Skip to content

Supported vClusters

This page is hosting information about C2SM supported vClusters (not all CSCS vClusters).

Access

Connection to vClusters happens as for any other CSCS machine, e.g. ssh santis.cscs.ch with a ProxyJump on ela.cscs.ch. A section in the ~/.ssh/config could look as follows:

~/.ssh.config
Host ela
  Hostname ela.cscs.ch
  User cscsusername
  IdentityFile ~/.ssh/cscs-key

Host balfrin* daint* santis* todi*
  Hostname %h.cscs.ch
  User cscsusername
  IdentityFile ~/.ssh/cscs-key
  ProxyJump ela

This allows standard connections like ssh santis, but you can also specify a login node if needed, e.g., ssh santis-ln002. Replace cscsusername with your actual username.

Santis

The vCluster santis is dedicated to Climate and Weather and may initially host only EXCLAIM and related projects.

Deployment Status

Currently, the deployment is approximately 95% complete.

Differences to the Environment on todi

  • $HOME is now on a new NFS file system
    • Your folder /users/$USER will initially be mostly empty
    • The NFS system still requires fine-tuning, and file system performance may be low.
    • We recommend running tasks, especially heavy ones, on $SCRATCH.
  • todi's $HOME is mounted as /users.OLD/$USER.
    • ⚠️ The mount is read-only!
    • You are responsible for copying your data from /users.OLD/$USER to /users/$USER/....
    • The mount is temporary and will be removed by the end of January 2025.

Info

Despite the need to work on the deployment in the upcoming days, users are invited to already access the system and start familiarising themselves with it and they might also start the data migration of their old home.

The activities on CSCS side should not require any reboot, however, some services might need to be restarted, e.g., SLURM. This could lead to short interruptions or even failing jobs. CSCS will provide more information in the upcoming days and will try to minimise the risk of interferences by consolidating changes.

Uenvs

To find and use already existing uenvs from todi, you need to modify the CLUSTER_NAME environment variable.

export CLUSTER_NAME=todi
uenv image find
uenv activity
icon-wcp/v1:rc4 build and run ICON
netcdf-tools/2024:v1-rc1 pre- and post-processing tools

Storage

TODO

The migration of the previous storage is not yet finished. Once there is an update from CSCS, we will inform you here. Also note that the environment variables $STORE and $PROJECT are not yet set.

Daint

Daint (Alps) is the vCluster dedicated to the User Lab. It is currently accessible at daint.alps.cscs.ch (until the current Piz Daint gets decommissioned), so connect with ssh daint.alps with the ssh settings above.

Even though Climate and Weather also has the dedicated vCluster santis (see below), traditional projects might also land on Daint.

Uenvs

As on santis, you can access the uenvs from todi:

export CLUSTER_NAME=todi
uenv image find
uenv activity
icon-wcp/v1:rc4 build and run ICON
netcdf-tools/2024:v1-rc1 pre- and post-processing tools

Storage

TODO

The migration of the previous storage is not yet finished. Once there is an update from CSCS, we will inform you here.