Next Generation Sonic HPC/AI Implementation
The Next Generation Sonic HPC/AI Implementation was set up to replace "end of life" infrastructure on our existing "Sonic" HPC and to bring increased resources to the UCD research community. HEA funding was secured through the UCD Research Office.
Project Phases
Design and Procurement
Installation and User Testing
User Migration and Golive
Project Update July 2024
After our project proposal was submitted to UMT, we have been awarded funding to replace the core infrastructure of Sonic. This HEA funding was secured through the UCD Research Office.
Hardware Specification
After meeting with key stakeholders and incorporating information from the user survey (Dec 2023) a hardware specification list is to be drawn up and sent to the supplier awarded the HEAnet single supplier framework for Servers and Storage for procurement
What is Sonic HPC?
"Sonic" is the name of the campus HPC system in UCD . It is available to all researchers on campus and is accessible on campus or through the UCD Staff/Research* VPN's.
The HPC system consists of compute nodes (equipped with up to two 48 cores CPUS) and GPU nodes (equipped with V100s A100s and a H100). These nodes are networked together using a high speed Infiniband interconnect and connect to a parallel filesystem which provides low latency storage to the cluster.
Researchers can install their own software or use centrally installed software . Requests for software to be installed centrally can be logged to the group using the IT Service Support Portal https://www.ucd.ie/ithelp
* The Research VPN is only available to research postgraduate students . More details can be found here.
Next Generation HPC/AI Platform Timelines
The below graphic provides an overview of the expected milestones within this project. These dates are provisional and subject to change depending on how the project processes.
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Q3 2023 - Q1 2024
Complete - Engage user base. Form Working group of PI’s. Gather Requirements
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Q1 2024
Complete - Engage business owner and submit for funding approval
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Q2 2024
In Progress - Finalise specification and procurement channel
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Q3 2024
Complete - Secure funding. This was provided by HEA through UCD Research
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Q4 2024 - Q1 2025
Planning - Purchase, Hardware, OS and software install
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Q2 2025
Planning - Migrate users to new cluster
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Q3 2025
Planning - Power off old Sonic
UCD IT Services
Computer Centre, University College Dublin, Belfield, Dublin 4, Ireland.Contact us via the UCD IT Support Hub: www.ucd.ie/ithelp