It is particularly useful for research projects that require intensive
CPU power, large amount of memory and massive disk storage. Normally,
the machine is divided into two separate and equal domains for
different users. Use of the entire machine as a single domain
is possible with prior arrangement.
Software
Availability
The machine
would be useless if not run by powerful software. Sun Microsystems
has provided a powerful development environment and the necessary
tools, such as Forte 6.0 (including C 6.0, C++ 6.0, Fortran 6.0
compilers) and Sun HPC Clustertools 3.1 (including MPI 4.1, S3L
3.1), under its advanced operating system Solaris 7. For details
of these tools, please refer to the documentation Website of Sun
Microsystems at URL http://docs.sun.com/.
Based on research
needs, we have further acquired the following:
-
Matlab 6 with different toolboxes including
Simulink, Control System, Optimization, Neural Network, Signal
Processing and Image Processing
-
GNU
products: g77, gcc, g++, c++, cpp, gzip, gunzip, gzexe, make,
autoconf, automake, bison, flex, gawk, ghostscript, ghostview,
m4, tar, texinfo
-
KAI
C++ compiler (OpenMP compliance)
-
NAG
f90 compiler and C parallel library
-
SAS
-
CFX
5, CFX 4
-
Others:
X11R6.5.1, TeX, LaTex, netCDF, Perl
Training
Course
To help researchers
get familiar with the high-performance computer, its computing
environment and programming tools, the Computing Services Centre
(CSC) invited a specialist from the U.S.A. to conduct a 3-day
training course on campus during 10-12 April 2001. The following
topics were discussed in great details:
-
The memory hierarchy in RISC cache based systems
-
Sequential optimization techniques
-
SUN WorkShop Environment components:
- The Fortran and C compilers (including key options)
- The performance analyzer
-
Modulo Scheduling
-
Introduction into Parallelization
-
Shared Memory Parallelization
-
SUN HPC ClusterTool and MPI
Eighteen staff
and research students participated the training course. Though
the course was a little bit too long for some staff, most of them
found that the contents of the training were rich and informative,
the topics were very useful and could help them in their research
work, and the instructor was fully prepared, professional and
attentive.
Research
Areas
The availability
of this machine was first announced in late December 2000. Since
then over thirty applications have been received. Currently, more
than twenty research projects are using this machine. They are
originated from several departments including AP, CS, EE, MA,
MEEM, MS, MGT and the others. Typically, the projects are related
to solving large-scale computation and simulation problems, data
mining, statistical analysis of massive data collected from online
and offline sources, implementation of parallel algorithms for
computational electromagnetic and CAD software, computer-aided
geometric design (CAGD), feature recognition from 3D models, phase
synchronisation in chaotic systems, study of large molecules,
analysis of tropical cyclones and many more.
Resource
Utilisation
According
to systems statistics, the machine has been heavily used and there
were just a few percent of CPU time left idle during the past
three months. As consumption of disk space kept increasing, more
resources will be added when deemed necessary.
For further
information of the high-performance computer, please visit the
following URL:
http://www.cityu.edu.hk/csc/deptweb/facilities/researchcom.htm
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