System News

Filtered by: General | Software Updates | (Remove Filters)

• Blue Waters Notice: portal maintenance

  Created by: gbauer 2021-03-10 10:55:09 (Channels: general)

  The Blue Waters portal will be rebooted Friday morning, March 12th, at 8:30 am to update software and database. The reboot is expected to take less than 5 minutes.

  No changes to the content of the portal are expected.

• Blue Waters Announcement: Winter Holiday service availability

  Created by: gbauer 2020-12-17 12:52:56 (Channels: general)

  Blue Waters partners;

  NCSA staff will observe the University of Illinois Winter break schedule starting 5pm Wednesday December 23, 2019, and will resume normal business hours on Monday, January 4th, 2020. Staff will monitor Blue Waters and periodically check service requests during this time, and respond to issues in a timely manner depending on the nature of the issue.

  For projects that have expired at the end of the year or that have consumed their allocation before then. the noalloc queue is available for those projects. Use the directive #PBS -q noalloc in job scripts to submit to the noalloc queue. For more informatiob see  https://bluewaters.ncsa.illinois.edu/queues-and-scheduling-policies.

  System utilization sometimes drops over the holidays. Check https://bluewaters.ncsa.illinois.edu/machine-status for utilization and backfill opportunities. 

  Please send comments or concerns to help+bw@ncsa.illinois.edu.

  Season's Greetings from the Blue Waters team!

  
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  Blue Waters partners; NCSA staff will observe the University of Illinois Winter break schedule starting 5pm Wednesday December 23, 2019, and will resume normal business hours on Monday, January 4th, 2020. Staff will monitor Blue Waters and periodically check service requests during this time, and respond to issues in a timely...
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• Blue Waters Notice: Software and Maintenance

  Created by: jenos 2020-06-11 12:12:35 (Channels: scheduledoutages|systemnotices|softwareupdate)

  Blue Waters Partners:

  Summary:

  1. Globus command line interface issue is resolved.
  2. Shifter software upgrade on 6/18/2020
  3. Reminder: Portal dynamic data interruption on 6/12/2020

  ---

  1. The Globus issue experienced when using the command line interface provided by bwpy/2.0.2 has been resolved without a need for any local updates, as changes performed by Globus outside of Blue Waters resolved the issue.

  2. On Thursday, June 18, 2020, we will be updating Shifter module from version 16.08.3 to 18.03.4. The new version will provide a number of stability improvements and enables local user images.  When complete, the "shifter" GRES specification will remain valid, but shifter16 will be disabled.

     Documentation will be updated at that point to reflect the changes.

     https://bluewaters.ncsa.illinois.edu/shifter

     Shifter jobs that are already running at that time are unlikely to encounter issues, but it is possible in some circumstances.  If this happens, you can resubmit the job using the "shifter" GRES as documentation will reflect once the change is performed.

  3. A reminder that on Friday June 12 at 2 PM CT, maintenance will be performed on a backend database supporting dynamic system information presented in the Blue Waters portal.  The hardware maintenance should complete in less than an hour. During this timeframe, updated dynamic data regarding Blue Waters system status may not be available. The Blue Waters system is expected to continue to operate normally during this maintenance.

  Please notify help+bw@ncsa.illinois.edu with any questions.

  -Blue Waters project

   

  
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  Blue Waters Partners: Summary: Globus command line interface issue is resolved. Shifter software upgrade on 6/18/2020 Reminder: Portal dynamic data interruption on 6/12/2020 The Globus issue experienced when using the command line interface provided by bwpy/2.0.2 has been resolved without a need for any local updates, as changes performed by...
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• Blue Waters Notice: Globus command line interface issue

  Created by: gbauer 2020-06-01 10:50:46 (Channels: softwareupdate)

  Blue Waters partners;

  The version of the Globus command line interface (CLI) provided by bwpy/2.0.2 is out of date and will not work properly with Globus Online. 

  Locally installed versions of globus-cli (such as via pip or virtualenv) might need to be updated depending on the version installed. 

  Please follow the "self-deploy the Python-based Globus CLI" steps available at https://bluewaters.ncsa.illinois.edu/data-transfer-doc#gcli for the time being to install a local instance of the globus-cli.

  We will update you once the version of globus-cli in bwpy has been updated.

