September 2023 Update: We have added two 16TB Seagate Exos drives to the master head server to add additional storage capacity.
The 768 core cluster from Aspen Systems consists of 32 identical nodes, each with two 12 core Intel Xeon processors and 128GB of RAM. The cluster includes a 30TB RAID5 data volume, a standalone 3.84TB SSD drive plus two additional 16TB drives for shared attached storage, all interconnected with an Infiniband switch. The cluster has a full suite of compilers installed, including open source GNU compilers and optimized Intel compilers, as well as MATLAB and other scientific applications.
Most recently the cluster has been used to run SPECFEM3D seismic wave propagation simulations, parallel MATLAB Hapke model optimization of lunar orbiter images, Bayesian Monte Carlo inversions, and ambient noise cross-correlation analyses of seismic array data. The cluster is primarily used by students, researchers and collaborators of faculty members Doug Wiens, Michael Wysession and Slava Solomatov. Students and collaborators with Brad Jolliff, Kun Wang and Bill McKinnon have also used the cluster.
The cluster can only be accessed via SSH from the local campus network. Anyone wishing to login remotely must do so using a VPN or by logging in through an externally accessible university server.
Information on our original, still operational Beowulf cluster can be found here.