Please Note: This text contains forward looking statements and will be updated as decisions proceed. Since end of 2013, users from University of Innsbruck may apply for regular VSC-2 accounts subject to the VSC guidelines.
Vienna Scientific Cluster (VSC)
The University of Innsbruck is member in a strategic cooperation named Vienna Scientific Cluster of major Austrian universities with the goal to satisfy the demand for High Performance Computing of the participating institutions.
As of August 2013, two computational systems (VSC1 and VSC2) are in operation. A new large system (VSC3) will be added in the first half of 2014 and will go into full operation in the second half of 2014. All systems are large clusters of Infiniband-connected X86-64 machines, similar in architecture to the existing LEO systems at the University of Innsbruck.
Users from University of Innsbruck are welcome to apply for projects on VSC-2, as well as VSC-3 when this new system is in operation. Accounts on VSC-1 will be approved only in special cases (e.g. usage of GPUs).
How to apply for a project on VSC
In contrast to UIBK procedures, users will not receive individual accounts for long-term usage. Instead, accounts are provided on a project-by-project basis. If you and your team members need access to VSC resources, you may apply for a VSC-project. After the project has been approved, you will be able to create accounts for yourself and each individual team member. Shared accounts are not supported with VSC.
- Login to the VSC Service Portal https://service.vsc.tuwien.ac.at/. After selecting "University of Innsbruck" and logging in with your Innsbruck user ID and password, you will be directed to a web form that allows you to request a project or list existing projects.
- To apply for a new project, choose "request project" and fill in the form according to the VSC guidelines http://vsc.ac.at/about-vsc/access/project-applications/. Duration is up to 1 year. Please supply realistic estimates for the resources that you need. Typically, resource usage of up to 1 million of CPU hours and 500 GB of disk storage will be considered as "normal" for VSC-2. If you need significantly more, a member of the VSC team might contact you to discuss your resource needs.
- After filling in the initial form, you will be prompted to upload files containing additional information, e.g. external grants, peer-reviews, etc.
- The completed form will be forwarded to the VSC team in Vienna for a brief technical review. After successful review, the project will be presented to two members of the University of Innsbruck Scientific Computing Board for approval: the Head of the board and the member that you specified in your application. The final step is an approval by the central steering committee.
Note that you can extend existing VSC-projects as long as external funding exists or internal review supports your usage of VSC resources. You do not need to create a new VSC-project for each of your externally funded projects.
How to create accounts on VSC
After your project has been granted, you may log in to the VSC Service Portal to create individual accounts (user ID, password) for each member of your team. These accounts are activated automatically. Resources granted to the project (CPU time, data storage) are shared among the accounts of each project.
When the granted resources are exhausted, your project is not terminated, but your jobs will run with low priority. When the duration is over, you will get a one month grace period allowing you to submit your jobs at low priority, and another three months when you can still log in and retrieve your data. You may apply for an extension using the Service Portal.
Existing test projects (including user IDs) can be turned into regular projects: apply for a new project and identify the current test project in the "comments" section.
Documentation, Support
The main portal for VSC is http://vsc.ac.at/ .
The VSC Service Portal can be found at https://service.vsc.tuwien.ac.at/. Here, you can apply for new projects and manage your existing projects. Guidelines for project requests can be found at http://vsc.ac.at/about-vsc/access/project-applications/. As a matter of principle, regular projects will need to show some kind of peer-review, either by external grants or by an internal review. For test projects, no review is required.
User documentation can be found in the VSC Wiki https://wiki.zserv.tuwien.ac.at. For a limited time, access to the VSC Wiki is open for everyone. Later, you will need to login with your VSC user ID and password.
Support inquiries should be directed to
Please note that at the moment, the ZID team at University of Innsbruck are not in a position to give technical support in using the VSC. However, we are happy to help with general questions.