How Do I Request High Performance Computing (HPC)?

Questions Answered in this Article

Center for Marine Science (CMS) On-Site Cluster, Cuttlefish

NC State's HPC Cluster, Hazel

Frequently Asked Questions

Answers

All faculty, staff and students have the ability to use the High Performance Computing (HPC)

 

Requesting Access

  1. Only faculty and staff can request a project on an HPC cluster at no charge. Faculty may also request a temporary project for a course or research.

  2. Visit our HPC page to determine which option is right for you, if you are unsure which is right for you please submit a request for a consultation.

  3. Request Research Computing (HPC) Access
     

Access for Graduate Students, Post Docs & Other Collaborators

  • Professors/researchers should provide the following information when submitting the request above for a student in their class or project:
    • Last Name, First Name
    • Department
    • Email Address (e.g., EmailAddress@uncw.edu)
    • Project/Professor

 

Undergraduate & Non-Thesis Master's Students

  • A faculty advisor must use the above request for undergraduate students or non-thesis master's students who are not working in a research group.
     


CMS On-Site Cluster, Cuttlefish

 

Accessing Cuttlefish

  • Currently, access is being limited to CMS faculty while the system is onboarded.

  • To request access, please see out "Requesting Access section".
     

Connecting to Cuttlefish

  • Use SSH to connect to cuttlefish.uncw.edu at IP address 10.100.5.1.

  • Available [PM2] on UNCW’s wired, wireless, and VPN for faculty and students
     

Submitting Jobs

  • Running applications on the login node is not permitted.

  • You must submit a batch script or request an interactive session via the job scheduler.

  • Queues are available for general, interactive, and gpu use.

  • Default scheduling priority is fair share and project priority decreases based on number of cores actively in use and recently accumulated project time.
     

Installing Software

  1. Before installing, review the current install list or see if the module is installed by typing, "module avail".

  2. Software can be installed in a user’s home directory or their lab/project folder.

  3. For software that needs to be accessible to multiple users, please contact tuppera@uncw.edu for a system-wide installation.
     


NC State's HPC Cluster, Hazel


Accessing Hazel

Connecting to Hazel

  1. Access is provided through a web-based portal named “Open OnDemand”.

  2. Open a web browser and go to servood.hpc.ncsu.edu

  3. Select “UNC Wilmington” on the UNC Federation “Select Your Campus” page.

  4. You will be redirected to the UNCW login page allowing you to authenticate your UNCW credentials.

  5. You’ll be presented the “Message of the Day” page along with a menu bar.

    • Files – Provides access to your home directory and allows you to upload/download files

    • Jobs – Access to the Job composer and to list active jobs

    • Clusters – Provides shell access

  6. Please see Getting Started on Hazel Cluster for additional information and help.
     

Available Software & Software Installs 

  1. View a comprehensive list of Hazel HPC Maintained Software.

  2. If your software is not listed in the catalog, it can be requested for consideration or the researcher can install the package in their project space as per the Hazel Software Installation Guidelines.

Need Advice?

*Please note: While we are not domain experts and do not know every software package, we can give you advice on the following:

  • Workflow automation and optimization.

  • Code profiling and performance monitoring.

  • Scientific modeling and visualization.

  • If you need advice, please submit our Request Research Computing (HPC) Access.


Transferring Files

*Please note: You can transfer files using Hazel's "OnDemand" dashboard; however, there is a 10 GB file size limitation. To move files larger than 10GB or multiple files you will need to use sftp/ssh to transfer the data.


Hazel Data Storage Options

 

Frequently Asked Questions

 

HPC Candidate

  • If your research is taking too long with your current resources, it's time to explore HPC. High-Performance Computing (HPC) is perfect for:
    • Research that needs significant computational power for long-running jobs over large data sets.
    • Utilizing advanced software modules to leverage HPC's clustered CPU/GPUs.
       

HPC Options

  • UNCW offers three HPC options. For more information about these options, please visit our HPC page.

    • UNCW Cuttlefish: On-site cluster. Access is currently limited to Center for Marine Science (CMS) research efforts as UNCW on-boards the cluster.

    • NCSU Hazel: This cluster is open to faculty/staff and students who have a faculty sponsor through a UNCW & NCSU partnership.

    • NCShare: This container management solution is available for faculty/staff and students; however does not allow restricted or sensitive data to be stored in the NCShare environment.
       

HPC Costs

  • There are no costs to use any of the research computing solutions, although additional storage may incur an annual assessment

If you need further assistance, please submit a service request or CHAT with TAC.

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