  -Blue Waters project

  
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  Blue Waters partners; The version of the Globus command line interface (CLI) provided by bwpy/2.0.2 is out of date and will not work properly with Globus Online.  Locally installed versions of globus-cli (such as via pip or virtualenv) might need to be updated depending on the version installed.  Please follow the "self-deploy the Python-based Globus...
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• Blue Waters Announcement: Winter Holiday service availability

  Created by: gbauer 2019-12-23 10:34:28 (Channels: general)

  Blue Waters partners;

  NCSA staff will observe the University of Illinois Winter break schedule starting 5pm Monday December 23, 2019, and will resume normal business hours on Thursday, January 2nd, 2020. Staff will monitor Blue Waters and the service request system during this period, and respond to issues in a timely manner depending on the nature of the issue.

  Please send comments or concerns to help+bw@ncsa.illinois.edu.

  Season's Greetings from the Blue Waters team!

  
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  Blue Waters partners; NCSA staff will observe the University of Illinois Winter break schedule starting 5pm Monday December 23, 2019, and will resume normal business hours on Thursday, January 2nd, 2020. Staff will monitor Blue Waters and the service request system during this period, and respond to issues in a timely...
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• Blue Waters Operations Transitioning

  Created by: jenos 2019-12-19 19:03:08 (Channels: mandatory|systemnotices|general|policychange)

  Hello Blue Waters partners,

  Today marks the conclusion of regular NSF Blue Waters operations and allocations.  Allocations ending today will be granted the normal 90 day grace period to transfer data off Blue Waters storage systems. After today, jobs remaining in the queue will be permitted to run but job submission will be disabled for expired projects.

  As Blue Waters transitions to support changing workflow needs for the NGA phase of operations, several policies and processes will be adjusted. Though they are detailed in the summary page linked below, additional notices will be issued near key timeframes.

  Transition summary: https://bluewaters.ncsa.illinois.edu/transition

  If you have questions about any changes, please submit a service request as normal to help+bw@ncsa.illinois.edu, but keep in mind that the upcoming holiday period may not have typical business hour response.

  As a final note, the Blue Waters staff has thoroughly enjoyed the challenges, innovations, enthusiasm, and breakthrough science experienced over the last seven years with everyone involved. Best of luck in the next stage of your research!

  
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  Hello Blue Waters partners, Today marks the conclusion of regular NSF Blue Waters operations and allocations.  Allocations ending today will be granted the normal 90 day grace period to transfer data off Blue Waters storage systems. After today, jobs remaining in the queue will be permitted to run but job submission...
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• Blue Waters Operations transition - Portal login change

  Created by: bbode 2019-12-03 15:02:16 (Channels: general|policychange)

  Hello Blue Waters partners,

     In seven days, on December 10th, the authentication method for the Blue Waters user portal will be changed from the current RSA PIN+tokencode to NCSA Duo. This change will mean that existing Blue Waters users will no longer be able to login to the portal. Most portal functions such as documentation and usage information are available without logging in, but functions such as adding/removing users will be impacted. This is being done to support the transition to the NGA phase of operations when all projects will utilize NCSA Duo for authencation. Please note that RSA based two-factor logins will continue to function on the current login and data mover (Globus) nodes until 3/31/2020.

  If you need contiued login portal access please open a ticket via help+bw@ncsa.illinois.edu with your reason for continued access. All new projects for 2020 will be receiving information on obtaining Duo tokens as part of the project setup process that will happen between Dec. 10th and 19th.

   

  Thank you, 

  The Blue Waters team.    

  
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  Hello Blue Waters partners,    In seven days, on December 10th, the authentication method for the Blue Waters user portal will be changed from the current RSA PIN+tokencode to NCSA Duo. This change will mean that existing Blue Waters users will no longer be able to login to the portal. Most...
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• Reminder: Next Blue Waters User Call TODAY, Monday, February 18th at 1PM Central

  Created by: gbauer 2019-02-18 08:33:00 (Channels: bestpractices|general)

  Join us for the next Blue Waters User call TODAY, Monday, February 18th at 1PM Central. As always we value your input. Please join us.

  We will discuss on the call: 

  1. Nearline and Data Best Practices
  2. Recent Events
  3. Recent Changes.
  4. Outstanding Issues.
  5. Utilization, Usage, and other metrics.
  6. Upcoming Opportunities. 

  Slides will be posted to https://bluewaters.ncsa.illinois.edu/past-webinars before the meeting starts. 

