The UCD Sonic High Performance Computing (HPC) cluster is a group of high powered servers networked together to tackle large computational tasks. The Sonic HPC nodes are networked together using InfiniBand and connected to a parallel storage system that allows files to be read from and written to at much greater speed than standalone storage. A software scheduler (SLURM) runs on top of all this hardware to ensure fairness among the users. The Sonic HPC cluster is a shared campus resource open to all researchers.
Research IT provides High Performance Computing through our Sonic HPC, for more details on getting an account, user guide, software provided and cluster hardware see below.
For help, advice or additional software requirements please see the IT Support Hub
Sonic HPC
| Research IT HPC Cluster | |
|---|---|
| Cluster Name | Sonic |
| Cluster Usage | (opens in a new window)Real Time Information (visible using the staff and research VPNs) |
| No. of Compute Nodes | 53 |
| Total Number of Cores | 1468 (hyperthreading disabled) |
| Processor Speed | 20 nodes with 2 Intel Xeon 6152, 2.1GHz, 22 cores each 4 nodes with 2 Intel Xeon 6140, 2.3Ghz, 18 cores each 24 nodes with 2 Intel E5-2660 v2, 2.2Ghz, 10 cores each 4 nodes with with 2 Intel E5-2620 v2, 2.1Ghz, 6 cores each 1 node with 2 Intel E5-2620 v3, 2,4Ghz 6 cores each |
| Memory per Nodes | 128Gb (24) 256Gb (7) 384 (20) 786 (1) 1.5TB (1) |
| Interconnect | Infiniband QDR 40GBs |
| Home Directory Quota | 50GB |
| Scratch Space | 180TB |
| Additional Nodes Types | MEM2 - High Memory - 765 GB RAM 4 * 2.4GHz (6 cores) MEM3 - High Memory - 1.5TB RAM 3 GPU Servers each with 2 Nvidia Tesla V100 . CPU 2.1Ghz RAM =256GB |
There is no direct access to the new cluster externally . If you have a @ucd.ie email address you can apply for a UCD VPN account using the VPN request form on and access the cluster using this. Please ensure you are logged into UCD Connect to access the form
The following is the hardware spec of what was purchased for the upgrade of the Sonic Cluster. Interconnect has been upgraded to infiniband and a parallel file system (BeeGFS) has been implemented across 4 storage servers. New login and head nodes complete the infrastructure environment . There are 20 new standard compute nodes which no longer have hyperthreading enabled and contain 384GB of RAM available and are equipped with 2 Intel Xeon Gold 6152 (22 cores each) CPU. There are 3 GPU servers each containing 2 Nvidia Tesla V100's. The school of Computer Science has contributed to the hardware purchase of the cluster and it's users have larger entitlements to that hardware. Home directories have quotas implemented at 50GB. The parallel storage is 180GB in size and is shared across the cluster. This storage is only for the computational use and not long term storage of data. In order for the cluster to remain online files only than 6 months will be removed off this storage
