Altair Case Studies PBS Professional Manages Workload for Czech National Supercomputing Center

	PBS Professional Manages Workload for Czech National Supercomputing Center Altair

PBS Professional Manages Workload for Czech National Supercomputing Center

Altair

Applicable Functions	Procurement Product Research & Development
Use Cases	Real-Time Location System (RTLS) Usage-Based Insurance
Services	System Integration
Challenge	The National Supercomputing Center IT4Innovations, a research institute at the VŠB - Technical University of Ostrava (VŠBTUO) in the Czech Republic, was faced with the challenge of supporting the needs of a massive supercomputing system with a large, diverse user base. The supercomputer, being built in two parts, was expected to be one of the 100 most powerful supercomputers in the world upon completion in 2015. The Center had six research directions dealing with a wide variety of computational problems, including real-time traffic analysis/management, flood modeling/predictions, air pollution modeling/preventions, molecular dynamics simulations, and modeling of new materials. Given the wide variety of users and applications, IT4I realized they needed a reliable, high-performing workload management product for the Supercomputing Center’s users. The procurement procedure demanded an advanced job scheduler and resource manager along with advanced tools for utilization analysis. Read More
About Customer	The National Supercomputing Center IT4Innovations is a research institute at the VŠB - Technical University of Ostrava (VŠBTUO) in the Czech Republic, funded by the EU Operational Programme Research and Development for Innovation. The Center is utilized by hundreds of researchers from leading institutes across the Czech Republic. Since 2011, IT4Innovations has been part of the prestigious European network of PRACE supercomputing centers and thus provides resources to other European researchers as well. The Center is building a unique supercomputer to support the leading-edge computational research that will be performed by the Center’s users. Read More
Solution	After evaluating many commercial and open source products, the experts at Bull recommended Altair’s PBS Professional® as the workload manager to fulfill the tight requirements for the scheduler in this procurement. The decision was confirmed by the director of Supercomputing Services at IT4I, who stated that PBS Professional provides one of the most advanced and mature solutions. The experts at IT4Innovations Supercomputing Services department used their previous experience with PBS Professional to define the functional criteria for the new desired scheduler. PBS Professional was chosen due to its ease of implementation and use, and its ability to meet all functional requirements. The IT4I National Supercomputing Center also implemented PBS Analytics for user analytics and reporting. Read More Log in to view content
Contents

Applicable Functions

Procurement

Product Research & Development

Use Cases

Real-Time Location System (RTLS)

Usage-Based Insurance

Services

System Integration

Challenge

The National Supercomputing Center IT4Innovations, a research institute at the VŠB - Technical University of Ostrava (VŠBTUO) in the Czech Republic, was faced with the challenge of supporting the needs of a massive supercomputing system with a large, diverse user base. The supercomputer, being built in two parts, was expected to be one of the 100 most powerful supercomputers in the world upon completion in 2015. The Center had six research directions dealing with a wide variety of computational problems, including real-time traffic analysis/management, flood modeling/predictions, air pollution modeling/preventions, molecular dynamics simulations, and modeling of new materials. Given the wide variety of users and applications, IT4I realized they needed a reliable, high-performing workload management product for the Supercomputing Center’s users. The procurement procedure demanded an advanced job scheduler and resource manager along with advanced tools for utilization analysis.

About Customer

The National Supercomputing Center IT4Innovations is a research institute at the VŠB - Technical University of Ostrava (VŠBTUO) in the Czech Republic, funded by the EU Operational Programme Research and Development for Innovation. The Center is utilized by hundreds of researchers from leading institutes across the Czech Republic. Since 2011, IT4Innovations has been part of the prestigious European network of PRACE supercomputing centers and thus provides resources to other European researchers as well. The Center is building a unique supercomputer to support the leading-edge computational research that will be performed by the Center’s users.

Solution

After evaluating many commercial and open source products, the experts at Bull recommended Altair’s PBS Professional® as the workload manager to fulfill the tight requirements for the scheduler in this procurement. The decision was confirmed by the director of Supercomputing Services at IT4I, who stated that PBS Professional provides one of the most advanced and mature solutions. The experts at IT4Innovations Supercomputing Services department used their previous experience with PBS Professional to define the functional criteria for the new desired scheduler. PBS Professional was chosen due to its ease of implementation and use, and its ability to meet all functional requirements. The IT4I National Supercomputing Center also implemented PBS Analytics for user analytics and reporting.

Impact #1	According to IT4I National Supercomputing Center administrators, the biggest value of choosing PBS Professional is the quick and easy adoption and usage. PBS Professional was delivered pre-installed by Bull, so users at the Center could get up and running quickly. IT4I was able to easily customize the product to their needs by analyzing user and operational needs, then implementing customizations during initial stages of the project. On the Anselm cluster, new applications are being installed on a daily basis, and the Center plans to evaluate other Altair technologies as part of their preparation for future expansion. Most applications being run by PBS Professional are codes developed by users or open source software, however, commercial software such as ANSYS, EnSight, LS-DYNA, MATLAB and COMSOL are already present.

Impact #1

According to IT4I National Supercomputing Center administrators, the biggest value of choosing PBS Professional is the quick and easy adoption and usage. PBS Professional was delivered pre-installed by Bull, so users at the Center could get up and running quickly. IT4I was able to easily customize the product to their needs by analyzing user and operational needs, then implementing customizations during initial stages of the project. On the Anselm cluster, new applications are being installed on a daily basis, and the Center plans to evaluate other Altair technologies as part of their preparation for future expansion. Most applications being run by PBS Professional are codes developed by users or open source software, however, commercial software such as ANSYS, EnSight, LS-DYNA, MATLAB and COMSOL are already present.

Benefit #1	The supercomputer is expected to be one of the 100 most powerful supercomputers in the world.
Benefit #2	Over 100 active users at the IT4I National Supercomputing Center are using PBS Professional.
Benefit #3	The Anselm supercomputer, managed by PBS Professional, has an Rpeak approx. 94 TFLOP/s.

Benefit #1

The supercomputer is expected to be one of the 100 most powerful supercomputers in the world.

Benefit #2

Over 100 active users at the IT4I National Supercomputing Center are using PBS Professional.

Benefit #3

The Anselm supercomputer, managed by PBS Professional, has an Rpeak approx. 94 TFLOP/s.

Download PDF Version

Overview

PBS Professional Manages Workload for Czech National Supercomputing Center

Operational Impact

Quantitative Benefit