  Join from PC, Mac, Linux, iOS or Android: https://zoom.us/j/250788601

  Or iPhone one-tap :

      US: +16699006833,,250788601#  or +16465588656,,250788601# 

  Or Telephone:

      Dial(for higher quality, dial a number based on your current location)

          US: +1 669 900 6833  or +1 646 558 8656 

      Meeting ID: 250 788 601

      International numbers available: https://zoom.us/zoomconference?m=8NTXBpyVyQT5nZx0AwfuY8UYmKzDUNuq

  
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  Join us for the next Blue Waters User call TODAY, Monday, February 18th at 1PM Central. As always we value your input. Please join us. We will discuss on the call:  Nearline and Data Best Practices Recent Events Recent Changes. Outstanding Issues. Utilization, Usage, and other metrics. Upcoming Opportunities.  Slides will be posted to https://bluewaters.ncsa.illinois.edu/past-webinars before the meeting...
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• Blue Waters Announcement: Winter Holiday services

  Created by: gbauer 2018-12-21 09:21:34 (Channels: systemnotices|general)

  Blue Waters partners;

  NCSA staff will observe the University of Illinois Winter break schedule starting 5pm Friday December 21, 2018, and will resume normal business hours on Wednesday, January 2nd, 2019. On-call staff will monitor Blue Waters and the service request system during this period, and respond to issues in a timely manner depending on the nature of the issue. Requests that require review by the project office such as reservations, quota increases or purge exemptions will be considered on Wednesday, January 2nd, 2019.

  Please send comments or concerns to help+bw@ncsa.illinois.edu.

  Enjoy the special job discount period that ends 1/2/2019: 50% charge discount on all queues, all jobs in projects that have consumed at least 25% of their current allocation.

  Season's Greetings from the Blue Waters team!

  
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  Blue Waters partners; NCSA staff will observe the University of Illinois Winter break schedule starting 5pm Friday December 21, 2018, and will resume normal business hours on Wednesday, January 2nd, 2019. On-call staff will monitor Blue Waters and the service request system during this period, and respond to issues in a...
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• Blue Waters Announcement: Ongoing Blue Waters Job Discounts

  Created by: gbauer 2018-11-12 21:44:41 (Channels: systemnotices|general|policychange)

  This is a reminder that the first period of job discounts ends on Thursday, November 15th. The second period starts on the 16th but with different criteria. Get your jobs submitted soon.

  Stop by the NCSA booth and say hi if you are at SC18.

  > The Blue Waters project is happy to announce two job discount periods as our way of saying thank you for another successful year of computing and the your help creating our 2017-2018 annual report.  

  > There are two discount periods:

  1. Nov 1 - Nov 15: 50% charge discount on all queues, all jobs completing during this period
  2. Nov 16 - Jan 2: 50% charge discount on all queues, all jobs completing during this period for projects that have consumed at least 25% of their current allocation.

  Please submit questions and comments to help+bw@ncsa.illinois.edu.

   

  
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  This is a reminder that the first period of job discounts ends on Thursday, November 15th. The second period starts on the 16th but with different criteria. Get your jobs submitted soon. Stop by the NCSA booth and say hi if you are at SC18. > The Blue Waters project is happy to...
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• BlueWaters system issue

  Created by: mshow 2018-11-05 01:21:18 (Channels: unscheduledoutages|general)

  The system has experienced  a fault that will require a full system shutdown/reboot. This will take several hours before the system is returned to full operations. 

• Blue Waters Discount Update

  Created by: jenos 2018-11-02 17:22:33 (Channels: systemnotices|general|policychange)

  The previously announced discounts have not changed; however, they have not been activated yet to be reflected in current charges. This is expected to be activated next week, but will be retroactively applied to the original start date of Nov 1, 2018.

   

• Blue Waters Announcement: Blue Friday Job Discounts start today!

  Created by: jenos 2018-11-01 12:34:44 (Channels: systemnotices|general|policychange)

  The Blue Waters project is happy to announce two job discount periods as our way of saying thank you for another successful year of computing and the your help creating our 2017-2018 annual report.  

  There are two discount periods:

  1. Nov 1 - Nov 15: 50% charge discount on all queues, all jobs completing during this period
  2. Nov 16 - Jan 2: 50% charge discount on all queues, all jobs completing during this period for projects that have consumed at least 25% of their current allocation.

  Please submit questions and comments to help+bw@ncsa.illinois.edu.

   

  
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  The Blue Waters project is happy to announce two job discount periods as our way of saying thank you for another successful year of computing and the your help creating our 2017-2018 annual report.   There are two discount periods: Nov 1 - Nov 15: 50% charge discount on all queues, all jobs completing during...
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• Blue Waters Operations Extended Until Dec 19, 2019

  Created by: wkramer 2018-10-17 09:52:24 (Channels: general)

  I am very please to announce the NSF approved extending the full service operational period for Blue Waters until at least December 19, 2019. 

  News about allocation opportunities will be coming in the future. 

