What is High Performance Computing?
High-performance computing (HPC) is the practice of aggregating computing power in a way that delivers much higher performance than one could get out of a typical desktop computer or workstation to solve large problems in science, engineering, or business. HPC is the foundation for many scientific, industrial, and societal advancements.
HPC solutions have three main components:
1 - Compute
2 - Network
3 - Storage
To build a high-performance computing architecture, compute servers, commonly called 'nodes,' are networked together into what's commonly referred to as a 'cluster'. Software programs and algorithms run simultaneously on the nodes in the cluster - the thought is that more software resources can manipulate data at a much greater scale than utilizing a single computer. The cluster is networked to the data storage to capture the output. Together, these components operate seamlessly to complete a diverse set of tasks.
A cluster is considered a group of interconnected computers that work together to perform computationally intensive tasks.
You can view and read more about the different clusters that the High Performance Computing Core Facility (HPCCF) supports at: hpc.ucdavis.edu/clusters
How do I contact HPC@UCD?
Please see our latest documentation for all detailed information - https://docs.hpc.ucdavis.edu/
You can send an email to us if you have issues or questions beyond that documentation.
Emails sent to HPC@UCD are documented in Service Now via hpc-help@ucdavis.edu. HPC@UCD staff are available to respond to requests on scheduled university work days from 8:00 a.m. until 5:00 p.m. and will respond to your inquiry as soon as possible.
To ensure the best possible help, please send us all of the following information:
- Your username, the cluster name you are running on, and your sponsor name.
- The exact sequence of command(s) you ran and the directory you ran them in.
- The errors you are getting (please copy-paste the output from the terminal window), or attach as a .txt file.
- Slurm JobID if running via Slurm.
Glossary
- Cluster - many nodes connected that can coordinate between themselves to handle massive amounts of data at high speed with parallel performance.
- Node - a single computer or server.
(processor) - A single unit that executes a single chain of instructions. It can be a head node/login node or a regular compute node. - Headnode - Also called a login node, is a node that the user logs in
- Slurm job - a scheduled process sent by the user that is allocated, managed, and monitored by the Slurm manager.
- SSH key pair - Consisting of private and public key is a pair of cryptographic keys used to authenticate and ensure secure communication between user and server
- CLI - Command Line Interface is an application that lets you interact with the machine and enter commands to accomplish a task.
- X11 - is a graphical user interface that runs on a Unix machine. It is sometimes required to run GUI software/modules on HPC clusters/servers
- Module - Installed software/module in a cluster