{"version":"1.0","provider_name":"UCT HPC","provider_url":"https:\/\/ucthpc.uct.ac.za","author_name":"Andrew Lewis","author_url":"https:\/\/ucthpc.uct.ac.za\/index.php\/author\/andrew-lewis\/","title":"From vision to reality - UCT HPC","type":"rich","width":600,"height":338,"html":"<blockquote class=\"wp-embedded-content\" data-secret=\"cbOdEmT2qE\"><a href=\"https:\/\/ucthpc.uct.ac.za\/index.php\/2012\/05\/25\/from-vision-to-reality\/\">From vision to reality<\/a><\/blockquote><iframe sandbox=\"allow-scripts\" security=\"restricted\" src=\"https:\/\/ucthpc.uct.ac.za\/index.php\/2012\/05\/25\/from-vision-to-reality\/embed\/#?secret=cbOdEmT2qE\" width=\"600\" height=\"338\" title=\"&#8220;From vision to reality&#8221; &#8212; UCT HPC\" data-secret=\"cbOdEmT2qE\" frameborder=\"0\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" class=\"wp-embedded-content\"><\/iframe><script type=\"text\/javascript\">\n\/*! This file is auto-generated *\/\n!function(c,d){\"use strict\";var e=!1,o=!1;if(d.querySelector)if(c.addEventListener)e=!0;if(c.wp=c.wp||{},c.wp.receiveEmbedMessage);else if(c.wp.receiveEmbedMessage=function(e){var t=e.data;if(!t);else if(!(t.secret||t.message||t.value));else if(\/[^a-zA-Z0-9]\/.test(t.secret));else{for(var r,s,a,i=d.querySelectorAll('iframe[data-secret=\"'+t.secret+'\"]'),n=d.querySelectorAll('blockquote[data-secret=\"'+t.secret+'\"]'),o=new RegExp(\"^https?:$\",\"i\"),l=0;l<n.length;l++)n[l].style.display=\"none\";for(l=0;l<i.length;l++)if(r=i[l],e.source!==r.contentWindow);else{if(r.removeAttribute(\"style\"),\"height\"===t.message){if(1e3<(s=parseInt(t.value,10)))s=1e3;else if(~~s<200)s=200;r.height=s}if(\"link\"===t.message)if(s=d.createElement(\"a\"),a=d.createElement(\"a\"),s.href=r.getAttribute(\"src\"),a.href=t.value,!o.test(a.protocol));else if(a.host===s.host)if(d.activeElement===r)c.top.location.href=t.value}}},e)c.addEventListener(\"message\",c.wp.receiveEmbedMessage,!1),d.addEventListener(\"DOMContentLoaded\",t,!1),c.addEventListener(\"load\",t,!1);function t(){if(o);else{o=!0;for(var e,t,r,s=-1!==navigator.appVersion.indexOf(\"MSIE 10\"),a=!!navigator.userAgent.match(\/Trident.*rv:11\\.\/),i=d.querySelectorAll(\"iframe.wp-embedded-content\"),n=0;n<i.length;n++){if(!(r=(t=i[n]).getAttribute(\"data-secret\")))r=Math.random().toString(36).substr(2,10),t.src+=\"#?secret=\"+r,t.setAttribute(\"data-secret\",r);if(s||a)(e=t.cloneNode(!0)).removeAttribute(\"security\"),t.parentNode.replaceChild(e,t);t.contentWindow.postMessage({message:\"ready\",secret:r},\"*\")}}}}(window,document);\n<\/script>\n","description":"This  week we installed five new servers bringing our core count to 208.  &nbsp;In 2009 we were asked to develop a five year road map of HPC at UCT. &nbsp;Given our inexperience we focused on the two most obvious resources, cores and disk space, and completely ignored RAM.&nbsp;  Over the past 18 months our researchers have taught us that large memory machines are a critical component of HPC and our next provisioning strategy will be designed around this requirement.&nbsp; Below is a graph of our original predicted growth path versus our actual  implementation:We  were able to deliver pretty much what we'd planned for as we knew that  the hardware re-provisioning strategy would make these resources  available. &nbsp;What was more difficult to provide was rapid storage growth,  especially storage protected by reliable backups.  Our  current disaster recovery system was spec'd for our operational  infrastructure, and not the rapid geometric growth of research data  which is an order of magnitude larger than our email, file services and  database systems combined. &nbsp;Solving this problem will require new  technologies such as snapshot, block level&nbsp;replication and NDMP. &nbsp;We're  hoping that our new Netapp will assist us in addressing these  challenges. Over  the next three years we'd like to bring down the number of servers,  reduce the core growth rate and rather focus on more powerful cores with  very large RAM footprints, probably in excess of 200GB. &nbsp;We're  anticipating disk growth towards 50 to 75 TB, although some of this will  be data copied from other institutes and will not fall within our  disaster recovery strategy.","thumbnail_url":"https:\/\/ucthpc.uct.ac.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/vision.jpg"}