| Storage Nodes | Manu | Model | CPU Spec | Hard Drive Spec | Memory/GB |
| Storage 1 | Dell | R740XD | 2 X Intel Xeon Gold 6136 | 24 X 2 TB 10K RPM SAS 12Gbp | 384 |
| Storage 2 | HP | R740XD | 2 X Intel Xeon Gold 6136 | 24 X 2 TB 10K RPM SAS 12Gbp | 384 |
| Storage 3 | Dell | R740XD | 2 X Intel Xeon Gold 6246 | 24 X 2 TB 10K RPM SAS 12Gbp | 384 |
| MetaData 1 | Dell | R740XD | 2 X Intel Xeon Gold 6136 | 24 X 2.4TB 10K RPM SAS 12Gbps + 2 X 800GB SSD Write Intensive 12GB | 384 |
| MetaData 2 | Dell | R740XD | 2 X Intel Xeon Gold 6136 | 24 X 2.4TB 10K RPM SAS 12Gbps + 2 X 800GB SSD Write Intensive 12GB | 384 |
| Login Nodes | Manu | Model | CPU Spec | Memory /GB | |
| Login Node | Dell | R640 | 2 X Intel Xeon Gold 5118 | 256 | |
| Head Node | Dell | R640 | 2 X Intel Xeon Gold 5118 | 256 | |
| Compute Nodes | Manu | Model | CPU Spec | Memory/GB | |
| Sonic 1 (to be decommissioned) | Dell | C6220 V2 | 2 X Intel E5-2660 v2 (2.2Ghz, 10 cores ) | 128 | |
| Sonic 2 (to be decommissioned) | Dell | C6220 V2 | 2 X Intel E5-2660 v2 (2.2Ghz, 10 cores ) | 128 | |
| Sonic 3 (to be decommissioned) | Dell | C6220 V2 | 2 X Intel E5-2660 v2 (2.2Ghz, 10 cores ) | 128 | |
| Sonic 4 (to be decommissioned) | Dell | C6220 V2 | 2 X Intel E5-2660 v2 (2.2Ghz, 10 cores ) | 128 | |
| Sonic 5 (to be decommissioned) | Dell | C6220 V2 | 2 X Intel E5-2660 v2 (2.2Ghz, 10 cores ) | 128 | |
| Sonic 6 (to be decommissioned) | Dell | C6220 V2 | 2 X Intel E5-2660 v2 (2.2Ghz, 10 cores ) | 128 | |
| Sonic 7 (to be decommissioned) | Dell | C6220 V2 | 2 X Intel E5-2660 v2 (2.2Ghz, 10 cores ) | 128 | |
| Sonic 8 (to be decommissioned) | Dell | C6220 V2 | 2 X Intel E5-2660 v2 (2.2Ghz, 10 cores ) | 128 | |
| Sonic 21 (to be decommissioned) | Dell | C6220 V2 | 2 X Intel E5-2620 v2 (2.1Ghz, 6 Cores) | 256 | |
| Sonic 22 (to be decommissioned) | Dell | C6220 V2 | 2 X Intel E5-2620 v2 (2.1Ghz, 6 Cores) | 256 | |
| Sonic 23 (to be decommissioned) | Dell | C6220 V2 | 2 X Intel E5-2620 v2 (2.1Ghz, 6 Cores) | 256 | |
| Sonic 24 (to be decommissioned) | Dell | C6220 V2 | 2 X Intel E5-2620 v2 (2.1Ghz, 6 Cores) | 256 | |
| Sonic 25 (to be decommissioned) | Dell | C6220 V2 | 2 X Intel E5-2660 v2 (2.2Ghz, 10 cores ) | 128 | |
