The operating system that powers Peloton, Ubuntu 18.04 LTS, reached end-of-life on April 30, 2023. As a result, Ubuntu 18.04 is no longer receiving updates. UCOP policy mandates that operating systems remain up-to-date and are able to receive security updates (https://security.ucop.edu/files/documents/policies/minimum-security-standard.pdf).

The HPC Core Facility (HPCCF) is planning on upgrading Peloton starting at 6:00 a.m. June 20th, 2023. This entails upgrading associated storage, and reinstalling compute and GPU nodes from scratch.

Please note:

• There is potential for data loss on storage if systems do not come back up cleanly and are not being backed up.
• There is potential for hardware failure with older nodes.
• There are always edge cases that are unforeseen and will need to be addressed after the system is brought back online.

As part of the upgrade, we intend to upgrade selected nodes into a test environment at least two weeks before the upgrade so we can validate our upgrade procedure and allow for user testing of software against the new operating system. Information about the test environment will be published before the release.

Please note that you may need to recompile any self-compiled code to run on the new system. User testing before the upgrade will be critical to ensure that the existing code works with the new operating system.

As nodes are upgraded and validated, they will be brought back online. The full upgrade is estimated to last until July 5th, 2023.

For any questions, please email hpc-help@ucdavis.edu.