Platform Overview

CSCS offers the cscs2go platform as a means to lower barriers and simplify access to our world-class compute and storage HPC services, without having to go through any peer-review process.

Thanks to the cscs2go platform users can move their data, begin their analyses and run their simulations within a few days of the request, with little overhead. Upon registration, a user will be granted a project with disk space for data storage and a quota of node-hours to consume within one year on Piz Daint, Europe’s fastest supercomputer. That’s it!

Once a project is enabled, users have access to a number of supported services including:

• Compute: Users get an allocation of node-hours on Piz Daint (multicore or hybrid partition) to use via a queuing system. Jobs submitted from the login nodes can use either the user’s own compiled codes or codes provided by CSCS. Jobs need to use the /scratch file system to do their I/O operations, so data needs to be staged in and out before and after the job runs (e.g. using the Data Mover service).
• Storage: Users get limited space for configuration data and codes in a ‘/home’ file system, and a larger quota in the ‘/store’ file system for scientific data and results. Data are automatically backed-up on a daily basis and can be transferred to and from any remote site using the Data Mover service.
• Data Science and Machine Learning: A selection of applications using our state-of-the-art HPC environment.
• Scientific Applications: A set of scientific applications ranging from quantum-physics to supramolecular dynamics simulations.
• Programming environment: A selection of compilers, debuggers and performance tools to help you get the best from your code.

The updated list of services available at CSCS can be found here.

All these services are supported by our Help Desk. For those who already know CSCS, the cscs2go platform shares many features with the User Lab.