The Alps System¶
Alps is a distributed HPC infrastructure managed by CSCS. Contrary to traditional HPC, it is composed of several logical units called vClusters (versatile clusters). From the users perspective, they play the role of a traditional HPC machine, each vCluster being tailored to the needs of a specific community. This setup also enables geographical distribution of vClusters which facilitates geo-redundancy. The main physical piece of Alps is hosted at CSCS in Lugano and a detailed description can be found at their website .
vClusters¶
The following table shows current vClusters distribution on Alps at CSCS (only C2SM relevant vClusters are shown).
| vCluster | Activity | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Santis | Weather & Climate | ~ 500 GH nodes |
| Daint | User Lab | ~ 600 GH nodes |
| Clariden | Machine Learning | ~ 800 GH nodes |
| Eiger | multi-core nodes |
GH = Grace Hopper
Support by CSCS¶
General information about access, file systems, vClusters, user environments and much more can be found at the CSCS Knowledge Base .
To contact CSCS staff directly, users can join their dedicated Slack workspace , with dedicated channels for each vCluster.
Introductory Workshop Material¶
As an introduction to the Alps infrastructure, the material of our C2SM workshop "Switching to Alps" from August 12, 2024 is available: