News
Education and Events
Our mission is to provide training and support to enable researchers to utilize MSU's high-performance computing resources for research.
System Status
All HPCC systems are monitored using a variety of infrastructure tools. Many of these metrics are of interest to users and are made available on various websites.
Unveiling ICER’s 2024 Strategic Plan
As the home of Michigan State University’s high-performance computing center, ICER supports computational and data science research and instructional activities. Extensive feedback was gathered from ICER’s staff and User Advisory Board, the Office of Research and Innovation, and partner units to craft a new strategic plan that serves varied purposes.
Tips for GPU Computing on HPCC
Know whether your software has GPU support and how to run it. Check with the software release notes to find out if the software ...
Reminder for Users Transferring Data from Google Drive to the HPCC
For ICER users impacted by the upcoming Google Drive storage limits announced by MSU IT, please be mindful if you choose to move data from Google Drive to the HPCC. Your scratch space can be used to stage data you want to move, but remember that scratch space has a purge policy. Files that have not...
ICER Courses in Fall 2024 - HPC with Python and Reproducible Computational Workflows
The Institute for Cyber-Enabled Research, in partnership with the Department of Computational Mathematics, Science, and Engineering, will teach two graduate courses in fall 2024: "High-Performance Computing with Python" and "Reproducible Computational Workflows." The overarching goal of these...
ICER Research Highlight Video Receives Telly Award
We are proud to announce that an ICER Research Highlight documentary short has won a Telly Award for Diversity, Equity & Inclusion in the record-breaking 45th Annual Telly Awards. The video, titled “Renaissance Scientist Tackles Climate Change,” or in Spanish, “El Científico Renacentista
ICER's Research Story Contest
Calling all ICER users! At the Institute for Cyber-Enabled Research (ICER), we know our users are doing incredible work across all fields, and we want to share your work with the public. If you are interested in having your research featured on ICER’s website, newsletter, and social media and...
Software Needs for ICER's Operating System Upgrade
As you may be aware, ICER will upgrade the operating system on the high-performance computing cluster with a target date of mid-June. In the coming weeks, we will provide more information about the transition to users, including access to testing nodes. In the meantime, we are asking users to fill...
Los científicos renacentistas del Laboratorio Mendoza abordan el cambio climático
José Luis Mendoza Cortés trabaja para resolver una de las cuestiones más importantes a la que se enfrenta nuestro planeta. Mendoza, profesor de Ingeniería Química y Ciencia de Materiales en Michigan State University, usa las leyes de la naturaleza para desarrollar...
Renaissance Scientists in the Mendoza Lab Tackle Climate Change
José Luis Mendoza Cortés is working to solve some of the most important questions facing our planet. As a professor of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science at Michigan State University, Mendoza uses the laws of nature to develop computational algorithms with...
New NVIDIA Grace Nodes Available for All ICER Users
ICER has opened up the recently added NVIDIA Grace nodes to all users of the HPCC. These new nodes include the Grace Hopper Superchip, which can accelerate common GPU workflows like machine learning, generative AI, molecular dynamics, and fluid dynamics. Due to their unique architecture, the Grace...
NVIDIA’s Grace Hopper Nodes Arrive at MSU’s Data Center to Push Boundaries of Computational Research
On the cutting edge of computer chip technology, the NVIDIA Grace Hopper Superchip promises to advance computational research beyond what was possible with previous hardware. The Institute for Cyber-Enabled Research (ICER) has installed four Grace Hopper nodes and one Grace CPU node for MSU’s high...
Upcoming HPCC Operating System Upgrade
We are conducting a major operating system (OS) change on the high-performance computing cluster after the end of the 2024 spring semester. Due to the current cluster's operating system end-of-life and additional considerations, we are upgrading the HPCC to a newer Linux OS. As with any major...
From Zero to One Billion: ICER Reaches High-Performance Computing Milestone
ICER's roots date back to 2005, although the name "Institute for Cyber-Enabled Research" had not been coined yet. The first system had 64 cores and 256 GB of RAM. Now, ICER has hundreds of nodes with twice as many cores, each over ten times faster than that first system. The storage has increased...
A Day in the Life of a System Administrator
True or false: system administrators are introverts who love caffeince and Szechuan food. Find out from Kelly Climer, an ICER sysadmin, who took us behind the scenes to learn about his profession.
2023 Cloud Fellows Embark on Journey of Innovation
ICER is excited to introduce the members of the 2023 Cloud Computing Fellowship! The program is dedicated to equipping academic researchers with the knowledge and experience required to harness the power of Cloud Computing.
4th Annual Cloud Computing Fellows Symposium
Join us on May 5th for this year's Cloud Computing Fellows Annual Symposium! We are excied to celebrate the accomplishments of this year's cohort while learning more about the incredible work they've done.
