C2115 Practical introduction to supercomputing -1-Lesson 1
C2115
Practical introduction to
supercomputing
Lesson 1
Petr Kulhánek
kulhanek@chemi.muni.cz
National Centre for Biomolecular Research, Faculty of Science
Masaryk University, Kamenice 5, CZ-62500 Brno
Revision 2
C2115 Practical introduction to supercomputing -2-Lesson 1
Content
➢ History, use and future of computer technology
➢ Overview of computer centers in the Czech Republic
MetaCentrum, CERIT-SC, IT4 Innovation
➢ Foreign data centers
centers available for those interested from the Czech Republic, Top500
C2115 Practical introduction to supercomputing -3-Lesson 1
History
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_computing_hardware
1985 Cray 2 1,9 GFLOPS
http://www.root.cz
Pavel Tišnovský, Unixové vykopávky1800 beginnings of punched cards
1946 ENIAC
1947 discovery of the transistor
1971 Intel 4004 (4 bit)
1974 Intel 8080 (8 bit)
1976 Intel 8086 (16 bit)
1985 Intel 80386 (32 bit)
2001 IA-64 (64 bit)
2003 AMD64/EM64T (64 bit)
proprietary vector CPU
2010 Intel Core i7 980X: @3,33 GHz
(6C/12T, Turbo@3,46 GHz): 109 GFLOPS
source: wikipedia.org, intel.com
C2115 Practical introduction to supercomputing -4-Lesson 1
Use of computer technology
Computer technology (computers) has affected all branches of human activity and has
become an integral part of our lives. This was brought especially by rapid development in
the last 20 years. We use computer technology for entertainment, to process and consume
information.
Computer technology (and foremost supercomputers) are used for numerically
demanding solutions of problems such as:
➢ simulation of weather, climatological and geological changes (spread of floods,
tsunamis, earthquakes)
➢ design of new materials and drugs
➢ modeling of economic development
➢ scientific and technical calculations (chemistry, physics, mathematics)
➢ military purposes (nuclear weapons simulation)
➢ finding context in data (big data)
➢ artificial intelligence, autonomous management…
C2115 Practical introduction to supercomputing -5-Lesson 1
Future
http://www.humanbrainproject.eu/
Human brain simulator…
Hardware:
• consumption reduction….
• increasing performance….
• massive use of GPGPU ...
• special hardware: TPU, Intel Phi, ARM
• quantum accelerators
Big Data ...
Autonomous management ...
Quantum computing….
https://www.humanbrainproject.eu/en/follow-hbp/news/animation-exploring-brain-scales-in-90-seconds/
Artificial Intelligence ….
D-wave
dwavesys.com
Tensor processing unit (TPU)
google.com
C2115 Practical introduction to supercomputing -6-Lesson 1
Computer centers
in Czech Republic
C2115 Practical introduction to supercomputing -7-Lesson 1
MetaCentrum
http: //www.metacentrum.cz/
MetaCentrum acts in the role of the Czech National Grid Infrastructure (NGI_CZ), which is
part of the European Grid Infrastructure (EGI). Virtual work environment of MetaCentrum
significantly contributes to more efficient use of installed technology, allows the use of
available computing resources to solve very demanding computing tasks, which cannot be
managed by a single independent workplace in the Czech Republic.
For those interested from academic and research institutions, MetaCentrum offers an
environment for (cooperation) in areas of calculations and data storage not only in the
Czech Republic, but also on an international scale (support for integration into the
International Research Area (ERA) and connection to the European Grid Infrastructure
(EGI).
MetaCentrum coordinates the acquisition of expensive software and application
equipment, ensures the central purchase and management of licenses of selected licensed
software. At the same time, MetaCentrum actively participates in the research and
development necessary to ensure optimal functionality, security and high performance of
the entire infrastructure.
MetaCentrum is activity of CESNET association.
C2115 Practical introduction to supercomputing -8-Lesson 1
CERIT-SC
CERIT-SC Center (CERIT Scientific Cloud) is a national center operating computing and data
storage infrastructure for research and development. With its capacity of approx. 5500
CPU cores and over 4 PB storage capacity it is the largest node of Czech national eInfrastructure
MetaCentrum.
