VSC (Flemish Super Computer)

Getting Started on the VSC (Tier-2 at UAntwerpen)

It is highly recommended to use the VSC. If you have questions about this, don’t hesitate to ask!

Read the documentation. The VSC is not long-term storage.

Personal Account

  1. Go to the VSC documentation and follow the steps under “New VSC Account: UAntwerpen (AUHA)” to set up your account.
  2. If you have any issues, contact the system administrator.

With this account, you can store a limited number of files. Storage is subject to quotas, which you can check with:

myquota

This will show your current usage and available storage. For more details, visit Calcua.

  • Overview of the quotas for storage on the Tier-2 VSC (Calcua website). overview quotas calcua overview_quotas

Getting Compute Resources (Groups & Projects)

If you want to run computations, you need to be added to a group. Each group has projects with specific compute and storage allocations.

To check which groups and projects you have access to:

groups
myprojectaccounts
  • Snapshot of the output of the groups command and the myprojectaccounts command on the VSC Tier-2. Snapshot of groups output etc

If you need to be added to a group, contact your group leader or request access via the VSC account portal.

Making a group

If you are a group leader, you can make a group via your personal account on the VSC with the button “New/Join Group”.

Connecting to the UA Tier-2 Cluster

Once your account is set up, connect to the cluster via SSH:

ssh <your-username>@login.hpc.uantwerpen.be

To see available software modules:

module avail

To load a module:

module load <module-name>

To submit a job (make sure to specify the correct project):

sbatch --account=<project-name> <job-script.sh>

Monitor jobs with:

squeue -u <your-username>

For more details on working with SLURM and HPC systems, check the Calcua documentation.

Getting More Resources (Moving to Tier-1)

The Tier-2 cluster at Antwerp supports most workloads, but if you need more resources, you can apply for Tier-1 access (Hortense).

Tier-1 Access & Grants

VSC Tier-1 resources require a grant. There are five types:

  1. Tier-1 Compute Starting Grant (for optimizing pipelines)
    • Up to 500k core hours or 1,000 GPU hours
    • Maximum 8 months duration
    • Requests anytime, no deadlines
    • Free of charge
  2. Tier-1 Compute Grant (for larger projects)
    • Between 500k – 7.5M core hours or 1k – 40k GPU hours
    • Duration: 8 months
    • Application deadlines: February, June, October
  3. Tier-1 Data Starting Grant
    • Same resources as a full Tier-1 Data grant
  4. Tier-1 Data Grant
    • Storage: 5 TiB – 1 PiB
    • Duration: 8 months – 4 years
  5. Tier-1 Compute Collaborative Grant (for joint projects)
    • Up to 10M core hours or 75k GPU hours
    • Maximum 12 months duration
    • Requires at least three research groups from different institutions
    • Applications accepted on a rolling basis

Applying for Tier-1 Access

  • You must start with a Starting Grant before applying for a full project grant.
  • Applications are submitted through the VSC portal.
  • Deadlines:
    • Starting Grant: Anytime
    • Project Grant: February, June, October

Connecting to Tier-1 (Hortense)

Once approved, connect via SSH:

ssh <your-username>@tier1.hpc.ugent.be

Tier-1 also uses SLURM for job scheduling, so the commands are the same as Tier-2.

More Information

  • VSC Documentation: https://docs.vscentrum.be/
  • Calcua Training & HPC Courses: https://www.uantwerpen.be/en/research-facilities/calcua/training/
  • VSC Compute Access & Grants: https://www.vscentrum.be/compute

Flowchart of when VSC is needed