ICER's Supercomputer and Super Staff Contribute to XPRIZE Competition
Experts from MSU were part of an xprize Rainforest team that surveyed biodiversity in a dense jungle. Data analysis required extensive computational capacity, so the scientists turned to ICER's supercomputer resources and human expertise.
ICER Research Highlight Video Receives Best in Show w3 Award
We are proud to announce that the ICER research highlight "The Puzzle of Topological Data Analysis", featuring Dr. Liz Munch and created by Michelle David, won the w3 awards for Best in Show - Science and Technology Video.
ICER Research Consultants Teach CMSE 890 Courses
ICER Research Consultants Dr. Claire Kopenhafer and Dr. Andrew Fullard will teach CMSE 890 in the Fall 2023 semester.
Undergrads Experience Computational Research in Summer Program
As summer draws to a close, ICER reflects on the fantastics cohort of undergrads in the 2023 ACRES REU program! Read about their successful summer filled with research and development and hear from students about the impact of their time in the program.
Addressing Security Vulnerabilties in Smart Homes
Internet of Things provides users with great convenience in smart homes but have potential vulnerabilities that can compromise security and privacy. ICER user and former Cloud Computing Fellow Guangjing Wang has proposed a solution.
ICER at the MSU Science Festival
Stop by ICER's booth at the MSU Science Festival expo zone! While supplies last, pick up a free pair of VR glasses to take the 360-degree virtual tour of MSU's supercomputer and grab a copy of our beautifully illustrated graphic novel about supercomputing. We also have a "silicon petting zoo" for a hands-on experience with supercomputer parts, and a simulation designed to introduce the concept of parallel computing.
Biologically Inspired Artificial Immune Systems for Computers
When her biological immune system failed her, Katherine Skocelas became fascinated with natural and digital immunity. How a PhD student, she develops biologically-inspired artifical immune system algorithms.
New AMD22 Cluster CPU Nodes Ready for Use
The new 'AMD22' CPU cluster nodes are ready for use ahead of schedule! The cluster contains buy-in and non-buy-in nodes connected with a high-speed 100 gigabit network.
Introducing the 2022 MSU Cloud Computing Fellows
We are proud to introduce the latest cohort of the MSU Cloud Computing Fellowship. The fellows have begun phase one: a series of educational group sessions and workshops about cloud computing.
ICER Welcomes New Director of User Support: Dr. Dirk Colbry
ICER communications recently stopped by Dr. Dirk Colbry's office to chat about his new role as the Director of User Support at ICER.
Ripples in Space Reveal Information about Distant Explosions
Much like the ripples in a pond, ripples in space provide information to an observer about the source of the ripple. Check out our research highlight to see how Dr. Mike Pajkos studies gravitational waves to gain new information about our cosmos.
Learning to Think in Parallel: From Fieldwork to High-Performance Computing
For Dr. Rachel Toczydlowski, the title Computational Biologist still seems strange. Having started her career with fieldwork, adding the descriptor "computational" did not feel natural. Incorporating high-performance computing into her repertoire has opened new avenues and changed aspects of how...
Grant Awarded for Accessible Supercomputer: MSU Data Machine
Although the phrase "high-performance computing" traditionally conjures images of a computer scientist more so than a social scientist, the reality is that many diverse areas of research benefit from access to the advanced computational capacity offered by a high-performance computing center (HPCC...
MSU Science Festival: Supercomputing in 360 Degrees!
Check out ICER's virtual booth at the MSU Science Festival! While supplies last, pick up a pair of free ICER VR glasses during Science in the Gardens. You can explore the content below anytime, and be sure to check out the live virtual presentation that includes a Q&A with a supercomputing...
Carl Fields Tackles the Largest Questions of our Universe
Left photo credit: Adele Han, Right Photo credit: Neulyn Moss The illustrious arc of Dr. Carl Fields' time in graduate school at Michigan State University recently concluded as he began his postdoctoral research at Los Alamos National Laboratory. He continues working to answer some of the largest...
Letter From the Director: Survey Results Inform Future Directions
Dear colleagues, I'm writing to you regarding the survey that ICER recently administered to our allocation Pls and users, as well as to potential users of research computing. I would like to express my thanks to the 462 people who took the time to complete the survey. It is clear that ICER's...
Tracking the Progress of Your Submitted Ticket
Each ticket submitted to ICER has a corresponding webpage that hosts all the correspondence between ICER staff and the user who filed the ticket. Along with the emails written back and forth, a web view can greatly enhance readability and, more importantly, help you keep track of the progress of...
Introducing the 2021 MSU Cloud Computing Fellows
MSU's Institute for Cyber-Enabled Research (ICER) and the ITS Analytics and Data Solutions (ADS) group are proud to announce the next cohort of MSU Cloud Computing Fellows! Congratulations to: Ann Alex, Ph.D./ Institute for Quantitative Health Science & Engineering Giovan Cholico, Ph.D /...