  Sincerely

  Bill Kramer

  Blue Waters PI

• Final Call for Blue Waters Illinois Allocations

  Created by: gbauer 2018-10-12 15:28:39 (Channels: general)

  Apologies in advance if you get this more than once.

  Final Call for Blue Waters Illinois Allocations Illinois faculty and researchers will have a final opportunity to apply for allocations on the University of Illinois’ Blue Waters supercomputer, which is planned to end service in December 2019* . Proposals for general allocations are due October 26th.  An information session will be held on Wednesday, October 17th at 10:00 a.m. in NCSA room 1040 to address proposal information and questions. The meeting will also be a forum to discuss Illinois researchers’ future needs for computing resources, regardless of whether they use Blue Waters or not. Details can be found at: https://bluewaters.ncsa.illinois.edu/illinois-allocations. *Contingent on pending approval of a project extension from the National Science Foundation (NSF). ABOUT BLUE WATERS Blue Waters is one of the most powerful supercomputers in the world. Located at the University of Illinois, it can complete more than 1 quadrillion calculations per second on a sustained basis and more than 13 times that at peak speed. The peak speed is almost 3 million times faster than the average laptop. Blue Waters is supported by the National Science Foundation and the University of Illinois; NCSA manages the Blue Waters project and provides expertise to help scientists and engineers take full advantage of the system for their research. ABOUT NCSA The National Center for Supercomputing Applica tions (NCSA) at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign provides supercomputing and advanced digital resources for the nation's science enterprise. At NCSA, University of Illinois faculty, staff, students, and collaborators from around the globe use advanced digital resources to address research grand challenges for the benefit of science and society. NCSA has been advancing one-third of the Fortune 50® for more than 30 years by bringing industry, res earchers, and students together to solve grand challenges at rapid speed and scale. Blue Waters is supported by the National Science Foundation through awards ACI-0725070 and ACI-1238993.
  	National Center for Supercomputing Applications at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. ©2018 Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois. All rights reserved. Web privacy notice.

  
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  Apologies in advance if you get this more than once.         Final Call for Blue Waters...
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• Reminder: Next Blue Waters User Call, Monday, September 17th at 1PM Central

  Created by: gbauer 2018-09-16 19:24:27 (Channels: general)

  Join us for the next Blue Waters User call, Monday, September 17th at 1PM Central. We value your input. Please join us.

  We will discuss on the call: 

  1. Recent Events
  2. Recent and Future Changes.
     1. Moving to recent Programming Environment update. See PE Update page for details.
     2. New PGI compiler.
     3. bwpy 2.0 update
  3. Outstanding Issues.
  4. Utilization, Usage, and other metrics.
  5. Upcoming Opportunities. 

  Slides will be posted to https://bluewaters.ncsa.illinois.edu/past-webinars before the meeting starts. 

  Join from PC, Mac, Linux, iOS or Android: https://zoom.us/j/250788601

  Or iPhone one-tap :

      US: +16699006833,,250788601#  or +16465588656,,250788601# 

  Or Telephone:

      Dial(for higher quality, dial a number based on your current location)

          US: +1 669 900 6833  or +1 646 558 8656 

      Meeting ID: 250 788 601

      International numbers available: https://zoom.us/zoomconference?m=8NTXBpyVyQT5nZx0AwfuY8UYmKzDUNuq

  
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  Join us for the next Blue Waters User call, Monday, September 17th at 1PM Central. We value your input. Please join us. We will discuss on the call:  Recent Events Recent and Future Changes. Moving to recent Programming Environment update. See PE Update page for details. New PGI compiler. bwpy 2.0 update Outstanding Issues. Utilization, Usage, and other metrics. Upcoming...
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• Reminder: Next Blue Waters User Call TODAY, Monday, August 20th at 1PM Central

  Created by: gbauer 2018-08-20 08:45:18 (Channels: bestpractices|general)

  Join us for the next Blue Waters User call TODAY, Monday, August 20th at 1PM Central. We value your input. Please join us.

  We will discuss on the call: 

  1. Recent Events
  2. Recent Changes.
  3. Outstanding Issues.
  4. Utilization, Usage, and other metrics.
  5. Upcoming Opportunities. 

  Slides will be posted to https://bluewaters.ncsa.illinois.edu/past-webinars before the meeting starts. 

