ITaP Research Computing - Computational Resources

Computational Resources

ITaP maintains many different resources for computation. Here is a brief introduction to current computational resources. More information and detailed documentation are available for each resource listed below.

Carter

Carter is the newest of Purdue's Community Clusters, and was launched through a partnership with Intel in November 2011. Carter primarily consists of HP compute nodes with two 8-core Intel Xeon-E5 processors (16 cores per node), between 32 GB and 256 GB of memory, and a 500 GB system disk. A few NVIDIA GPU-accelerated nodes are also available. All nodes have 56 Gbps FDR Infiniband connections and a 5-year warranty.
Hansen

Hansen is a compute cluster operated by ITaPand is a member of Purdue's Community Cluster Program. Hansen went into production on September 15, 2011. Hansen consists of Dell compute nodes with four 12-core AMD Opteron 6176 processors (48 cores per node), either 96 GB, 192 GB, or 512 GB of memory, and 250 GB of local disk for system software and local scratch storage. All nodes have 10 Gigabit Ethernet interconnects and a 5-year warranty.
Rossmann

Rossmann is a compute cluster operated by ITaP, and is a member of Purdue's Community Cluster Program. Rossmann went into production on September 1, 2010. It consists of HP (Hewlett Packard) ProLiant DL165 G7 nodes with 64-bit, dual 12-core AMD Opteron 6172 processors (24 cores per node), either 48 GB or 96 GB of memory, and 250 GB of local disk for system software and local scratch storage. Nodes with 192 GB of memory and either 1 TB or 2 TB of local scratch disk are also available. All nodes have 10 Gigabit Ethernet interconnects.
Coates

Coates is a compute cluster operated by ITaP and is a system for Purdue's Community Cluster Program. ITaP installed Coates on July 21, 2009. It is the largest entirely 10 Gigabit Ethernet (10GigE) academic cluster in the world. Coates consists of 982 64-bit, 8-core Hewlett-Packard Proliant and 11 64-bit, 16-core Hewlett-Packard Proliant DL585 G5 systems with various combinations of 16-128 GB RAM, 500 GB to 2 TB of disk, and 10 Gigabit Ethernet (10GigE) local to each node.
Steele

Steele is a compute cluster operated by ITaP and is a member of Purdue's Community Cluster Program. ITaP installed Steele in May 2008 in an unprecedented single-day installation. It replaces and expands upon ITaP research resources retired at the same time, including the Hamlet, Lear, and Macbeth clusters. Steele consists of 852 64-bit, 8-core Dell 1950 and 9 64-bit, 8-core Dell 2950 systems with various combinations of 16-32 GB RAM, 160 GB to 2 TB of disk, and 1 Gigabit Ethernet (1GigE) and InfiniBand local to each node.
Peregrine 1

Peregrine 1 is a new, state-of-the-art cluster at the Purdue Calumet campus and operated by ITaP from the West Lafayette campus. Installed on June 26, 2012, Peregrine 1 is the second major research cluster on the Calumet campus. Peregrine 1 consists of HP compute nodes with two 8-core Intel Xeon-E5 processors (16 cores per node), either 32 GB or 64 GB of memory, and a 500 GB system disk. All nodes also feature 56 Gbps FDR Infiniband connections.
BoilerGrid (HTCondor Pool)

BoilerGrid (HTCondor Pool) is a large, high-throughput, distributed computing system operated by ITaP, and using the HTCondor system developed by the HTCondor Project at the University of Wisconsin. BoilerGrid (HTCondor Pool) provides a way for you to run programs on large numbers of otherwise idle computers in various locations, including any temporarily under-utilized high-performance cluster resources as well as any computer lab desktop machines not currently in use. Whenever a local user or scheduled job needs a machine back, HTCondor stops its job and sends it to another HTCondor node as soon as possible. Because this model limits the ability to do parallel processing and communications, BoilerGrid (HTCondor Pool) is only appropriate for relatively quick serial jobs.
Radon

Radon is a compute cluster operated by ITaP for general campus use. Radon consists of 24 64-bit, 8-core Dell 1950 systems with 16 GB RAM, 160 GB of disk, and 1 Gigabit Ethernet (1GigE) local to each node.
Moffett

Moffett is a SiCortex 5832 system. It consists of 28 modules, each containing 27 six-processor SMP nodes for a total of 4536 processor cores. The SiCortex design is highly unusual; it pairs relatively slow individual processor cores (633 MHz) with an extraordinarily fast custom interconnect fabric, and provides these in very large numbers. In addition, the SiCortex design uses very little power and thereby generates very little heat. Very wide parallel jobs with very high communication needs and exploring the scalability of parallel algorithms are suitable applications for Moffett. Serial applications are not suitable since they would suffer from the slow speeds of individual processors.
WinHPC

WinHPC is a compute cluster operated by ITaP, and is a member of Purdue's Community Cluster Program. WinHPC went into production on December 1, 2011. WinHPC consists of HP compute nodes with two 12-core AMD Opteron 6172 processors (24 cores per node), 48 GB of memory, and 250 GB of local disk for system software and local scratch storage. All nodes have 10 Gigabit Ethernet interconnects and a 5-year warranty.