MSU Cloud Computing Fellowship - Application Deadline Friday, July 30, 2021
Dear colleagues, MSU's Institute for Cyber-Enabled Research and MSU IT Services are accepting applications from MSU doctoral students and postdoctoral researchers to join the third cohort of MSU Cloud Computing Fellows. We particularly encourage applicants from areas that do not typically use...
Cloud Computing Fellowship Culminates in Impressive Symposium
What do movie trailers, rib fractures, and mummified corn have in common? Admittedly, not a lot. One similarity is that these topics, and many more, were explored by the MSU 2020 Cloud Computing Fellowship cohort.
Prevent File Loss on the HPCC
From time to time, we receive requests from users to restore their deleted files. In this article, we would like to share with our users some tips and tricks for preventing file loss. First, users will need to understand the file system on HPCC so that they can store their files in the right...
Using Powertools With the HPCC
Powertoolds is a collection of software tools and examples that allows researchers to better utilize High Performance Computing (HPC) systems. Powertools was created to help advanced users use the High Performance Computer Center (HPCC) more effectively. By default, powertools is loaded when users...
Using OnDemand for Python Programming on the MSU HPCC
Click the link below to learn more about using OnDemand for Python programming on MSU's HPCC. This instructional document contains a step-by-step explanation with screenshots that will guide users through the start-up process. Instructional Document: Using OnDemand for Python Programming Laura...
Checklist to Improve Your Job's Scheduling Time
Here is a checklist to help improve your job's scheduling time: 1. Run command "sq <NetID>" or "squeue -u <NetID>" to show the jobs in the queue. If a job is Pending, the last column will show the reason provided by SLURM. Here are common reasons with their meaning: a. Priority: Job...
Letter From the Director: Support for Instructors
Dear Colleagues, now that the spring semester is over and you have submitted your grades, I am writing to let you know about some FREE tools and services that the Institute for Cyber-Enabled Research (CER) provides for MSU instructors who are interested in increasing the amount of computation or...
MATLAB 2021a Is Installed and Ready For Use
As many users may have noticed, the MATLAB/2021a module has been installed on HPCC and is ready for use. Users can check the release note for details of changes at this link. Among the changes and updates in the new version, there is one thing I would like to bring to the attention of Matlab users...
Supercomputing Resources for Social Scientists at MSU
ICER's Director of Training, Dr. Laura Harris, will present Supercomputing Resources for Social Scientists at MSU on Friday, May 14th, at noon. This presentation will be part of MSU's Social Science Data Analytics (SSDA) initiative. "At the Institute for Cyber-Enabled Research (ICER), we provide....
SLURM Job Failure Due to the "oom" Error
Many users have asked us how to deal with error messages such as: slurmstepd: error: Detected 2 oom-kill event(s) in StepId=xxxxx.batch cgroup. In the above message, oom stands for "out of memory". It means that your process needs more memory than what is available. Therefore, you need to request...
Faster Distributed Machine Learning for Free
If one computer can process a set of data in 10 hours, it would be reasonable to assume that 10 computers could process that data in one hour. The research of Xiaorui Liu, an MSU graduate student in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering, reveals that this is not the case. The...
Announcing the 2021 HPC-AI Challenge
The Internationa Society for Computational Biology is pleased to announce the HPC-AI Advisory Council (HPCAIAC) and National Supercomputing Centre (NSCC) Singapore 2021 APAC HPC-AI Competition. High-performance computing and artifical intelligence are the most essential tools fueling the...
Combining Artificial Intelligence and Chemistry to Identify Molecules
At the intersection of artificial intelligence and chemisty, Kiyoto Tanemura is working to develop a method for identifying molecules based on information about the nature of their collisions. Tanemura, and MSU graduate student studying computational chemistry in the lab of Dr. Kenneth Merz, Jr.,...
Using Deep Learning to Enhance Fingerprint Biometrics
Joshua Engelsma is a graduate student in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering at MSU. Advised by Dr. Anil Jain, he works on pattern recognition and image processing with multiple applications in biometrics. Joshua's interest in this field came from undergrad, when he was exploring...
ICER Student Highlights: Zhuowen Zhao
Understanding Plastic Deformation in Polycrystalline Metallic Materials using Solid Mechanics Simulation and Machine Learning. Zhuowen Zhao is graduate student pursuing a PhD in Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science (CHEMS) at Michigan State University. His research under...
ICER Research Highlights Receives Two Silver Telly Awards
We are proud to announce that two ICER Research Highlights documentary shorts have won Silver Awards at the 41st Telly Awards this part May. The videos, produced and edited by Ms. Xiaoxing (Adele) Han, were selected from 13,000+ entries from all 50 states and 5 continents. The awards honor...
ICER Student Highlights: Alex Wright
Managing Natural Resources to Facilitate Biodiversity Alex Wright is a Ph.D candidate in the Department of Integrative Biology at Michigan State University. There, he works under Dr. Elise Zipkin as part of the Zipkin Quantitative Ecology Lab. The primary focus of his research is to "solve...