  Join from PC, Mac, Linux, iOS or Android: https://zoom.us/j/250788601

  Or iPhone one-tap :

      US: +16699006833,,250788601#  or +16465588656,,250788601# 

  Or Telephone:

      Dial(for higher quality, dial a number based on your current location)

          US: +1 669 900 6833  or +1 646 558 8656 

      Meeting ID: 250 788 601

      International numbers available: https://zoom.us/zoomconference?m=8NTXBpyVyQT5nZx0AwfuY8UYmKzDUNuq

  
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  Join us for the next Blue Waters User call TODAY, Monday, August 20th at 1PM Central. We value your input. Please join us. We will discuss on the call:  Recent Events Recent Changes. Outstanding Issues. Utilization, Usage, and other metrics. Upcoming Opportunities.  Slides will be posted to https://bluewaters.ncsa.illinois.edu/past-webinars before the meeting starts.  Join from PC, Mac, Linux, iOS...
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• Blue Waters Notice: update to bwpy Python module post-upgrade

  Created by: gbauer 2018-07-17 21:37:42 (Channels: softwareupdate)

  Blue Waters partners;

  We would like to inform you that the default bwpy has been changed to version 1.2.4. This version fixes some internal linking problems introduced by the recent system and programming environment update.

  This release contains several fixes and additional packages from bwpy/1.2.0 that was released July 5th including: pygpu for Theano (bwpy/1.2.3), VTK and MayaAVI (bwpy/1.2.2). bwpy/1.2.1 was a bug fix release.

  Once it is released, bwpy/2.0.0 will support CUDA 9.1 and gcc/6.3.0.

  For questions or comments please email help+bw@ncsa.illinois.edu.

  
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  Blue Waters partners; We would like to inform you that the default bwpy has been changed to version 1.2.4. This version fixes some internal linking problems introduced by the recent system and programming environment update. This release contains several fixes and additional packages from bwpy/1.2.0 that was released July 5th including: pygpu for...
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• Blue Waters Scheduled Maintenance: Return to Service

  Created by: gbauer 2018-07-16 19:43:38 (Channels: scheduledoutages|systemnotices|softwareupdate)

  Blue Waters Users,

  Blue Waters has been returned to service after a security update and programming environment update. CUDA 9.1 is now available as the default cudatoolkit but with gcc/4.9.3 remaining as the default GNU compiler. The default programming environment otherwise did not change to allow for an extended transition to the newer programming environment.

  For a complete discussion of the changes to the Programming Environment please see the Programming Environment (PE) Changes  portal page.

  This is an extensive programming environment update and as such there will be issues we did not discover in advance. Please report issues to help+bw@ncsa.illinois.edu.

  -Blue Waters Project

  ---

  A new Programming Environment was installed as a non-default and will be made default after a test period and subsequent announcement.

  CUDA notes: XK nodes will receive CUDA update (and associated driver) to version 9.1.  CUDA 7.5 will still be available as non-default.  CUDA 7.5 binaries have tested successfully in the CUDA 9.1 environment, but it may be necessary to recompile.  sm_20 and compute_20 are deprecated in any build or makefile setup.  People should use sm_35 and/or compute_35 to best match our Kepler K20x GPUs.

  
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  Blue Waters Users, Blue Waters has been returned to service after a security update and programming environment update. CUDA 9.1 is now available as the default cudatoolkit but with gcc/4.9.3 remaining as the default GNU compiler. The default programming environment otherwise did not change to allow for an extended transition to...
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• Rescheduled: Next Blue Waters User Call Tuesday, July 17th at 1PM Central

  Created by: gbauer 2018-07-15 21:50:26 (Channels: general|softwareupdate)

  The July User Call has been rescheduled for Tuesday, July 17th at 1PM Central in order to better communicate the changes that will take place during the maintenance on Monday, July 16th; at which time CUDA 9.1 and a new Programming Environment will be installed.

  During the rescheduled call we will discuss: 

  1. Recent Events
  2. Recent Changes
     1. CUDA 9.1 
     2. New Programming Environment
  3. Utilization, Usage, and other metrics.
  4. Upcoming Opportunities. 

  Slides will be posted to https://bluewaters.ncsa.illinois.edu/past-webinars before the meeting starts. 

