HPC project applications

Please note that the procedure for requesting supercomputer project numbers was modified as of mid-July 2020; follow the link below.

The following were used: a php slim framework for the portal; a twig templating engine with bootstrap for displaying the data; as well as javascript and css. Chart.js was used for displaying diagrams.

The portal is accessible for those having obtained an EduID identifier. Please note that only projects for which HPC access had been requested after 1 January 2018 or which had been active in the previous three years (collectively referred to as active projects) were migrated to the new database. User data for inactive projects continue to be available; however, to be able to use the portal functions, users need to request project activation in all cases.

The conditions of requesting access to supercomputer resources (requesting a project number, that is, project) remained unchanged.

The evaluation includes assessing the project applications in terms of the appropriate care taken to complete the application form. Upon evaluating the technical and scientific information, the following statuses may be assigned to a given application: “supported”, “rejected”, “further amendment needed”. One major difference in comparison with the previous system is that now it is sufficient to upload signed applications in an electronic format only.

For project applications, please visit https://portal.hpc.kifu.hu/ HPC project applications may be submitted upon an eduID login.

A brief description of the use of the project is available here.

Introduction

The supercomputer system of the Hungarian higher education, research, and public collection (hereinafter referred to as the academic supercomputer system) was purchased under the framework of the HBONE+ Project by the former NIIF institute, which merged into KIFÜ as of 1 September 2016. Currently, this supercomputer system has the highest performance in Hungary. The first supercomputer centre in the country became available for use by the Hungarian research community in 2001. However, the purchase price and operation of such tools are so expensive that individual institutions are normally unable to finance them on their own; therefore, it is more reasonable to implement central services available to many such institutions. This is one of KIFÜ’s fundamental goals and missions.

Operation

The supercomputer system is operated by KIFÜ personnel in KIFÜ’s computation centre and at three universities in three convergence regions. The operation of the supercomputers is 24 hours a day and 7 days a week, that is, continuous every day of the year. The services may be down for maintenance purposes during previously announced periods.

The supercomputers are operated by trained professionals, and they also provide user support beyond operating the equipment.

The operators do their best to maintain the continuous and uninterrupted operation and availability of the system. Nevertheless, they shall not be held liable for any direct or indirect damage or disadvantage arising from any potential downtimes in the operation or availability of the supercomputers, temporary drops in performance, or damage to or loss of files or data.

Basic principles of use

Although the supercomputer infrastructure is of high value and extremely high performance, it is a limited resource. This means that capacities require careful management because that is the only way to achieve the fundamental objective of satisfying all realistic needs of the academic community.

The potential users of the supercomputer system include Hungarian academic users, more specifically KIFÜ’s associate organisations (hereinafter referred to as ‘associate organisation’). The actual users of the supercomputers are the employees or students of these institutions, or – in justifiable cases – the employees of a non-associate organisation under a scientific cooperation program between an associate organisation and a Hungarian or non-Hungarian non-associate organisation. In special cases and in view of other reasons (e.g., major research/development/application projects of special national interest etc.), KIFÜ’s management may grant an exemption on the basis of individual evaluation.

The goal of operating the supercomputers is to satisfy the high-speed and high-performance computational needs of the Hungarian research and higher education community. Therefore, the supercomputers can be used for any research and/or educational project of any of the authorised institutions which require high-performance computing capacity. The primary objective is to serve applications requiring extreme rates of computing or extreme speed, or huge memory capacities.

The supercomputers are not to be used for any other purposes (e.g., for developments or applications pursued under the framework of profit-oriented activities, or for tasks that can be satisfactorily resolved using traditional tools etc.), or for operating network services (e.g., web, ftp, database or file servers) in the traditional sense.

All subsystems of the supercomputer system are operated at the KIFÜ centre or at regional centres where the high-speed lines of the Hungarian academic internet backbone network (HBONE+) meet. The subsystems are connected to each other and to the net via dedicated lambda connections of tens of GB/s. They are remotely accessible through the net, from any client computer using alphanumerical or graphical terminals or terminal-based emulations, and protocols and interfaces ensuring a secure connection (ssh, scp).

The excellent network connection ensures high-speed access to the system from any point in the backbone, which enables the smooth transfer of even large amounts of data.

In order to access the supercomputer system, a project number is required, and this can be requested from the operator. For applying, please visit https://portal.hpc.kifu.hu/ HPC project applications may be submitted upon an eduID login.

If necessary, KIFÜ may also consult applicants before making a decision. The project number is assigned to a single person and is non-transferable. By accepting a project number, the user declares to be aware of, and abide by, the rules of using our supercomputers.

Our supercomputers may only be used by those with a valid project number, for the tasks specified in the application for said project number, and within the frameworks of the quotas assigned.

Hungarian and international publications describing the scientific results and experience gained by the use of our supercomputers must mention the fact of using KIFÜ’s infrastructure.

In addition, a report on the status, progress, and results of the projects using the supercomputers must be submitted to KIFÜ at least once a year.

The supercomputing resources (machine time, number of processors, memory, storage devices) are limited. The fundamental goal is to ensure that everyone gets access to the capacities they need. In case the demands exceed the available capacities at a given time point, then resources are allocated on the basis of use quotas and on the priority ranking of the projects. CPU-demanding jobs can be run on the supercomputers through a local scheduler and resource management system and through grid resource brokers.

The use of our supercomputers is free for authorised users.

Compilers, libraries, and other development tools for widely used computer programming languages (e.g., C, C++, Fortran), various software environments required for running parallel applications (e.g., PVM, MPI, OpenMP), other HPC (High-Performance Computing) tools for Linux-based environments, optimised parallel mathematical libraries, and various dedicated applications are available on our supercomputers.

Users are offered helpdesk services, including technical assistance, consultations, and advice by the operators of our supercomputers. Furthermore, we organise training events, workshops, and seminars in relation to supercomputers and their uses. The websites of the project also offer useful information.