ICER Student Highlights: Erik Amezquita
Using Topology & Morphology to Quantify & Contextualize 3D Plant Structures Erik Amezquita is a second year Ph.D. student in the department of Computational Science, Mathematics, and Engineering (CMSE) at MSU. There, he works under the guidance of Dr. Elizabeth Munch and Dr. Dan Chitwood...
ICER Student Highlights: Tyler Derr
Preducting Friends and Foes Online with Deep Learning Models. Tyler Derr is a graduate student in the department of Computer Science and Engineering at MSU. He works in the Data Science and Engineering (DSE) Lab under Dr. Jiliang Tang and his research centers around network analysis with a...
ICER Student Highlights: Anna Yannakopoulos
Using Machine Learning to Decode Complex Diseases. Anna Yannakopoulos is a graduate student in the Department of Computational Science, Mathematics, and Engineering at MSU. Under the advisement of Arjun Krishnan, she works on uncovering the genetic basis for disease in humans. To do this...
Delving Deep into Elementary Particles with HPCC
Huey-Wen Lin is an assistant professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy, and Computational Science, Mathematics, and Engineering (CMSE) at Michigan State. Here, she studies the properties of the fundamental subatomic building blocks of matter. She takes particular interest in using HPCC...
ICER Student Highlights: Kayla Johnson
Advancing Medical Treatment with RNA Sequencing Kayla Johnson is a graduate student in the departments of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology and Computational Mathematics, Science, and Engineering at Michigan State University. Here, she works under Dr. Arjun Krishnan to analyze genomic data and...
ICER Future Directions
We are delighted to announce the appointment of Dr. Brian O'Shea as the new director of the Institute for Cyber-Enabled Research as of July 1st, 2019. Dr. O'Shea is a computational and theoretical astrophysicist who studies cosmological structure formation, including galaxy formation and the...
ICER Welcomes New HPC Administrator
We are pleased to announce the recent hiring of Joel Parks to the position of HPC Administrator. Joel has over ten years experience in the IT field, a degree in Computer Networking and RHCSA certification (Red Hat Certified System Administrator). Prior to transitioning to ICER, he worked with...
Culmination of the 2022 Cloud Computing Fellowship
The Michigan State University Cloud Computing Fellowship has completed another exciting and engaging year that highlighted the significance of using computational methods among many fields of research. The Cloud Computing Fellowship introduces its cohorts to new opportunities to further their...
Install Software on the HPCC With EasyBuild
Do you need software that isn't installed on the HPCC? Maybe a newer version of something your work relies on? Or something that your whole research group could benefit from? Don't be afraid to install it yourself! We have just added documentation for EasyBuild, a program that can build and install…
What can the MSU Data Machine do for you?
The MSU Data Machine is a supercomputer with a low barrier to entry that is optimized for data-intensive research, machine learning (ML), and artificial intelligence (AI) applications. The compute resources are paired with training resources designed to help researchers and students get started...
ICER Student Highlights: Jake Reske
Applying Genomics to Develop an Understanding of Uterine Cancer Jake Reske is a graudate student at Michigan State University's biomedical research center in Grand Rapids. He studies Genetics and Genome Sciences in the department of Obstetrics, Gynecology & Reproductive Biology (OBGYN) and...
ICER Welcomes New Research Consultant
Dr. Mahmoud Parvizi is the newest ICER Research Consultant. Before joining ICER, Dr. Parvizi was a postdoctoral research associate in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at Michigan State University with a focus on machine learning applications of cloud-computing workflows. He earned his PhD in...
ICER Welcomes New HPC Administrator
We are pleased to announce the recent hiring of Adam Pitcher to the position of HPC Administrator. Adam is a lifelong Spartan. Having graduated from Michigan State University in 1999 with a BS in Computer Science and Engineering, he came back a year later as a system administrator for Computer...
ICER Welcomes New Business Staff
Jamie is excited to join the ICER business team and looking forward to getting to know everyone in the computational computing field. Jamie is new to campus. She has been in the financial services industry for the past 20 years, where she handled customer service, compliance, and everything in...
Annual CPU and GPU Hour Limits Have Been Reset
Per ICER policy, non-buyin users are limited to 500,000 CPU hours and 10,000 GPU hours every calendar year. With the turn of the new year, these counters have been reset. If you have any questions about these limits or the reset, please contact us. Steven FordICER System Administrator
New Documentation Feedback Option
ICER's public documentation wiki pages have a new feature that allows users to easily and quickly provide feedback. At the bottom of the wiki pages, there is a frowning face and a smiling face that users can click to let us know how we're doing. If a user clicks on the frowning face, there will be...
What is the purpose of scheduled downtimes on the HPCC?
Anyone who has contacted tech support knows that the first question they ask is "have you tried turning it off and back on again?" A high-performance computing center (HPCC) also needs regular downtime and maintenance to keep things running smoothly. Reminder: Upcoming Maintenance Window Beginning...