| Sonic 26 (to be decommissioned) | Dell | C6220 V2 | 2 X Intel E5-2660 v2 (2.2Ghz, 10 cores ) | 128 | |
| Sonic 27 (to be decommissioned) | Dell | C6220 V2 | 2 X Intel E5-2660 v2 (2.2Ghz, 10 cores ) | 128 | |
| Sonic 28 (to be decommissioned) | Dell | C6220 V2 | 2 X Intel E5-2660 v2 (2.2Ghz, 10 cores ) | 128 | |
| Sonic 29 (to be decommissioned) | Dell | C6220 V2 | 2 X Intel E5-2660 v2 (2.2Ghz, 10 cores ) | 128 | |
| Sonic 30 (to be decommissioned) | Dell | C6220 V2 | 2 X Intel E5-2660 v2 (2.2Ghz, 10 cores ) | 128 | |
| Sonic 31 (to be decommissioned) | Dell | C6220 V2 | 2 X Intel E5-2660 v2 (2.2Ghz, 10 cores ) | 128 | |
| Sonic 32 (to be decommissioned) | Dell | C6220 V2 | 2 X Intel E5-2660 v2 (2.2Ghz, 10 cores ) | 128 | |
| Sonic 33 (to be decommissioned) | Dell | C6220 V2 | 2 X Intel E5-2660 v2 (2.2Ghz, 10 cores ) | 128 | |
| Sonic 34 (to be decommissioned) | Dell | C6220 V2 | 2 X Intel E5-2660 v2 (2.2Ghz, 10 cores ) | 128 | |
| Sonic 35 (to be decommissioned) | Dell | C6220 V2 | 2 X Intel E5-2660 v2 (2.2Ghz, 10 cores ) | 128 | |
| Sonic 36 (to be decommissioned) | Dell | C6220 V2 | 2 X Intel E5-2660 v2 (2.2Ghz, 10 cores ) | 128 | |
| Sonic 37 (to be decommissioned) | Dell | C6220 V2 | 2 X Intel E5-2660 v2 (2.2Ghz, 10 cores ) | 128 | |
| Sonic 38 (to be decommissioned) | Dell | C6220 V2 | 2 X Intel E5-2660 v2 (2.2Ghz, 10 cores ) | 128 | |
| Sonic 39 (to be decommissioned) | Dell | C6220 V2 | 2 X Intel E5-2660 v2 (2.2Ghz, 10 cores ) | 128 | |
| Sonic 40 (to be decommissioned) | Dell | C6220 V2 | 2 X Intel E5-2660 v2 (2.2Ghz, 10 cores ) | 128 | |
| Sonic 43 | Dell | R640 | 2 X Intel Xeon Gold 6152 (2.1GHz, 22 cores) | 384 | |
| Sonic 44 | Dell | R640 | 2 X Intel Xeon Gold 6152 (2.1GHz, 22 cores) | 384 | |
| Sonic 45 | Dell | R640 | 2 X Intel Xeon Gold 6152 (2.1GHz, 22 cores) | 384 | |
| Sonic 46 | Dell | R640 | 2 X Intel Xeon Gold 6152 (2.1GHz, 22 cores) | 384 | |
| Sonic 47 | Dell | R640 | 2 X Intel Xeon Gold 6152 (2.1GHz, 22 cores) | 384 | |
| Sonic 48 | Dell | R640 | 2 X Intel Xeon Gold 6152 (2.1GHz, 22 cores) | 384 | |
| Sonic 49 | Dell | R640 | 2 X Intel Xeon Gold 6152 (2.1GHz, 22 cores) | 384 | |
| Sonic 50 | Dell | R640 | 2 X Intel Xeon Gold 6152 (2.1GHz, 22 cores) | 384 | |
| Sonic 51 | Dell | R640 | 2 X Intel Xeon Gold 6152 (2.1GHz, 22 cores) | 384 | |
| Sonic 52 | Dell | R640 | 2 X Intel Xeon Gold 6152 (2.1GHz, 22 cores) | 384 | |
| Sonic 53 | Dell | R640 | 2 X Intel Xeon Gold 6152 (2.1GHz, 22 cores) | 384 | |
| Sonic 54 | Dell | R640 | 2 X Intel Xeon Gold 6152 (2.1GHz, 22 cores) | 384 | |
| Sonic 55 | Dell | R640 | 2 X Intel Xeon Gold 6152 (2.1GHz, 22 cores) | 384 | |
