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Table of Contents
CHPC Cloud Resources
Overview
The CHPC Cloud System is a CentOS-based cloud computing infrastructure powered by Openstack and open source storage software Ceph. Openstack provide services like server virtualization, block & object storage systems, software defined networking, an image repository, a web based dashboard and authentication.You can read more about Openstack and its various projects.
The Centre for High Performance Computing (CHPC) hosts an OpenStack cloud built on Supermicro server and storage systems, using the Supermicro TwinPro servers to provide 320cores/640threads (2.50 – 3.90GHz) and over 3TB DDR4 memory providing some 9GB RAM per core and all in just 4U of rack space. It is connected through Mellanox 100GB ethernet networking to Supermicro Ultra and Supermicro Simply Double Servers, providing a CEPH Storage cluster with over 1.5PB (1500TB) of mechanical disk storage and more than 220TB of flash storage, offering resources such as:
- Compute Resource: provides you with access to a large set of CPU & RAM and are provisioned on a per Instance basis.
- Storage Resource: Block & Object storage functionality based on the open source software 'Ceph'. Ceph provides a scalable and highly available storage solution across many commodity servers.
- Networking Resource: provides 10Gbps Internet connectivity, 10Gbps inter-host and 240Gbps inter-rack network connectivity using Openstack's Software Defined Networking (SDN).
| CPU cores | Memory | Storage | Networking(Shared) | Object Storage (raw) | Block Storage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3452 | 78 TB | 4.4 PB | 10 Gbps | 403 TB | 403 TB |
Fees for using the CHPC cloud system
The cloud resources are allocated on per project basis, then several instances are provisioned based on the available resources allocated to the project. The billing is calculated by allocation not by percentage of utilization. The current billing fees are calculated as follows:
- R0.23 per vCPU hour.
- R0.14 per GB hour of vMemory(vRAM).
- R0.0017 per GB hour of storage (volumes, images and object storage).
Apply for Resources
The Cloud is now open to a broader community of researchers. Apply today and start using our resources. A new project account on the Cloud user database can be requested through the Application process. Upon acquiring cloud user database account and submitting a project on the CHPC cloud user database, we will send you an email with further instructions, including login credentials to access the CHPC Openstack Cloud.
Best Practices
Cloud users are expected to:
- Make appropriate use of Cloud resources and use good social behaviour.
- Do not share private ssh keys or login information.
- Cite the CHPC Cloud in any papers describing a research achieved on the Cloud.
- Provide feedback on research outputs achieved from allocation usage. This feedback is used by the CHPC to determine the setting for the next allocation.
- Submit tickets to the CHPC support ticketing system when encountering technical issues not covered by the Cloud support documentation.
Getting Started
Already a CHPC cloud user? Log into the CHPC Openstack Dashboard and launch a VM instance/s for your workflow.