  Join from PC, Mac, Linux, iOS or Android: https://zoom.us/j/250788601

  Or iPhone one-tap :

      US: +16699006833,,250788601#  or +16465588656,,250788601# 

  Or Telephone:

      Dial(for higher quality, dial a number based on your current location)

          US: +1 669 900 6833  or +1 646 558 8656 

      Meeting ID: 250 788 601

      International numbers available: https://zoom.us/zoomconference?m=8NTXBpyVyQT5nZx0AwfuY8UYmKzDUNuq

  
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  The July User Call has been rescheduled for Tuesday, July 17th at 1PM Central in order to better communicate the changes that will take place during the maintenance on Monday, July 16th; at which time CUDA 9.1 and a new Programming Environment will be installed. During the rescheduled call we will discuss:  Recent Events Recent Changes CUDA...
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• Blue Waters Scheduled Maintenance Update

  Created by: jenos 2018-07-13 11:57:54 (Channels: scheduledoutages|systemnotices|softwareupdate)

  Blue Waters Users,

  Please note the following scheduled maintenance update:

  The scheduled maintenance for CUDA 9.1 deployment on Blue Waters has been expanded to a near full system service outage that will span 13 hours on Monday July 16th, from 9am to 10pm. This adjustment will eliminate the need for an additional scheduled maintenance period. To maximize availability, login nodes and filesystems will remain in service during the maintenance. The expanded activities include hardware maintenance, operating system software update roll ups, and some preventative maintenance to maximize future stability. Major changes are still the Programming Environment and CUDA 9.1 depoloyments originally planned.

   

  ---

  A new Programming Environment will be installed as a non-default and will be made default after a test period and subsequent announcement.

  CUDA notes: XK nodes will receive CUDA update (and associated driver) to version 9.1.  CUDA 7.5 will still be available as non-default.  CUDA 7.5 binaries have tested successfully in the CUDA 9.1 environment, but it may be necessary to recompile.  sm_20 and compute_20 are deprecated in any build or makefile setup.  People should use sm_35 and/or compute_35 to best match our Kepler K20x GPUs.

  Interim updates will be posted on the Blue Waters System News

   

  Please plan accordingly.

  Availability details: 

  Subsystem / Services	Projected Duration	Availability
  Compute	9am - 10pm	Unavailable
  Login / Filesystem		Available
  Scheduler	9am - 10pm	Unavailable
  Globus online endpoint (ncsa#BlueWaters)	9am - 10pm	Unavailable
  Globus online endpoint (ncsa#Nearline)	9am to 12pm (3 hours)	Unavailable

  
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  Blue Waters Users, Please note the following scheduled maintenance update: The scheduled maintenance for CUDA 9.1 deployment on Blue Waters has been expanded to a near full system service outage that will span 13 hours on Monday July 16th, from 9am to 10pm. This adjustment will eliminate the need for an additional...
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• Blue Waters XK (GPU) resource and HPSS Nearline resources will be unavailable from 9am to 12pm on Monday July 16th

  Created by: kingda 2018-07-09 09:08:10 (Channels: scheduledoutages|systemnotices|softwareupdate)

  Blue Waters Users,

  Blue Waters XK compute resource and HPSS ncsa#Nearline resource will be undergoing maintenance Monday (July 16th) morning beginning at 9 AM. The XK compute nodes are anticipated to be unavailable for up to 3 hours. The login nodes and XE compute resource will remain in service.

  A new Programming Environment will be installed as a non-default and will be made default after a test period and subsequent announcement.

  CUDA notes: XK nodes will receive CUDA update (and associated driver) to version 9.1.  CUDA 7.5 will still be available as non-default.  CUDA 7.5 binaries have tested successfully in the CUDA 9.1 environment, but it may be necessary to recompile.  sm_20 and compute_20 are deprecated in any build or makefile setup.  People should use sm_35 and/or compute_35 to best match our Kepler K20x GPUs.

  Interim updates will be posted on the Blue Waters System News

   

  Please plan accordingly.

  Availability details: 

  Subsystem / Services	Projected Duration	Availability
  XK Compute	9am to 12pm (3 hours)	XK Unavailable
  XE Compute		Available
  Login / Filesystem		Available
  Scheduler		Available
  Globus online endpoint (ncsa#BlueWaters)		Available
  Globus online endpoint (ncsa#Nearline)	9am to 12pm (3 hours)	Unavailable

  
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  Blue Waters Users, Blue Waters XK compute resource and HPSS ncsa#Nearline resource will be undergoing maintenance Monday (July 16th) morning beginning at 9 AM. The XK compute nodes are anticipated to be unavailable for up to 3 hours. The login nodes and XE compute resource will remain in service. A new Programming Environment will be installed...
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• Blue Waters Notice: updates to bwpy Python module

  Created by: gbauer 2018-06-22 14:48:49 (Channels: softwareupdate)

  Blue Waters partners;

  On Tuesday June 26th the default module version for bwpy will change from 1.1.0 to 1.1.1. This is a minor release change to address:

  • Fixes for Jupyter notebook's python3 kernel
  • Add XML::LibXML to make bwpy's Perl more compatible with the system Perl
  • Add Horovod for testing (unstable).

