Aire Progress Update - April

This is a short update to keep everyone up to date on the progress of Aire, the University’s new High-Performance Computing (HPC) cluster.

 

Aire Future State

Last update, we told you about the new network switches that will be installed and configured. Unfortunately, the date for this has had to be pushed back to allow some upgrades to the overall campus network to take place. The new dates and times are below, and we’ll keep you up to date if anything changes.

Please see the new dates below and note the days when the login nodes of both ARC4 and Aire will be unavailable. Any submitted jobs will continue to run in the meantime, but you won’t be able to submit any new jobs.

• 28th April – Switches will be reinstalled. Login nodes for ARC4 and Aire will be unavailable from 08:00 – 18:00. Any submitted jobs will continue to run.
• 29th April from 09:00: Aire users test access and inform us of any issues or areas not available to connect to.

 

Aire Applications

The team currently have a backlog of approximately 40 requests for different applications. As the module system continues to grow, so does the complexity of the software environment. Each new installation must be carefully assessed to ensure compatibility with existing modules and dependencies – which means installations are becoming more intricate and time-consuming.

We understand this may be frustrating and appreciate your patience. Please be assured: if your ticket has not been updated, it has not been forgotten. Our team is focusing on requests based on their impact — the more widely-used a piece of software is, the higher priority it receives.

To help us process your request more efficiently, please use the application request form.

 

ARC4 Shutdown

As we’ve said in previous updates ARC4 is nearing its end of life and will be decommissioned soon. We can now confirm the decommissioning timeline:

• No new user accounts will be created on ARC4 after 1st April 2025.
• ARC4 will remain available for compute jobs until 20th June 2025, at which point all job queues will be disabled.
• Users will still be able to access ARC4 storage until 20th August 2025, when the system will be fully decommissioned.

Everyone can continue to use ARC4 until June 2025 if they need to, but Aire should be considered the default HPC now. If you're still actively using ARC4, we recommend transitioning your workflows to Aire as soon as possible to ensure continuity.

Keep an eye out for further updates on ARC4 in future communications.

 

ARC3

ARC3 was taken out of service in November 2024 with all colleagues required to remove their data or move it elsewhere by the same date. The remaining ARC3 hardware will be physically removed on 28th April 2025.

This is your final opportunity to recover any data on ARC3 that you may need. Once the hardware is removed it is gone forever!

 

Calder

Last month we introduced you to Calder, the University’s next HPC system.

Since then, work has continued apace on creating the tender documents to release to market. We’re aiming to share more news after the Easter break.

 

Please continue to add any comments or questions into the Teams channel, and we will keep you updated.

 

If you are interested in more information about Aire, please read our previous blog posts:

• Aire Progress Update - March
• Aire Configuration Update & Upcoming Data Centre Visit
• Aire Progress Update - February
• Aire Progress Update - January
• Supporting Teaching and Learning: Updates on ARC4 and Aire Transition
• First look at PyTorch on Aire
• Exploring the Power of Aire: A First Look at Performance Gains