| Sonic 56 | Dell | R640 | 2 X Intel Xeon Gold 6152 (2.1GHz, 22 cores) | 384 | |
| Sonic 57 | Dell | R640 | 2 X Intel Xeon Gold 6152 (2.1GHz, 22 cores) | 384 | |
| Sonic 58 | Dell | R640 | 2 X Intel Xeon Gold 6152 (2.1GHz, 22 cores) | 384 | |
| Sonic 59 | Dell | R640 | 2 X Intel Xeon Gold 6152 (2.1GHz, 22 cores) | 384 | |
| Sonic 60 | Dell | R640 | 2 X Intel Xeon Gold 6152 (2.1GHz, 22 cores) | 384 | |
| Sonic 61 | Dell | R640 | 2 X Intel Xeon Gold 6152 (2.1GHz, 22 cores) | 384 | |
| Sonic 62 | Dell | R640 | 2 X Intel Xeon Gold 6152 (2.1GHz, 22 cores) | 384 | |
| Sonic 63 | Dell | R640 | 2 X Intel Xeon Gold 6252 (2.1Ghz, 24 cores) | 384 | |
| Sonic 64 | Dell | R640 | 2 X Intel Xeon Gold 6252 (2.1Ghz, 24 cores) | 384 | |
| Sonic 65 | Dell | R640 | 2 X Intel Xeon Gold 6252 (2.1Ghz, 24 cores) | 384 | |
| Sonic 66 | Dell | R640 | 2 X Intel Xeon Gold 6252 (2.1Ghz, 24 cores) | 384 | |
| Sonic 67 | Dell | R640 | 2 X Intel Xeon Gold 6252 (2.1Ghz, 24 cores) | 384 | |
| Sonic 68 | Dell | R640 | 2 X Intel Xeon Gold 6252 (2.1Ghz, 24 cores) | 384 | |
| Sonic 69 | Dell | R640 | 2 X Intel Xeon Gold 6252 (2.1Ghz, 24 cores) | 384 | |
| Sonic 70 | Dell | R640 | 2 X Intel Xeon Gold 6252 (2.1Ghz, 24 cores) | 384 | |
| Sonic 71 | Dell | R640 | 2 X Intel Xeon Gold 6252 (2.1Ghz, 24 cores) | 384 | |
| Sonic 72 | Dell | R640 | 2 X Intel Xeon Gold 6252 (2.1Ghz, 24 cores) | 384 | |
| Sonic 73 | Dell | R640 | 2 X Intel Xeon Gold 6252 (2.1Ghz, 24 cores) | 384 | |
| Sonic 74 | Dell | R640 | 2 X Intel Xeon Gold 6252 (2.1Ghz, 24 cores) | 384 | |
| GPU Node | Manu | Model | CPU Spec & GPU Spec | Memory/GB | |
| GPU 1 | Dell | R740XD | 2 X Xeon 6140 (2.3Ghz, 18 Cores) & 2 Nvidia Tesla V100 (32GB) | 256 | |
| GPU 2 | Dell | R740XD | 2 X Xeon 6140 (2.3Ghz, 18 Cores) & 2 Nvidia Tesla V100 (32GB) | 256 | |
| GPU 3 | Dell | R740XD | 2 X Xeon 6140 (2.3Ghz, 18 Cores) & 2 Nvidia Tesla V100 (32GB) | 256 | |
| GPU 4 | Dell | R740 | 2 X Xeon 6240 (2.1Ghz, 18 Cores) & 2 Nvidia Tesla V100 (32GB) | 384 | |
| GPU 5 | Dell | R740 | 2 X Xeon 6240 (2.1Ghz, 18 Cores) & 2 Nvidia Tesla V100 (32GB) | 384 | |
| GPU 6 | Dell | R7525 | 2 X AMD 7452 (2.35GHz, 32 Cores) & 2 Nvidia Tesla A100 (40GB) | 384 | |
| GPU 7 | Dell | R7525 | 2 X AMD 7452 (2.35GHz, 32 Cores) & 2 Nvidia Tesla A100 (40GB) | 384 | |
| High Memory Node | Dell | Model | CPU Spec |
Memory/GB | |
| Mem3 | Dell | R640 | 2 X Intel Xeon 6140 (2.3Ghz, 18 Cores) | 1536 | |
Below is a topology of the Infrastructure servers on Sonic illustrating both the compute Infiniband network or the Ethernet services network
UCD IT Services
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