Source: Freepik
The IT Center has been operating one of the fastest high-performance computers in Germany for years. The current high-performance computer CLAIX-2023 was recently put into operation with state-of-the-art technology such as Intel Xeon Sapphire Rapids processors and NVIDIA H100 accelerators. This enables the execution of a wide range of applications from engineering to artificial intelligence and machine learning.
Services and Research Opportunities
High-performance computing is of central importance for innovation in business and society. The RWTH High Performance Computing service therefore provides a first-class infrastructure for various services and research opportunities. As a result, HPC applications are scalable and efficient and large amounts of data can be processed securely and quickly. Although CLAIX-2023 runs on the Linux operating system, we have also been running Windows frontends since 2003. The Windows frontends were provided to enable the use of HPC on Windows. Although Microsoft has long since discontinued the Windows batch system for running compute jobs, the IT Center continued to operate the Windows-based front-end machines. These were used to simplify access for all users to the $HOME and $WORK file systems, for example to edit large data sets in Excel or to prepare or post-process jobs.
The file system acquired in the course of the last storage tender does not support reliable export of $HOME and $WORK to the Windows world. As the original purpose of simple access to the systems is therefore no longer applicable, it no longer makes sense to operate the front ends. The service will therefore be shut down on 30.06.2024.
Alternative Access
However, if you feel particularly comfortable in a desktop environment, you can access the Linux cluster via FastX 3. This is possible either with a native client or via a web session. You can find a detailed description of this access in our documentation on IT Center Help.
HPC Jupyter Hub
Interactive access is now also available via the HPC JupyterHub. This powerful platform allows you to access our HPC resources directly in your Windows browser and continue working on your projects. You can access your existing data and Linux programs via the browser (via console and JupyterLab). If you need support in using the HPC JupyterHub, please do not hesitate to contact us via the known communication channels.
Responsible for the content of this article are Marcus Wagner and Janin Iglauer.
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