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Bulletin 190 - 2009 August 28
1. Preparation for departure of
SX-6 In the near future, the SX-6 will be replaced with Sun Constellation systems at the BOM and at NCI-NF. While the SX-6 and Sun will co-exist for a short while, the time to ensure you are not reliant on the SX-6 is now! The SGI XE at NCI-NF is similar in architecture and configuration to the Sun Constellation, and as such is a good interim target. We also have cherax, burnet and access to a number of other partner facilities around Australia. If you currently cannot run your SX-6 jobs, with satisfactory performance, on either cherax, burnet, the xe at NCI-NF or one of our other partner facilities - or if you haven't tried yet - please contact the helpdesk hpchelp@csiro.au) ASAP, and we will help you to get prepared for the departure of the SX-6. This goes for data too .. especially for files that are old or that you use F_EXPRCW or F_PARTRCW when accessing. If you're not sure whether your data is portable, please contact and we'll assist you in migrating it to the new platform. [ page top ] 2. Data on SX-6 filesystems You may be aware that the NEC SX-6 supercomputer is now 6+ years old. The SX-6 disks have been very reliable to date but some of the disk modules are getting old. Therefore the risk of filesystem disappearing is higher than before. This is just a light reminder that if you have any data on the SX-6 disk then it is advisable to have a backup copy elsewhere. Please do not overload the system while doing your personal backup. If possible, please get rid of old trash from the systems. [ page top ] 3. Windows access to cherax Windows users who access files on Cherax via their desktop by entering paths starting with \\cherax.hpsc.csiro.au\ in the address bar may notice a change in the icons associated with some files. Files which are partially or fully offline will be shown by an icon which has a small black and white clock-face superimposed on the lower left-hand corner. This is intended to indicate that there may be a delay in accessing the contents of the file. [ page top ] 4. CSIRO ASC Software Upgrades The following have been recently installed:
[ page top ] 5. CSIRO ASC - Removal of outdated software On the 14th September, or shortly after, we plan to remove the following outdated software:
If, for some reason, a newer version of the software is not suitable, please contact the helpdesk ( ) ASAP. [ page top ] 6. CSIRO ASC - MSC License Manager Licenses for MSC software have been migrated to a new license server license1-mel.vm.csiro.au - The license manager running on hargrave will be shutdown in the near future. For software installed on non-ASC machines the license information will need to be updated to migrate to the new license server. For Marc, please set the environment variable MSC_LICENSE_FILE to 27011@license1-mel.vm.csiro.au For Mentat, please set the environment variable LM_LICENSE_FILE to 27011@license1-mel.vm.csiro.au For Patran, there is a file called site_setup which will need to be updated to 27011@license1-mel.vm.csiro.au [ page top ] 7. CSIRO Data Store - enhancement to dmget command The dmget command now supports a "-a" option, which updates the access time of the files. This is exactly equivalent to the use of "touch -a" prior to a dmget, which minimises the possibility of a freshly-recalled file returning to offline state shortly afterward. [ page top ] 8. CSIRO Data Store - Tuning of DMF cache Since cache disk was added to our DMF configuration around four years ago, we have retained modestly sized (ie: under 2MB) migrated files on that disk indefinitely, without regard to the time of last use. This was done to eliminate the use of tapes when using such files. But we have realised that with our ever-growing amount of data, this is not an efficient use of this finite resource and that the disk currently being used to hold files which have been unused for up to four years would be better deployed supporting files in active use. We therefore plan on changing this policy to allow this. Modestly sized files which remain unused after several months will be allowed to be purely tape resident. Please note that we are not changing our policy of never migrating small files under 64kB. [ page top ] 9. iVEC Research Internships 2009-10 - Call for Project Proposals iVEC welcomes proposals for internship projects suited to a 10 week period over December 2009 to February 2010. Selected undergraduate students (3rd Year and above) will receive up to $6000 tax free over the 10 week internship. If you would like to give an outstanding student an opportunity to use some of the most advanced computing facilities in WA, please consider submitting a project proposal. Projects nominated must be aligned with the iVEC mission and utilise iVEC facilities. Interns will be expected to work with at least one partner and one of the iVEC Facilities:
Suitable projects can come from any research field, but must include an advanced computing component. The projects will be assessed by a panel and accepted proposals will be made available online for the students to nominate on their applications. Students will be assessed independently of the projects. The internship is a student award with interns attending a one week induction (30/11-4/12) and regular group meetings over the 10 weeks. They will write a report, generate a podcast describing their work and give an oral presentation at the completion of the internship. Project proposals are due on 11th September. Student applications will open on 16th September and close on 2nd October. For more information and for application forms, see iVEC's website http://ivec.org/interns or email Valerie Maxville at education@ivec.org [ page top ]
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