Decoding Disinformation: Agent-Based Modeling with David Butts
Chronic wasting disease in deer and disinformation on social media have something in common: they spread. David Butts has explored both research areas in graduate school by creating computer simulations to model their spreading properties. He used the models to test mitigation strategies and...
Sign up to be a mentor for the Summer 2023 ACRES REU! (Deadline 10/28)
Dear Colleagues, The Advanced Computational Research Experience for Students (ACRES) REU is looking for mentors for its Summer 2023 cohort! ACRES is an interdisciplinary computational and data science REU that takes place every summer on MSU's campus. This is a highly competitive program with...
HPCC System Info
ICER’s public documentation is one of the best sources of immediate information for new and experienced High-Performance Computing Center (HPCC) users searching for technical information. Search ICER’s public documentation or check out the links below to go directly to the page you need. Hardware:...
Warm Holiday Wishes From the ICER Team
Please enjoy this digital postcard created by the ICER team to wish you a happy holiday season! We are proud to help facilitate the impressive work that is done by our users. Thank you for your support, and we look forward to working with you in 2022!
Troubleshooting Failed HPCC Jobs
If your submitted job has failed, the first thing to investigate is the SLURM output file. Most of the time, the error message in the output file will provide clues for fixing the problem. If not, the next step is to try to run the command in the job script directly on a dev-node. Usually, the...
Diversifying Data Science
R-Ladies East Lansing - a local chapter of R-Ladies, a global organization - is a vibrant community focused on providing a safe environment for women and gender minorities in-and-around MSU to discuss, learn, and teach anything pertaining to R (a popular statistical programming language) and data...
Arrival of the New 2020 Cluster
We are pleased to announce that the parts of the new 2020 cluster have arrived. We are currently in the process of putting it together and doing all the necessary testing. We anticipate the new cluster will be available in mid-September. Please let us know if you have any questions. Photo credit...
Stay Up to Date with HPCC System Status
Staying up to date with HPCC system status helps users ensure a smooth workflow and determine the cause of issues that can arise during maintenance. What does the system downtime mean to HPCC users? From ICER's most recent downtime on August 17th, 2021: All interactive access will be disabled (...
Software Installation
ICER currently has over 900 different software installed and available to users on the HPCC. Counting the different versions of each software, there are more than 5,000 versions of system-wide software installations on the HPCC system, and that number is increasing monthly. Each month we receive...
Introducing Lab Notebooks in User Documentation
ICER Documentation now features a new section called Lab Notebooks. In contrast to general information and tutorials found in the rest of the documentation, these notebooks are meant to detail how to solve very specific problems that ICER staff have helped users with on the HPCC. For example, a...
ICER User Support Resources
Recently, we created a Microsoft Teams channel (here is the channel link) named "User Forum", which is a digital gathering space for users to discuess HPCC topics. This space is designed for users to interact with each other. For example, a user might have a question about a specialized topic in a....
An Even Easier Way to Write and Run Code on the HPCC With Browser-Based VS Code
ICER has introduced a new application available through OnDemand called “Code Server”, an implementation of Visual Studio Code run directly from your browser. Users can edit files, run code, access terminals, and use any features of VS Code natively on the HPCC without needing to set up any new…
Easier Way to Launch Interactive Jobs on the HPCC
We have a new, easier way to launch interactive jobs on the HPCC! The “interact” script wraps around “salloc” to provide sensible defaults for interactive jobs of 1 core on 1 node for 1 hour. You can request a specific time with the “-t” option, e.g. “interact -t 4:00:00” for 4 hours. It also has…
Using VS Code to Connect to the HPCC
If you’re a Visual Studio Code user (or want to be one), check out these tips! Did you know you can use VS Code to connect to the HPCC? You can edit files, access terminals, and run commands on the HPCC directly from VS Code. To get started, follow these instructions on our documentation. Are you…
Mapping HPC Drives With SSHFS
HPCC is now recommending SSHFS as the preferred method when mounting HPCC filesystems on a local system. Different from SMB mapping, which can only map to home or research space via MSU campus network, this method can also work on your scratch space and uses any internet network. Updated...
Bioinformatics Consulting Service Survey (deadline: 8/19)
Dear Colleagues, MSU's Institute for Cyber-Enabled Research and Research Technology Support Facility are exploring needs related to a potential bioinformatics consulting program. Our goal is to gain a better understanding of the populations of MSU researchers that may require a bioinformatics...
MSU Cloud Computing Fellowship - Application deadline August 12, 2022
Dear Colleagues, Please share this with any graduate students or postdoctoral researchers that you think might be interested! MSU's Institute fro Cyber-Enabled Research and MSU IT Services are accepting applications from MSU doctoral students and postdoctoral researchers to join the fourth cohort...
