria).
  • Acceptable Use Policy
  • Terms of Use
  • Privacy Policy

Pricing

• https://www.csic.es/es/investigacion/catalogo-de-servicios-cientifico-tecnico/unidades-de-servicio/computacion-avanzada-cloud-hpc-distribuido-y-dedicado

• https://www.unican.es/WebUC/Unidades/Investigacion/scti/

Acknowledgment in publications

Add acknowledge to IFCA at the University of Cantabria for the use of Altamira supercomputer with a text similar to:

'We acknowledge Santander Supercomputacion support group at the University of Cantabria who provided access to the supercomputer Altamira Supercomputer at the Institute of Physics of Cantabria (IFCA-CSIC), member of the Spanish Supercomputing Network, for performing simulations/analyses.'

Getting Help

IFCA provides to users consulting assistance. User support consultants are available during normal business hours, Monday to Friday, 09 a.m. to 17 p.m. (CEST time).

User questions and support are handled at:

• Spanish Supercomputing Network (RES) at <res_support@ifca.unican.es>

• UC groups or Servicio Santander de Supercomputación users at <ssc@unican.es> or <res_support@ifca.unican.es>

If you need assistance, please supply us with the nature of the problem, the date and time that the problem occurred, and the location of any other relevant information, such as output or log files.