Center CERIT-SC is a part of the national e-infrastructure recognized in the Roadmap of
Large Infrastructures for Research, Experimental Development and Innovation of the Czech
Republic, complementary to the CESNET association and IT4Innovations supercomputing
center, with emphasis on experimental ("leading edge" and even disruptive) use of the einfrastructure
to meet the evolving user needs.
http: //www.cerit-sc.cz/
C2115 Practical introduction to supercomputing -9-Lesson 1
MetaCentrum VO
Combines computing resources provided by MetaCenter, CERIT-SC project and other
partners.
http://metavo.metacentrum.cz/
▪ An account can be obtained by a student of any
university in the Czech Republic.
▪ Access is not tied to a specific project and is
granted for 1 year.
▪ Extension of access is conditional on the
submission of an annual report.
• National grid infrastructure
• OS Debian
• Status 2019
• ca 15000 CPU cores
• CEITEC/NCBR own resources approx. 1100 CPU cores
• ~3 PB storage disk arrays, ~20 PB hierarchical storage space
C2115 Practical introduction to supercomputing -10-Lesson 1
MetaCentrum VO
▪ An account can be obtained by a student of any
university in the Czech Republic.
▪ Access is not tied to a specific project and is
granted for 1 year.
▪ Extension of access is conditional on the
submission of an annual report.
• National grid infrastructure
• OS Debian
• Status 2019
• ca 15000 CPU cores
• CEITEC / NCBR own resources approx. 1100 CPU cores
• ~ 3 PB storage disk arrays, ~ 20 PB hierarchical storage spaces
Combines computing resources provided MetaCentrem, the CERIT-SC project and other
partners.
http://metavo.metacentrum.cz/
C2115 Practical introduction to supercomputing -11-Lesson 1
IT4 Innovation
IT4Innovations National Supercomputer Center at VŠB - Technical University of Ostrava is a
leading research, development and innovation center in the field of high-performance
computing (HPC), data analysis (HPDA) and artificial intelligence (AI), operating the most
powerful supercomputer systems in the Czech Republic. IT4Innovations together with
institutions CESNET and CERIT-SC form strategic research infrastructure of the Czech
Republic e-INFRA CZ.
The project is jointly prepared by five entities: the University of Mining and Technology in Ostrava, the University of
Ostrava in Ostrava, the Silesian University in Opava, the Brno University of Technology and the geonics AS CR.
http://www.it4i.cz/
▪ The solvers of successful projects in a public grant
competition gain access.
C2115 Practical introduction to supercomputing -12-Lesson 1
Computer centers
abroad
C2115 Practical introduction to supercomputing -13-Lesson 1
PRACE
http://www.prace-ri.eu/
Project Types:
➢ Multi-year Access is available to major European projects or infrastructures that can
benefit from PRACE resources and for which Project Access is not appropriate.
➢ Project Access is intended for individual researchers and research groups including
multi-national research groups and has a one year duration. Calls for Proposals for
Project Access are issued twice a yearl (February and September).
➢ Preparatory Access is intended for resource use required to prepare proposals for
Project Access. Applications for Preparatory Access are accepted at any time.
PRACE: Partnership for Advanced Computing in Europe
C2115 Practical introduction to supercomputing -14-Lesson 1
PRACE - members
Austria: JKU - Johannes Kepler University of Linz
Belgium: DGO6-SPW - Direction general operational of the economy, de the Empire and the Search - Public Service de Wallonia
Bulgaria: NCSA - Executive agency "Electronic communication networks and information systems"
Cyprus: CaSToRC - Computation-based Science and Technology Research Center, The Cyprus Institute
Czech Republic: VŠB - Technical University of Ostrava
Denmark: DeIC - Danish e-Infrastructure Cooperation
Finland: CSC - IT Center for Science Ltd.