Changes to the GS21 SCRATCH Filesystem
Do you have data on SCRATCH filesystems that hasn’t been modified in 45 days? Starting February 15, 2023, this data will be routinely deleted. This is a long-time feature that has been disabled for the last six months. Save your data by moving it into your home or research areas. What is SCRATCH...
Help with SSH Key-Based Authentication
We have had a high volume of tickets requesting help with SSH key-based authentication in the past week after we switched to this requirement for the rsync.hpcc.msu.edu file transfer gateway. This particularly affects users who use the software FileZilla for their file transfer needs. We have....
Seeking nominations for ICER's new User Advisory Board (deadline 9/21)
Dear Colleagues, The Institute for Cyber-Enabled Research is creating a User Advisory Board (UAB) that will provide guidance to ICER in its mission to provide exceptional support for MSU's research computing needs, and we are seeking nominations for members of this group. It is our intent that the...
Letter From the Director: Cluster Buy-in (Deadline 10/4/2022)
Dear Colleagues, The Institute for Cyber-Enabled Research is in the midst of buying a new cluster in order to increase our computing capacity. I'm writing to you regarding the opportunity to buy CPU and/or GPU nodes for this machine, with a request for commitments by no later than October 4, 2022...
Migrating to New Scratch: gs21
Recently, ICER announced the release of the new gs21 scratch system (see the announcement here) AND the retirement of ls15 and gs18 scratch space (sometimes referred to as "old scratch space" below). We would like to bring attention to the following: (1) Highlight the important dates mentioned in...
New Scratch System gs21 and Retirement of ls15 and gs18
We are excited to announce the general release of our new gs21 scratch system, now available at /mnt/gs21/scratch on all user systems, including gateways, development nodes, and the compute cluster. The new scratch system provides 3 PB of space for researchers and allows us to continue to maintain...
New 'Scavenger' Queue Does Not Count Against Standard HPCC Limits
On May 11th, 2022, ICER deployed a new 'scavenger' queue that allows users to run preemptable jobs on idle cores. Jobs running in this queue are not limited by the regular queues' limits on running jobs and do not count against yearly usage totals, but they may be canceled at any time to allow...
Go Above and Beyond Using the HPCC's New Scavenger Queue
On May 11th, 2022, ICER will deploy a new 'scavenger' queue that will allows users to run preemptable jobs on idle cores. They will not be limited by the regular queues' limits on running jobs and do not count against yearly usage totals, but they may be canceled at any time to allow general or buy-....
CPU and GPU Hour Credits for Node Failures
ICER has identified an issue with the way CPU usage is recorded on our system, and we have implemented a fix to address it. To ensure fair access to computing resources, researchers using the HPCC who have not bought cluster hardware have an annual usage limit of 500,000 CPU Hours and 10,000 GPU...
Jupyter Notebook Corner: Artificial Neural Networks
Download the lesson materials. An artificial neural network (ANN) is a deep learning algorithn using artificial intelligence. ANNs consist of layers of interconnected artificial neurons (i.e., nodes) powered by activation functions (i.e., mathematical formula to determine if the neuron is switched...
Facts About SLURM Usage
Recently, we received a ticket from a buy-in account user asking a question about SLURM usage quota. The following list contains useful information about SLURM CPU/GPU usage quota shown in the output of the command "SLURMUsage" for general and buy-in users. The "SLURMUsage" command only takes the...
The Cloud Computing Fellowhship Enters Second Phase
The 2021 Cloud Computing Fellows have been hard at work completing the first phase of the fellowship. "The MSU ICER Cloud Computing Fellowship began with a series of group session that introduced the fellows to the concept of cloud computing using commercial cloud resources made available through...
User-Friendly HPCC Access with OnDemand
ICER would like to remind users and prospective users about the Open OnDemand resource. OnDemand is an open-source software that uses graphical interfaces to provide easy web access to HPCC resources. ICER users can avoid the command line with this user-friendly option. The features of the web...
ICER Support for Computationally-Focused Workshops
ICER is happy to support computationally focused workshops in a variety of ways. Workshop organizers can request ICER assistance with the following: Have an ICER Research Consultant (RC) meet with the workshop organizers to discuss options to make the workshop as user-friendly as possible from a...
Using Rclone to Manage Files on Cloud Storage
Rclone is a command line program that manages files on cloud storage, and it is installed on HPCC. Some HPCC users manage files on their cloud storage with Rclone as an alternative to the cloud provider's web storage interface. It can perform operations on files and directories such as sync, copy,...
Announcing the 2021 HPC-AI Challenge
The Internationa Society for Computational Biology is pleased to announce the HPC-AI Advisory Council (HPCAIAC) and National Supercomputing Centre (NSCC) Singapore 2021 APAC HPC-AI Competition. High-performance computing and artifical intelligence are the most essential tools fueling the...
Computational & Data Science Fellowships
Do you know of students who are studying data science or computing applications, and who are either women or members of an underrepresented group? Please share this information with them - it could be worth $15,000 per year. Nominations are now open for ACM SIGHPC's international program of...
