Last Year
What is Flux in Terms of Hardware?
Flux is a rate-based service that provides a Linux-based High
Performance Computing (HPC) system to the University of Michigan
community.
It is a fast system. Its CPUs, internal network, and storage are all fast in their own right and are designed to be fast together.
It is a large system on campus. Flux consists of 12,260 cores.
It is a fast system. Its CPUs, internal network, and storage are all fast in their own right and are designed to be fast together.
It is a large system on campus. Flux consists of 12,260 cores.
Flux continues to grow in cores and allocations
Flux was moved to the Modular Data Center from the MACC
Moving Flux to the MDC from the MACC resulted directly in the
decrease in the rate and an accompanying change in service level.
Before the move Flux had generator-backed electrical power and could run for days during a utility power outage.
After the move Flux has battery-backed electrical power and can run for 5 minutes during a utility power outage.
Before the move Flux had generator-backed electrical power and could run for days during a utility power outage.
After the move Flux has battery-backed electrical power and can run for 5 minutes during a utility power outage.
The rate for all of the Flux services was reduced on October 1, 2013
| old monthly rate | new monthly rate | |
|---|---|---|
| standard Flux | $18.00/core | $11.72/core |
| larger memory Flux | $24.35/core | $23.82/core |
| Flux Operating Env. | $267.00/node | $113.25/node |
| GPU Flux | n/a | $107.10/GPU |
Flux has the newest GPUs from NVIDIA - the K20x
Flux has 40 K20x GPUs connected to 5 compute nodes.
Each GPU allocation comes with 2 compute cores and 8GB of CPU RAM.
Each GPU allocation comes with 2 compute cores and 8GB of CPU RAM.
| Number and Type of GPU | one Kepler GK110 |
| Peak double precision floating point perf. | 1.31 Tflops |
| Peak single precision floating point perf. | 3.95 Tflops |
| Memory bandwidth (ECC off) | 250 GB/sec |
| Memory size (GDDR5) | 6 GB |
| CUDA cores | 2688 |
Flux has Intel Phis as a technology preview
Flux has 8 Intel 5110P Phi co-processors connected to one compute
node.
As a technology preview, there is no cost to use the Phis.
As a technology preview, there is no cost to use the Phis.
| Number and type of processor | one 5110P |
| Processor clock | 1.053GHz |
| Memory bandwidth (ECC off) | 320 GB/sec |
| Memory size (GDDR5) | 8 GB |
| Number of cores | 60 |
Flux has Hadoop as a technology preview
Flux has a Hadoop environment that offers 16TB of HDFS storage,
soon expanding to move than 100TB.
The Hadoop environment is based on Apache Hadoop version 1.1.2.
The Hadoop environment is a technology preview and has no charge
associated with it. For more information on using Hadoop on Flux email
The Hadoop environment is based on Apache Hadoop version 1.1.2.
| Hive | v0.9.0 |
| HBase | v0.94.7 |
| Sqoop | v1.4.3 |
| Pig | v0.11.1 |
| R + rhdfs + rmr2 | v3.0.1 |
hpc-support@umich.edu.
Next Year
The initial hardware will be replaced
Flux has a three-year hardware replacement cycle; we are in the
process of replacing the initial 2,000 cores.
The new cores are likely to be in Intel's 10-core Xeon CPUs, resulting in 20 cores per node.
We are planning on keeping the 4GB RAM per core ratio. The memory usage over the last three years have a profile that supports this direction.
The new cores are likely to be in Intel's 10-core Xeon CPUs, resulting in 20 cores per node.
We are planning on keeping the 4GB RAM per core ratio. The memory usage over the last three years have a profile that supports this direction.
Flux may offer a option without software
ARC is hoping to have a Flux product offering that does not include
the availability, and thus cost, of most commercial software.
The "software-free" version of Flux will include
The "software-free" version of Flux will include
- the Intel compilers
- the Allinea debuggers and code profilers
- MathWorks MATLAB®
- other no- or low-cost software
A clearer software usage policy will be published
With changes in how software on Flux is presented will come
guidance on appropriate use of the Flux software library.
In approximate terms, the Flux software library is
In approximate terms, the Flux software library is
- licensed for academic research and education by faculty, students, and staff of the University of Michigan.
- not licensed for commercial work, work that yields proprietary or restricted results, or for people who are not at the University of Michigan.
Flux on Demand may be available
ARC continues to work on developing a Flux-on-Demand service.
We hope to have some variant of this available sometime in the Winter semester.
We hope to have some variant of this available sometime in the Winter semester.
A High-Throughput Computing service will be piloted
ARC, CAEN, and ITS are working on a High-Throughput Computing
service based on HTCondor (http://research.cs.wisc.edu/htcondor/).
This will allow for large quantities (1000s) of serial jobs to be run on either Windows or Linux.
ARC does not expect there to be any charge to the researchers for this.
This will allow for large quantities (1000s) of serial jobs to be run on either Windows or Linux.
ARC does not expect there to be any charge to the researchers for this.