  A new version of bwpy/1.2.0 is now available for testing. This version will become the default for bwpy on July 5th.

  • New packages: torchvision
  • Upgrades to various packages
  • Details can be found at /sw/bw/bwpy/package-changes-1.1.1-1.2.0.txt
  • To test: module load bwpy/1.2.0

  These changes should be transparent to the user.

  For questions or comments please email help+bw@ncsa.illinois.edu.

  
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  Blue Waters partners; On Tuesday June 26th the default module version for bwpy will change from 1.1.0 to 1.1.1. This is a minor release change to address: Fixes for Jupyter notebook's python3 kernel Add XML::LibXML to make bwpy's Perl more compatible with the system Perl Add Horovod for testing (unstable). A new version of bwpy/1.2.0 is now available for...
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• Reminder: Next Blue Waters User Call Monday, June 18th at 1PM Central

  Created by: gbauer 2018-06-15 10:40:09 (Channels: bestpractices|general)

  Please join us for the next Blue Waters User call on Monday, June 18th at 1PM Central.

  We will discuss on the call: 

  1. Recent Events
  2. Upcoming Changes.
     1. Globus Web Application 
     2. CUDA 9.1 (getting closer)
  3. Utilization, Usage, and other metrics.
  4. Upcoming Opportunities. 

  Slides will be posted to https://bluewaters.ncsa.illinois.edu/past-webinars before the meeting starts. 

  Join from PC, Mac, Linux, iOS or Android: https://zoom.us/j/250788601

  Or iPhone one-tap :

      US: +16699006833,,250788601#  or +16465588656,,250788601# 

  Or Telephone:

      Dial(for higher quality, dial a number based on your current location)

          US: +1 669 900 6833  or +1 646 558 8656 

      Meeting ID: 250 788 601

      International numbers available: https://zoom.us/zoomconference?m=8NTXBpyVyQT5nZx0AwfuY8UYmKzDUNuq

  
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  Please join us for the next Blue Waters User call on Monday, June 18th at 1PM Central. We will discuss on the call:  Recent Events Upcoming Changes. Globus Web Application  CUDA 9.1 (getting closer) Utilization, Usage, and other metrics. Upcoming Opportunities.  Slides will be posted to https://bluewaters.ncsa.illinois.edu/past-webinars before the meeting starts.  Join from PC, Mac, Linux, iOS or Android:...
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• Reminder: Next Blue Waters User Call Monday, May 21st at 1PM Central

  Created by: gbauer 2018-05-18 13:15:27 (Channels: bestpractices|general)

  Please join us for the next Blue Waters User call on Monday, May 21st at 1PM Central.

  We will discuss on the call: 

  1. Recent and Upcoming Events.
     1. Shifter
  2. Recent and Upcoming Changes.
     1. CUDA 9.1?
     2. Singularity
     3. Globus CLI
  3. Utilization, Usage, and other metrics.
  4. Upcoming Opportunities. 

  Slides will be posted to https://bluewaters.ncsa.illinois.edu/past-webinars before the meeting starts. 

  Join from PC, Mac, Linux, iOS or Android: https://zoom.us/j/250788601

  Or iPhone one-tap :

      US: +16699006833,,250788601#  or +16465588656,,250788601# 

  Or Telephone:

      Dial(for higher quality, dial a number based on your current location)

          US: +1 669 900 6833  or +1 646 558 8656 

      Meeting ID: 250 788 601

      International numbers available: https://zoom.us/zoomconference?m=8NTXBpyVyQT5nZx0AwfuY8UYmKzDUNuq

  
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  Please join us for the next Blue Waters User call on Monday, May 21st at 1PM Central. We will discuss on the call:  Recent and Upcoming Events. Shifter Recent and Upcoming Changes. CUDA 9.1? Singularity Globus CLI Utilization, Usage, and other metrics. Upcoming Opportunities.  Slides will be posted to https://bluewaters.ncsa.illinois.edu/past-webinars before the meeting starts.  Join from PC, Mac, Linux, iOS or Android:...
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• Blue Waters notice: Container software re-enabled on Blue Waters

  Created by: gbauer 2018-05-09 16:25:31 (Channels: systemnotices|softwareupdate)

  We are pleased to announce that the container software package Shifter and its associated service have been re-enabled on Blue Waters.

  Shifter was checked for vulnerabilities and none were found. To avoid concern, a patch was applied, and Shifter has been updated and re-enabled.

  Please see the Shifter page on the portal for updated documentation. 

  Please contact help+bw@ncsa.illinois.edu with your comments or questions.  