GPU and CPU Usage Limitation Imposed on General Accounts
As many of our users have noticed, the HPCC job policy was updated recently. SLURM now enforces the CPU and GPU hour limit on general accounts. The command "SLURMUsage" now includes the report of both CPU and GPU usage. For general account users, the limit of CPU usage is reduced from 1,000,000 to...
Cloud Computing for Research Roundtable - RSVP Requested
When: Thursday March 18, 2021, 3-4:30 p.m. Where: Via Zoom (register here) - please RSVP via this link by 3/11/2021. MSU's Research Facilitation Network is delighted to announce its next event: a roundtable discussion about cloud computing and its potential to enhance research at MSU. The event...
Letter From the Director
Dear Colleagues, I'm delighted to announce to new people have joined ICER's ranks: Ms. Michelle David, or new Communications Manager, and Dr. Laura Harris, our new Director of Training. I welcome them to ICER and to Michigan State University, and am excited to see the new ways in which they will...
New Feature: Application Icons on Desktop
Have you ever wished that using HPCC was more like using your personal computer? Forget about the frustrations of command lines and job scripts. We are working on one-click app icons on your desktop in the session of HPCC OnDemand. Yes, just one click to run your favorite applications on HPCC. (...
Announcing the MSU Research Services Catalog and Research Consulting Service
Two new resources offered by the MSU Research Facilitation Networks are now available for all MSU researchers: the Research Technology and Support Service Catalog, and a related Research Consulting service. The Research Technology and Support Service Catalog can be found at this link, and is a...
Keeping Up-to-date with HPCC Wiki Documentation
Using the HPCC wiki is an important way to troubleshoot problems by yourself. These documents are updated frequently and it's helpful to be able to see a list of the most recent updates. To do this, go to docs.icer.msu.edu and click "Dashboard" at the top of the page. You should see a chronological...
Update to Computing Time Quotas Starting in January 2021
Starting on January 1, 2021, ICER will begin enforcing a limit of 500,000 core-hours per user per calendar year on the "general" (publicly-available) HPCC compute nodes, which is a reduction from the current limit of 1 million core-hours. Users who exceed this limit will no longer be able to...
2020 MSU Cloud Computing Fellows
MSU's Institute of Cyber-Enabled Research (ICER) and the ITS Analytics and Data Solutions (ADS) group are proud to announce the second cohort of MSU Cloud Computing Fellows! Congratulations to: Meng Cai (Urban & Regional Planning) Dr. Dae Kwan Ko (Biological Netwoks) Dr. David Luecke (Electric...
AMD20 General Availability and ls15 purge
General availability for the AMD20 cluster (ICER's new supercomputer) began at 9 AM on Tuesday, September 29th. Please report any issues that you see to ICER through the help ticket system. We also re-enabled the automatic 45 day purge on /mnt/ls15/ on October 1st. For more information of the ADM20...
First Cohort of MSU Cloud Computing Fellows
In November 2019, MSU's Institute for Cyber-Enabled Research and the IT Services Analytics and Data Solutions group hosted the first cohort of MSU Cloud Computing Fellows. Last year, seventeen doctoral and postdoctoral researchers from different disciplines were selected to participate and...
Resolving Python Conflict
Upon login to a dev-node, a default module list will load automatically. Since Python/3.6.4 is included in the list, it can interfere with a user's conda environment. As a consequence, your program may not be able to find packages installed in your conda environment even if it has been activated...
Streamline Your Storage Billing
Greetings from the Business Team of ICER. We know how important your time is to you and your research so to get you back to doing what you love, we are now offering an enhanced service to streamline your storage billings to have them renew at the same time. The next time you have storage that is up...
Tips for HPCC dev-node usage
When you connect to any of the HPCC's dev-nodes, you will see the following message: "processes on development nodes are limited to two hours of CPU time." The two hour CPU time limit is for each process you run on that dev-node. If one process uses CPU time greater than 2 hours, then only that...
ICER Supercomputer Buy-In (TIME-SENSITIVE - Deadline Tues. 4/7/2020)
Dear Colleagues, The Institute for Cyber-Enabled Research is preparing to purchase a new supercomputer. As a consequence, I am writing to you regarding the opportunity to buy into this machine, with a request for an answer with a very short turnaround time - no later than the end of the day next...
COVID-19 Research and ICER Queue Times
Dear users of the MSU HPCC, we will be dedicating a significant fraction of ICER's general-access nodes to a computational research program that has direct relevance to the current COVID-19 pandemic. As jobs complete over the next week, we will be transferring nodes over to this project, which...
How to deactivate conda base environment
Many users have reported that after a local installation of Anaconda on the HPCC, their lgoin prompt changes to something starting with "(base -bash-4.2$". This is because conda activates the default environment, "base", upon startup. To disable this behavior, which often results in conflicts with...
