News


Here is all the latest news from the UCF ARCC:


Spring 2025 Maintenance Window Completed

The ARCC completed a downtime maintenance window on both the Stokes and Newton clusters from June 1-10, 2025. This was a large maintenance as we converted the clusters (and data transfer node) to use UCF NIDs for login. This included changing ownership of all user and group files (/home and /groups), which took multiple days in itself! In addition, we installed additional hardware and software to support better security (UCF is completing a campus-wide initiative to be ready and prepared for new guidelines in handling Federal Contract Information). Only accounts of users that have submitted at least one job since January 1, 2023 was automatically converted. If you still desire access but were not a member of this subgroup, please reach out to us and we can add you.

Summer 2024 Downtime Maintenance Completed

SUMMARY

The ARCC completed a downtime maintenance window on both the Stokes and Newton clusters from August 5-9, 2024 to upgrade from CentOS 7.x to Rocky Linux 8.x.  All compute nodes were re-installed and newer versions of most software re-compiled/re-installed.  Note that many older versions of software were not transitioned, and also note not all software was transitioned.  
 
However, if your research requires a particular version of software that is no longer available, please do let us know by submitting a ticket with the subject "Rocky Software Re-install" and we will attempt to support such requests (not all software can always run on newer versions of operating systems).
 
As a reminder, you can view what software is available by running the "module avail" command at the terminal prompt after logging in.
 
Although we performed some testing of the clusters, there is a lot of software supported and we are not always intimately familiar with all of it.  This is a significant upgrade to the clusters that must be done rarely (but must be done).  We kindly ask for you to notify us (at the e-mail address above) of any issues you may find and please be patient while we address any concerns that may arise.  Thank you so much from the ARCC staff!
 

DETAILS

What happened?
The primary purpose of this maintenance window was to upgrade the Stokes and Newton clusters to Rocky Linux (version 8.7).
 
Why did the clusters switch from CentOS to Rocky Linux?  
Red Hat announced in December 2020 that CentOS would become an "upstream" product, meaning that it is meant more for testing components for the final release of Red Hat Enterprise Linux itself (CentOS 7 reached end-of-life on June 30, 2024).  This has caused a need to switch distributions of Linux and most clusters are choosing Rocky Linux.  For example, the Texas Advanced Computing Center (TACC) selected Rocky Linux for its Lonestar6 cluster (https://tacc.utexas.edu/news/latest-news/2022/03/01/10-things-know-about-new-tacc-resources-texas-researchers/).  The UCF ARCC reviewed Rocky Linux in 2023 and found that it would work well.
 
How does this affect Anaconda environments?
All Anaconda environments will likely have to be re-installed/re-created.  The ARCC has ensured that popular system-wide environments previously installed are still available; however, users that maintain their own may have to re-create them.  
 
What about effects to other software?
GCC (glibc) was updated and you may have to re-compile any software you specifically compile yourself.  We do not believe that other software will be affected other than moving to later versions.  However, ARCC staff did compile/install newer (usually the latest version but not always) versions of software used on the clusters.  Old versions were "left behind" and old software that received little/no use was not kept initially.  However, as stated above, if you have a need for a specific version of some software, please do reach out to us and we are willing to investigate it for you.

Special Summer Downtime Maintenace Window, August 5-10, 2024

SUMMARY

The ARCC will perform a downtime maintenance window on both Stokes and Newton from August 5-10, 2024 to upgrade from CentOS 7.x to Rocky Linux 8.x.  Anaconda and GCC/glibc will be affected and users may have to re-create/re-compile software they maintain.

DETAILS

What is happening?
The ARCC needs to perform a special one-time maintenance downtime window this summer.  This will be scheduled for August 5-10, 2024.  The primary purpose of this window is to upgrade the Stokes and Newton clusters to Rocky Linux (likely version 8.x).

Why are the clusters switching from CentOS to Rocky Linux?  
Red Hat announced X that CentOS would become an "upstream" product, meaning that it is meant more for testing components for the final release of Red Hat Enterprise Linux itself.  This has caused a need to switch versions of Linux and most clusters are choosing Rocky Linux.  For example, the Texas Advanced Computing Center (TACC) selected Rocky Linux for its Lonestar6 cluster (https://tacc.utexas.edu/news/latest-news/2022/03/01/10-things-know-about-new-tacc-resources-texas-researchers/).  The UCF ARCC reviewed Rocky Linux and found that it would work well.

What has the UCF ARCC done to prepare for the switch to Rocky Linux?
Personnel within the ARCC have been testing Rocky Linux for several months, and have been diligently working to re-compile/re-install newer versions of all software.  The plan is to initially start with later versions of all software only.  However, if your research requires a particular version of software, please do let us know by submitting a ticket with the subject "Rocky Software Re-install" and we will attempt to support such requests (not all software can always run on newer versions of operating systems).

How does this affect Anaconda environments?
All Anaconda environments will have to be re-installed/re-created.  The ARCC will ensure that the system-wide environments previously installed are still available; however, users that maintain their own will have to re-create them.  We will try to release a guide to help.

What about effects to other software?
GCC (glibc) will be updated and you may have to re-compile any software you specifically compile yourself.  We do not believe that other software will be affected other than moving to later versions.


Please let us know if you have any questions!

 

Spring Maintenance Downtime, May 9-15, 2024

Stokes and Newton will be taken down per our bi-annual routine maintenance cycle during mid-May. Specifically, the clusters will be unavailable from Thursday, May 9 through Wednesday, May 15, 2024.

The primary objectives during this downtime is to integrate a new user and management nodes on Newton, prepare our old storage server to be final decommissioning, refresh Ethernet switches on the Stokes cluster, perform maintenance on the GPU cluster (Newton), update the SLURM job scheduler throughout both clusters, and perform other tasks we cannot do while the system is operational.

Recall that we routinely bring the system down twice a year, once in late Fall and once in late Spring. We will keep the users notified in advance of such downtimes, but we recommend you build such expectations into your workflow. Though we anticipate no data loss during this time, it's never a bad idea to backup your materials. So we suggest you use this opportunity to copy salient data and code off of Stokes and Newton prior to the downtime

About the UCF ARCC:

The University of Central Florida (UCF) Advanced Research Computing Center is managed by the Institute for Simulation and Training, with subsidies from the UCF Provost and Vice President for Research and Commercialization, for the use by all UCF faculty and their students. Collaboration with other universities and industry is also possible.

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Contact Info:
UCF Advanced Research Computing Center
3039 Technology Parkway, Suite 220
Orlando, FL 32826
P: 407-882-1147

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