  
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  We are pleased to announce that the container software package Shifter and its associated service have been re-enabled on Blue Waters. Shifter was checked for vulnerabilities and none were found. To avoid concern, a patch was applied, and Shifter has been updated and re-enabled. Please see the Shifter page on the portal for...
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• Blue Waters Notice: Updates to bwpy Python module

  Created by: gbauer 2018-03-30 17:25:09 (Channels: softwareupdate)

  The Blue Waters Python module, bwpy, has just received a major update.

  • The default python has been changed from python2 to python3. All scripts which are not compatible with both major versions should explicitly use python2 or python3. See https://python3statement.org/ for information on major package developer support timelines.
  • The pypy and pypy3 interpreters are now able to support numpy, scipy, and mpi4py. Some codes may benefit from the jit compilation these interpreters provide.
  • Tensorflow has been updated from 1.3.0 to 1.4.1
  • Python3.6 has been added as the non-default python3 compiler. As not all modules supported by 3.5 are installed for it, Python3.5 remains the default.
  • Numpy, scipy, and other modules which use BLAS routines now use Intel MKL rather than Cray libsci. DO NOT LET PIP INSTALL UPDATES TO THESE MODULES. The OpenBLAS versions installed by pip are significantly slower. Check your ~/.local/lib/*/site-packages and your virtualenvs and delete any versions pip installed. When using pip `install`, it is recommended to use `--upgrade-strategy only-if-needed`
  • A note on virtualenvs: When a virtualenv is created, the version is written into the wrapper script according to the BWPY_VERSION environment variable. If created using bwpy/latest-stable, the virtualenv will always use the "default" image. If created using bwpy/1.1.0, it will always load the 1.1.0 image. This value can be manually changed by editing the wrapper script [virtualenv]/bin/python.
     

  For more information please see the Python page on the Blue Waters portal.

  Please contact help+bw@ncsa.illinois.edu with issues or comments.

   

  
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  The Blue Waters Python module, bwpy, has just received a major update. The default python has been changed from python2 to python3. All scripts which are not compatible with both major versions should explicitly use python2 or python3. See https://python3statement.org/ for information on major package developer support timelines. The pypy and pypy3 interpreters are...
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• Blue Waters Notice: the Blue Waters portal maintenance is complete.

  Created by: gbauer 2018-03-05 13:15:43 (Channels: general)

  Blue Waters partners;

  The maintenance on the Blue Waters portal is complete.

  The maintenance addressed issues of stability and performance.

  We apologize for any inconvenience.

  Please report any issues with the Blue Waters portal to help+bw@ncsa.illinois.edu.

  -Blue Waters Project

  https://bluewaters.ncsa.illinois.edu/

• Blue Waters Announcement: Winter Holiday services

  Created by: gbauer 2017-12-21 15:49:34 (Channels: systemnotices|general)

  Blue Waters partners;

  NCSA staff will observe the University of Illinois Winter break schedule starting 5pm Friday December 22, 2017, and will resume normal business hours on Tuesday, January 2nd, 2018. On-call staff will monitor Blue Waters and the service request system during this period and respond to issues in a timely manner depending on the nature of the issue. Requests that require review by the project office such as reservations, quota increases or purge exemptions will be considered on Tueday, January 2rd 2018.

   

  Please send comments or concerns to help+bw@ncsa.illinois.edu.

   

  Enjoy the special job discount period and happy holidays from the Blue Waters team!

   

   

  
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  Blue Waters partners; NCSA staff will observe the University of Illinois Winter break schedule starting 5pm Friday December 22, 2017, and will resume normal business hours on Tuesday, January 2nd, 2018. On-call staff will monitor Blue Waters and the service request system during this period and respond to issues in a...
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• Blue Waters User Call: October 16th at 1PM Central

  Created by: gbauer 2017-11-17 19:07:47 (Channels: general)

  Blue Waters Partners;

   

  Please join us for the next Blue Waters User call this Monday, October 16th at 1PM Central. During this call, we will review any changes to the system, events and opportunities.  Your feedback is important to us.

   

  We will also discuss on the call: 

  • New email subscription system
  • Recent or Coming Changes to Blue Waters 
  • Usage, Utilization and other Items
  • Upcoming Opportunities

  Slides will be posted to https://bluewaters.ncsa.illinois.edu/past-webinars before the meeting starts. 

   

   

  
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  Blue Waters Partners;   Please join us for the next Blue Waters User call this Monday, October 16th at 1PM Central. During this call, we will review any changes to the system, events and opportunities.  Your feedback is important to us.   We will also discuss on the call:  New email subscription system Recent or Coming Changes...
  Read More