ICER Business Continuity during COVID-19
Dear HPCC users, as part of MSU's response to COVID-19, ICER is transitioning to an online-only support model. All HPCC services will continue as normal. The contact form is the preferred way to contact us: https://contact.icer.msu.edu Monday and Thursday regularly scheduled open office hours.
Issues with Copying Files to Your HPCC Research Space
Many users have reported problems copying or transferring files to their research space. Although their research space still has plenty available space, they get the following error message: "failed to ... ... Disk quota exceeded". This problem may occur because the folders which you copy or...
Important Changes to ICER's Newsletter
Starting in 2020, ICER will be transitioning to publishing bimonthly newsletters as opposed to the traditional monthly newsletter. Please note that ICER's Service Report and Ticket Highlights will still be posted monthly. Urgent news will also still be posted to social media and by special...
Using Python on HPCC System
We have received many questions about using Python on the HPCC system. We suggest two methods: users can install their own version of Python with Anaconda or use the versions of Python installed on the HPCC system. To support our users, a wiki page particularly addressing these questions is...
Frontera Computational Science Fellowship
THURSDAY, January 9, 2020 - The year-long Frontera Fellowship Program provides an opportunity for graduate students to compute on the most powerful academic supercomputer in the world, and collaborate with experts at the Texas Advanced Computing Center. 50,000 node-hours on Frontera Paid summer..
SC19: HPC is Now
DENVER - The International Conference for High Performance Computing (HPC), Networking, Storage, and Analysis (SC19) was held at the Denver Convention Center (November 17-22). ICER faculty and staff represented Michigan State University (MSU) during SC19 as an exhibitor on the floor of the...
HPCC FAQ
We have been working on putting together frequently asked questions from HPCC users and created a FAQ at FAQ - MSU HPCC User Documentation. If you are a new user or don't use HPCC servers very frequently, this might be a good place to start when you have questions. We will update this list as we...
Undergraduate Research: XSEDE EMPOWER Program
Engage in a variety of XSEDE activities, such as computational and/or data analytics research and education in all fields of study, networking, system mainenance and support, visualization, and more. Apply to be a mentor or a student participant. The program provides a stipend for studnets and...
2019 MSU HPC Buy-in Survey
Dear MSU researcher, ICER is planning to make a purchase of computational hardware in the next several months, to be deployed in summer 2020. We are attempting to gauge interest in participation in this HPC buy-in, as well as the tpyes of hardware that we will offer for purchase. Broadly speaking...
Rclone on HPCC
Rclone is currently installed on HPCC. This software supports research in the cloud; and helps HPCC users to sync files and directories between MSU's HPCC and their cloud storage, including OneDrive and Google Drive. Instructions for starting Rclone on HPCC are provided in the HPCC documentation...
MSU Cloud Computing Fellows
MSU's Institute of Cyber-Enabled Research (ICER) and the ITS Analytics and Data Solutions (ADS) group are proud to announce the first cohort of MSU Cloud Computing Fellows! The MSU Cloud Computing Fellowship is a research opportunity that includes participation in a series of workshops that center...
Why not to use Google Search for HPCC Wiki Pages
Do you need login (with a username and password) to visit our wiki pages? The answer is definitely no. If you encounter this situation while visiting our web site, you may be trying to access one of our unavailable pages (from google search or your previous links). Please use our main wiki page...
MSU Cloud Computing Fellowship - Application deadline Sept. 27, 2019
MSU's Institute of Cyber-Enabled Research and the ITS Analytics and Data Solutions group are accepting applications from MSU doctoral students and postdoctoral researchers to join the first cohort of MSU Cloud Computing Fellows. As a part of this program, you will participate in a series of 3-4...
R package R2OpenBUGS available on the HPCC
OpenBUGS is a software package that performs Bayesian inference Using Gibbs Sampling. The latest version of OpenBUGS on the HPCC is 3.2.3. R2OpenBUGS is an R package that allows users to run OpenBUGS from R. To load R and OpenBUGS, run: module purgemodule load GCC/.3.0-2.30 OpenMPI/3.1.1 R/3.5.1...
Update on ICER Disk System
Dear HPCC users, as you know, we've been moving all users over to a new file system, IBM's Spectrum Scale (previously called GPFS). The process of moving all files from the older disk system to the new home, ufs18, has been completed. We have been working diligently with IBM to get all features of...
Grant support for computational & data science REU supplements
Researchers with existing NSF grants or applying for new or continuing grants may apply for a NSF Research Experience for Undergraduate (REU) supplement to support up to two undergraduate research assistants. If your grant has a computational or data science research focus and you wish to...
Computational and Data Science Fellowships
Dear users of the MSU HPCC, We will be dedicating a significant fraction of ICER’s general-access nodes to a computational research program that has direct relevance to the current COVID-19 pandemic. As jobs complete over the next week, we will be transferring nodes over to this project, which...