Kategorie: ‘RWTH-HPC’
New Project Limits
As you know, we operate our cluster in 1-cluster-concept. This also means that the system is supported by multiple funding sources with different budgets. The NHR share (Tier-2) is the largest. Unfortunately, the project quota for RWTH-s, RWTH-thesis and RWTH-lecture (Tier-3) in the machine learning segment (GPU partition) is currently overbooked. Therefore, the following changes will take effect immediately for all new project applications (already granted projects are not affected):
- RWTH-s projects: reduction of the maximum project size to 4000 GPU-h per project per year
- RWTH-lecture and -thesis projects: reduction of the maximum project size to 1500 GPU-h per project
In order to ensure that all users can still successfully carry out their research projects, we propose the following approach for future proposals:
- If you do not need more than 4000 GPU-h, please apply for RWTH-s as before.
- If you do not need more than 10000 GPU-h and would like to conduct a project in the field of machine learning or artificial intelligence, please apply for a WestAI project.
- If you do not need more than 10000 GPU-h, you are welcome to apply once (!) for an NHR Starter project. Please note that this category is intended as preparation for an NHR Normal or Large project. An extension is therefore only possible with a full proposal and should be for more than 10000 GPU-h. NHR Starter projects are allocated centrally by the NHR office; if you choose this route, please select RWTH as your preferred center.
- If you need more than 10000 GPU-h, please apply for resources within an NHR Normal or Large project. To ensure appropriate use of the system, NHR projects undergo a science-led peer-review process.
We are convinced that this step is in the interest of all users in order to avoid overloading the GPU partition (ML segment).
Furthermore, please note that in future, NHR Normal projects may request up to 20 million core-h.
Please refer to the project catalogue for a complete overview (including a decision flow chart),
Please contact servicedesk@itc.rwth-aachen.de for any further questions.
Slurm GPU HPC resource allocation changing on the 01.11.2025
The CLAIX HPC systems will be changing the way GPU resources are requested and allocated starting on the 01.11.2025.
Users submitting Slurm Jobs will no longer be able to request arbitrary amounts of CPU and Memory resources when using GPUs on GPU nodes.
Requesting an entire GPU node’s memory or all CPUs, but only a single GPU will no longer be possible.
Each GPU within a GPU node will have a corresponding strict maximum of CPUs and Memory that can be requested.
To obtain more than the strict maximum of CPUs or Memory per GPU, more GPUs will need to be requested too.
The specific limits per GPU on GPU nodes will be eventually documented separately.
Users are expected to modify their submission scripts or methods accordingly.
This change is driven by our efforts to update the HPC resource billing mechanism to comply with NHR HPC directives.
NHR requires that computing projects apply for CPU and GPU resources independently.
NHR also requires that HPC Centers track the use of these CPU and GPU resources.
The independent resources are then accounted for by Slurm jobs within our CLAIX nodes.
Therefore CPU nodes will only track CPUs (and equivalent memory) and GPU nodes will only track GPUs used.
The quota tools will eventually reflect this too.
Last submissions to Rocky 8 HPC Nodes possible until on July 27th 2025
Starting on July 27th: No further submissions to the Rocky 8 HPC nodes is possible. However, any jobs already in the queue will still run soon on remaining nodes.
All remaining Rocky 8 nodes will be migrated to Rocky 9 as they become available.
Release Notes Version 2.37.0
Improvements and bug fixes:
- Hotfix due to a feature adjustment as part of the University library maintenance on July 12, 2025
Utilize the old Claix module environment on the new Rocky 9 systems
We are offering a new container module on our Rocky 9 systems that allows you to run all the software that was available via the module system on Rocky 8. The image was created in an effort to make the transitioning phase smoother for users that require deprecated software versions or who run software that causes problems in a Rocky 9 environment.
The module can be loaded as any other container module via
ml claix23/rocky8-compat
For information on how to use container modules, please consult both the module description as well as our documentation on Apptainer
HPC Rocky Linux 9 Nodes
Yesterday we updated half of our available compute nodes to Rocky Linux 9. This reduced the available Rocky Linux 8 nodes by half and might lead to increase waiting times on the older OS nodes. We advice all users to continue migrating their workflows to Rocky Linux 9.
If you experience any further issues, please contact servicedesk@itc.rwth-aachen.de.
You can track any disruptions or security advisories that may occur due to the aforementioned change in the Email category on our status reporting portal.
RegApp Update
Yesterday we undertook a modernization of the RegApp infrastructure to enhance performance and maintainability. This included implementing containerization and continuous integration/continuous deployment (CI/CD) processes. While the software of the RegApp remained unchanged, we reorganized the configuration distribution and service setups for better efficiency. We apologize for any inconvenience caused and appreciate your understanding as we work to enhance our systems. If you experience any further issues, please contact servicedesk@itc.rwth-aachen.de.
You can track any disruptions or security advisories that may occur due to the aforementioned change in the Email category on our status reporting portal.
New GPFS Filesystem for $HOME and $WORK
Dear CLAIX Users,
At the start of the week, your $HOME and $WORK directories were migrated from the old NFS filesystem to our new GPFS system. From your perspective, the access mode did not change — your files are still where you left them.
This change has two primary effects for you:
- Your
$HOMEand$WORKdirectories now have a file quota limit of 1 million files. - Your
$HOMEdirectory now offers 250 GB of storage space. - GPFS should offer better I/O performance than the old NFS system.
More information about the available filesystems can be found in our documentation.
Happy computing!
Your CLAIX Admins
Slurm Memory Usage
For all partitions we had to slightly decrease the maximum available memory. Please consider our documentation for all details.
GPU Resources
In order to unify the resource allocation process and to avoid confusion, we will apply the following changes on October 2nd, 2024:
- If you want to apply for GPU resources, you have to use “k GPU-h” (i.e., thousand GPU hours) instead of “Mio core-h”. This includes the detailed project description as well as the JARDS online form. For convenience reasons, the JARDS system will still calculate the core hour equivalent. Until the end of the year we will accept the old metric in your detailed project descriptions, of course.
- The views in JARDS.project (RWTH projects, NHR projects) will show the used contingents in “k GPU-h” instead of “Mio. core-h” for all GPU resources.
- The command line tool r_wlm_usage will show the used contingents in “k GPU-h” instead of “Mio. core-h” for all GPU resources (i.e. “ML partition”).
- If you act as scientific reviewer, you should recommend GPU resources in “k GPU-h” instead of “Mio. core-h”.
There will be no changes for the HPC (i.e. CPU resources) partition. Please note: The internal billing mechanisms will not change at all. Our Slurm configuration will still use a billing which respects the used memory and core equivalents of a node. Basically, the factor 24 between GPU-h and Core-h will be used.
You can find all limits for the different project categories on our website.
You can track any disruptions or security advisories that may occur due to the aforementioned change in the Email category on our status reporting portal.