France: GENCI - Grand Equipment National of Calcul Intensive
Germany: GCS - GAUSS Center for Supercomputing eV
Greece: GRNET - Greek Research and Technology Network SA
Hungary: NIIFI - National Information Infrastructure Development Institute
Ireland: ICHEC - Irish Center for High-End Computing
Israel: IUCC - Inter-University Computation Center
Italy: CINECA - Consortium Interuniversity
Norway: SIGMA - UNINETT Sigma AS - The Norwegian Metacenter for Computational Science
The Netherlands: SURFSARA: SARA Computing and Networking Services
Poland: PSNC - Institute Chemistry Bioorganic Pan - Institute of Bioorganic Chemistry - Poznan Supercomputing and Networking Center
Portugal: University of Coimbra
Serbia: IPB - Institute of Physics Belgrade
Slovenia: ULFME - University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Mechanical Engineering
Spain: BSC - Barcelona Supercomputing Center - Centro National of Supercomputation
Sweden: Vetenskapsráddet - Swedish Research Council
Switzerland: ETH - Eidgenössische Technical University of Applied Sciences Zurich - Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Zurich
Turkey: UYBHM - Ulusal Yuksek Basarimli Hesaplama Thanks, Istanbul Technical University - National Center for High Performance
Computing
UK: EPSRC - The Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council
C2115 Practical introduction to supercomputing -15-Lesson 1
TOP500
TOP500 benchmark
Our simple TOP500 approach does not define “supercomputer” as such, but we use a
benchmark to rank systems and to decide on whether or not they qualify for the TOP500
list. The benchmark we decided on wasLinpack, which means that systems are ranked only
by their ability to solve a set of linear equations, A x = b, using a dense random matrix A.
http://www.top500.org/
TOP500 is a project that holds a list of the 500 fastest computers in the world.
November 2020
C2115 Practical introduction to supercomputing -16-Lesson 1
TOP500 – Usage / Manufacturer
Industry
Research
Academic use
IBM
HPE
CRAY
Others
C2115 Practical introduction to supercomputing -17-Lesson 1
TOP500 - CPU cores
cca 2007
2020
C2115 Practical introduction to supercomputing -18-Lesson 1
TOP500 - Accelerators/Coprocessors
cca 2007
PHI
2020
C2115 Practical introduction to supercomputing -19-Lesson 1
TOP500 - Accelerators/Coprocessors
cca 2007
PHI
2020
C2115 Practical introduction to supercomputing -20-Lesson 1
TOP500 - OS
LINUX
UNIX
2020
MetaCentrum (Debian)
CERIT-SC (CentOS)
IT4I (CentOS)
WOLF (Ubuntu)
C2115 Practical introduction to supercomputing -21-Lesson 1
For your interest
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UJPsIu9OaTc
K - computer, 3rd place, 2012
TITAN, 1st place, 2012
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AdylAE1lgg0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0HDwE3mGP0
Sunway TaihuLight, 1st place, 2017
C2115 Practical introduction to supercomputing -22-Lesson 1
Exercise 1
1. What does the FLOPS unit state?
2. What is the name of the fastest supercomputer listed in the TOP500 ranking? What is
its power and energy consumption? What type of CPU does it use?
3. What position did the TITAN supercomputer, which was in the first position in the
TOP500 ranking in 2012, move to? Has its HW configuration been changed?
4. In 2014, the average energy consumption per capita in the Czech Republic was 1,400
kWh. How many people would cover their annual energy consumption consumed by
the world's most powerful computer according to the TOP500 ranking?
5. Estimate what will electrical energy in the supercomputer convert to and in what
percentage.
6. What are the names of supercomputers in IT4I?
7. What do they consist of (list key technologies)?
8. What rung are the TOP500 rankings?
9. What processor do you have in your mobile phone? How many times is it more
powerful than a supercomputer Cray2 from 1985? [not necessary for protocol]
C2115 Practical introduction to supercomputing -23-Lesson 1
TOP500-
1995-2012
older but clearer graphs…
C2115 Practical introduction to supercomputing -24-Lesson 1
TOP500 - Topology
symmetric multiprocessing
(CPUs have shared memory)
massively parallel processing
(CPUs have their own memory)
(node ​​has more CPU than total nodes)
(node ​​has less CPU than total nodes)
C2115 Practical introduction to supercomputing -25-Lesson 1
TOP500 - CPU architecture
C2115 Practical introduction to supercomputing -26-Lesson 1
TOP500 - Type of use
C2115 Practical introduction to supercomputing -27-Lesson 1
TOP500 - Accelerators/Coprocessors