Altair > Case Studies > Managing 30 Teraflops of Compute Power: PBS Professional at Italy’s CILEA Consortium

Managing 30 Teraflops of Compute Power: PBS Professional at Italy’s CILEA Consortium

Technology Category

Analytics & Modeling - Digital Twin / Simulation
Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) - Cloud Computing

Applicable Industries

Automotive
Life Sciences

Applicable Functions

Product Research & Development

Use Cases

Virtual Reality
Virtual Training

Services

System Integration

About The Customer

CILEA is a technical consortium formed by ten universities in Italy’s Lombardy region. Established in 1974, its main purpose was to provide computing cycles for research. Over the years, the consortium has expanded its services to include a large digital library, e-learning courses, database development, networking, technical support for libraries, universities, and other institutions, and consulting help for its users. With 30 teraflops of peak computing power, CILEA has ranked as high as 135th among the Top 500 high performance computing centers. The consortium has 400 registered users from government, industry, and academia, and its HPC resources are used for a wide variety of disciplines, projects, and applications.

The Challenge

CILEA, a technical consortium formed by ten universities in Italy’s Lombardy region, was faced with the challenge of managing a steep growth curve in demand for its high-performance computing (HPC) facilities. The consortium, which provides computing cycles for research, had to cope with a wide variety of disciplines, projects, and applications from its 400 registered users. These users, coming from government, industry, and academia, were driving the demand for CILEA’s facilities into a steep growth curve. The consortium responded by doubling its staff over three years and building up its HPC resources. However, managing these resources, which included a 208-blade HP cluster named Lagrange, two AMD Opteron clusters, and a 64-CPU HP Superdome SMP system, was a significant challenge. The consortium needed a workload manager that was robust, flexible, and had an excellent price/performance ratio.

The Solution

CILEA turned to Altair’s PBS Professional to manage its HPC resources. PBS Professional, with its powerful and flexible scheduling policies, was chosen for its robustness, flexibility, and excellent price/performance ratio. The software was used to manage all 2,500 processors in CILEA’s HPC environment, including the 1,664 cores in the Lagrange cluster. PBS Professional allowed CILEA to keep its policies working at maximum levels and was easy to use, with a very short learning curve. The software was accessed by expert clients through an SSH shell using optimized scripts provided by CILEA, while less expert users were provided with a web interface. Looking ahead, CILEA plans to use its new HP server and PBS Professional to expand its influence in industry and encourage the use of simulation and HPC techniques in science and engineering.

Operational Impact

The implementation of PBS Professional has significantly improved the management of CILEA’s HPC resources. The software’s robustness and flexibility have allowed the consortium to keep its policies working at maximum levels, ensuring high levels of utilization. Its ease of use and short learning curve have also made it accessible to all users, regardless of their level of expertise. Furthermore, the software has enabled CILEA to cope with the steep growth curve in demand for its facilities, ensuring that it can continue to provide high-quality services to its users. Looking ahead, CILEA plans to use PBS Professional to expand its influence in industry and encourage the use of simulation and HPC techniques in science and engineering.

Quantitative Benefit