M3 Migration#

The following outlines important changes for M3 and the SuperPod.

Purge Policy#

Data stored in $SCRATCH on M3 or the SuperPod has a time based quota. Data older than 60 days will be purged (deleted) without warning. $SCRATCH is intended as high performance, temporary storage for jobs.

If data is needed for a longer period of time, it should be stored in $WORK (8 TB limit) or $HOME directories (200 GB). If those are also insuffiencient, please contact us to discuss options.

Access#

Access is described in greate detail on the access page. For most users, it will be sufficient to change m2 to m3 in ssh and similar commands (if you use keys, you will need to set those up for M3.)

The web portal will temporarily be located at hpc.m3.smu.edu.

File Access#

M2 $HOME directory#

Your M2 $HOME directory is temporarily available on M3 at $M2HOME. This is only available on the login nodes and is read only. Please copy any files you need to keep to M3

Approximately 60 days after migration is complete, access to these files will no longer be possible. Communications about the shutdown of M2 storage will provide ample warning.

M2 $WORK directory#

Your M2 $WORK directory was copied to M3 as part of the migration process. Any file you had in $WORK on M2 should be in $WORK on M3.

M2 $SCRATCH directory#

Your M2 $SCRATCH directory is temporarily available on M3 at $M2SCRATCH. This is only available on the login nodes and is read only. Please copy any files you need to keep to M3

Approximately 60 days after migration is complete, access to these files will no longer be possible. Communications about the shutdown of M2 storage will provide ample warning.

Applications#

We’re working hard on installing software. If you find that a something you need is missing, please let us know.

Python and R#

NOTE: we will not be installing specific Python or R packages at a system level for individual users. Instead, users should set up their own environments with the specific packages they need. If you require help with this, please let us know.

Suggestions for making the most of M3#

  • Make sure any paths you have in scripts are still correct.

  • Recompile performance critical applications. M3 uses AMD CPUs (M2 used Intel.).

  • Rebuild environments. While it is possible you can copy environments and they will work, you may get a performance boost by rebuilding them.

  • Ask for help if you run into issues. This is a new system and some of the edges are still a bit rough.

GPU access#

M3 is a CPU only machine. After transition, only GPUs on the SuperPOD will be accessible.

At this time, the SuperPOD is not accesible by a web portal.