RESTRICTED ACCESS:  Access to CCR HPC & web portal resources is restricted to the Roswell Park secure networks.  You will not be able to access CCR servers and websites from the patient wifi or any other insecure wifi networks at RPCI.  Roswell employees who wish to connect to UB CCR from off-campus must first connect to the Roswell VPN.


CCR manages RPCI's high performance computing infrastructure and shared storage.  CCR staff provide the hardware and account support while RPCI IT provides the training and software support.

Accounts & Access


Please see this page for more details on requesting CCR accounts, setting up your group's project in our allocation portal, and the types of access you can request.  



The above steps must be completed before moving on to using CCR's resources!



Training and Support


Training and support for Roswell Park users is provided by Roswell Park’s IT Research Computing group.  Requests may be submitted through the Roswell Park Service Now portal (https://roswellpark.service-now.com/rp/) or by e-mailing ServiceDesk@RoswellPark.org.  See the PowerPoint presentation attachment at the bottom of this page for detailed usage information.


Currently, training is provided in the form of workday learning courses and upon request (please open a ticket in ServiceNow). Additionally, documentation can be found here: https://u3.roswellpark.org/public/ccr-docs/

   This website is only available from within the Roswell network.



IMPORTANT:  New Roswell users must complete the webinar training sessions (ITR: High Performance Computing 101) prior to accessing CCR resources. 

 

RPCI users should also leverage the additional Roswell and CCR topical guidance videos and documents on the RPCI u3 site prior to requesting support.  CCR is unable to provide training to RPCI users and we don't have access to the above mentioned webinars, documentation, or other training resources on the RPCI server or GitLab repository.  Any questions regarding this library of information should be directed to RPCI IT.  The RPCI webinars are specific to RPCI users and therefore we recommend them first, but you're also welcome to reach through our documentation and watch our virtual workshops for more general information.



Logging into CCR's Systems


How to login to CCR HPC resources 


REMINDER on accessing CCR's servers & web portals:  Access to CCR resources is restricted to the Roswell Park secure networks.  You will not be able to access CCR servers and websites from the patient wifi or any other insecure wifi networks at RPCI.  Roswell employees who wish to connect to UB CCR from off-campus must first connect to the Roswell VPN.  Note that VPN access requires prior authorization from the Roswell Information Security Office --- requests can be initiated through the Roswell Park Service Now “Request IT” portal.



Resources


RPCI's HPC resources at CCR consist of:

  • Compute nodes in the 'rpci' partition of the faculty cluster, containing a variety of CPU counts and memory configurations
    • On the login node (vortex.ccr.buffalo.edu) use this command to see hardware specs:  snodes all faculty/rpci
    • Compute nodes are accessible through:
      • Slurm batch scripts
      • Via OnDemand using the:
        • faculty cluster desktop app 
        • faculty cluster advanced options desktop app
        • Jupyter Notebook app
        • RPCI Visualization desktop - to be used for graphic-intense GUI-based scientific applications. 
  • Bulk storage purchase:  Research groups are provided a shared directory and portion of the RPCI storage quota, when requested via allocation.  Shared directories can be found in /projects/rpci
RPCI DIRECTORIES ARE NOT BACKED UP BY CCR!

Reminder:  You must be on an active allocation for these resources to access them.  More details can be found here



Software


CCR utilizes a separate location as a software repository for many popular scientific and HPC applications.  To load the proper environment for the application we use software modules.  

More information on software modules



RPCI Software Modules:  In addition to CCR's software repository, RPCI software modules are maintained by Roswell Park’s IT Research Computing group.  To use these modules, you must first issue the command:  module use /projects/rpci/software/modules


For example, to obtain a complete list of available software (i.e. from both CCR and Roswell Park), issue the following commands:


$ module use /projects/rpci/modules

$ module avail



Installing your own software:  It is possible you require software that is not installed by CCR or RPCI or the version you need is different than what we provide.  Nearly all software is able to be installed in a non-standard directory such has your home or project directory.  If you're able to redirect the installation path of your software, you can install the software yourself and then create your own module to load the appropriate environment.  Beginning in January 2023, this is the recommended method for installing software for your personal or group use.



Software Support:  RPCI users should contact RPCI IT for assistance with software installations.



Globus Data Transfer

Globus is a fast and secure file transfer service utilized at UB for moving data.  At this time, access is only available to those with UB accounts.  CCR users without UB accounts are not able to authenticate to the service.  RPCI is working to provide this service to RPCI users in the future.  Please see this information about data transfer options