Download HPC User Manual - Alabama Supercomputer Authority

HPC User Manual - Edition 10.1
Introduction
1. Introduction
This manual is intended for people who will use the supercomputers provided by the
Alabama Supercomputer Authority (ASA). This manual gives an introduction to the
computing hardware, applications, operating system, how to connect to the
computers, and how to run jobs. More detailed information on each of those topics is
available in other locations, and referenced as each is discussed. Other books are
referenced in the bibliography.
High performance computing (HPC) is the currently trendy monicker for
supercomputing. Thus the terms “high performance computing”, “HPC”, and
“supercomputing” are used interchangeably in this manual. Likewise the term
“supercomputer” and “computing cluster” or just “cluster” are all synonymous. A
few companies use the word “cloud” as a synonym for “cluster”, but most use the
word “cloud” as a synonym for “virtualized server”.
The Alabama Supercomputer Authority
The Alabama Supercomputer Authority (ASA) provides high performance computing
resources to state academic users, state government agencies, national industrial
users, and federal government agencies. ASA is a public state nonprofit corporation
that develops, maintains, and operates the Alabama Supercomputer Center (ASC) and
the Alabama Research and Education Network (AREN). Technical services are
provided through professional services and facilities management contractor CSC
(formerly Computer Sciences Corporation). See the web site www.asc.edu for more
information about ASA.
The Alabama Supercomputer Authority provides a host of services in addition to high
performance computing. The Alabama Research and Education Network (AREN) is
a statewide high-speed network installed and maintained by ASA. Network services
provided include access to ASA high performance computing resources, Internet
access, World Wide Web services, and training. ASA provides email and web hosting
services for a number of customers. These include some large repositories, such as
the Alabama Virtual Library (AVL). A number of customers also host disaster
recovery equipment at the Alabama Supercomputer Center.
ASA’s high performance computing resources include a SGI Ultraviolet 2000
supercomputer and a Dense Memory Cluster (DMC). Usage of these systems is free
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