Information Technology Center

Introduction to

High Performance Computing at KFUPM

Agenda

1 What is HPC?

2HPC at KFUPM

3Access to HPC

• HPC system, on the other hand, is essentially a network of nodes, each of which contains one or more processing chips, as well as its own memory.

• The most common users of HPC systems are scientific researchers, engineers and academic institutions.

• HPC, is the application of “supercomputers”, “Clusters” to computational problems that are either too large for standard computers or would take too long.

• HPC can perform calculations many times faster than a conventional processor.

• A desktop computer generally has a single processing chip, commonly called a CPU.

What is HPC?

HPC

Clus

ter ?

What does HPC Cluster mean ?• Cluster computing is the technique of linking multiple

computer nodes into a single network to take advantage of the parallel processing.

• Clusters are usually deployed to improve performance and availability over that of a single computer, while typically being much more cost-effective than single computer of comparable speed or availability.

• Computer Clusters have a wide range of applicability and deployment, ranging from small business clusters with a handful of nodes to worlds fastest supercomputers, like K-computer.

2 HPC at KFUPM’s Information Technology Center.

High Performance Computing Center

• Planning & Survey started in early 2008.

• Procured in October 2008.

• Cluster Installation and Testing during Nov’08-Jan’09. • Applications like Gaussian with Linda, DL-POLY, ANSYS, MATLAB etc.

were tested on the HPC cluster.

• Test problems were provided by Professors of Chemistry, Physics, Mechanical Engg. And other collaborating departments.

• PBS Job Scheduler (Torque) and Cluster monitoring tool “Ganglia” was installed in May 2011 on Linux Cluster.

HPC at KFUPM

Master Nodes • 3x Xeon E5405 Quad-Core, 45 GB RAM, 1 TB HD space. Compute Nodes • 128 nodes(IBM 3550 rack mounted), 1024 Cores. • Each compute node of the cluster is a dual-processor having two 2.0 GHz x3550 Xeon Quad-core E5405 processors, 4 GB RAM, 500 GB of hard disk space.• Interconnect 10GB Ethernet. Uplink 1000-Base-T Gigabit.

Operating Systems for Compute nodes (Dual Boot) • Windows HPC Server 2008 and Red Hat Linux 5.2.

HPC at KFUPM 128 compute-node e1350 IBM e-Server HPC cluster.

• The HPC systems put enormous computational capability in the hands of researchers.

• In many disciplines the use of HPC systems is well established and forms an integral part of the research.

• HPC systems at KFUPM intend to provide a substantial boost to research in these areas by providing locally accessible resources.

• We encourage researchers who are constrained by their desktop systems to use HPC.

Who should be using HPC ?

• HPC cluster has three master nodes –one for Windows HPC Server 2008, one for one for Red Hat Linux and one for cluster management.

• Windows HPC Server 2008 is designed for high-end applications that require high performance computing clusters.

Windows - Linux HPC Clusters

Available Software Packages on HPC Clusters at KFUPM

TheMATLAB

• Matlab is installed on the HPC cluster, but in order benefit from multiple nodes, your code should be parallel - including parallel tool box functions like matlabpool, parfor, spmd, etc.

HPC Performance Trends

60 Execution Hours

Message Passing Interface (MPI)• The MPI routines are accessed in the same way as any other third-party

library - by including the appropriate header in C/C++ or using the relevant module in Fortran.

HPC Performance Trends

4 times faster

3 How to Access?

HPC at KFUPM’s Information Technology Center

To get an account on the HPC cluster, write to hpc@kfupm.edu.sa specifying the following details:

NAME:KFUPM ID:DESCIPLINE:INTENDED SOFTWARE:

For any queries please send an email to hpc@kfupm.edu.sa.

Access to HPC

High Performance Computing,Information Technology Center,

KFUPM, Dhahran-31261, Saudi Arabia.

Thank you