Description

Neocortex is a highly innovative resource that targets the acceleration of AI-powered scientific discovery by vastly shortening the time required for deep learning training, fostering greater integration of artificial deep learning with scientific workflows, and providing revolutionary new hardware for the development of more efficient algorithms for artificial intelligence and high-performance computing.

The Neocortex HPE Superdome Flex (SDFlex) features 32 Intel Xeon Platinum 8280L CPUs with 28 cores (56 threads) each, 2.70-4.0 GHz, 38.5 MB cache, 24 TiB RAM, aggregate memory bandwidth of 4.5 TB/s, and 204.6 TB aggregate local storage capacity with 150 GB/s read bandwidth. The SDF can provide 1.2 Tb/s to each CS-2 system and 1.6 Tb/s from the Bridges-2 filesystems.

SDFlex Service units are calculated as chassis hours. Each chassis has 112 cpu cores, so an SDFlex SU = 112 core hours.

Resource ID
2517
Global Resource ID
neocortex-sdflex.psc.access-ci.org
Resource Type
Compute
Latest Status
production
Latest Status Begin
Project Affiliation
ACCESS
Organization Name
Pittsburgh Supercomputing Center
RP Description

Neocortex SDFlex is the HPE Superdome Flex shared-memory host system associated with PSC Neocortex. It supports memory-heavy CPU work, preprocessing, data staging, validation, compilation, and workflows that benefit from large shared RAM.

SDFlex also serves as the host environment for Neocortex CS workflows, including preparing data, running Cerebras containers, and launching Cerebras training or evaluation jobs.

The system includes 32 Intel Xeon Platinum 8280L processors, 24 TiB RAM, high-bandwidth memory access, and local NVMe storage for high-performance job-local I/O.

MFA Required
Off
File Transfer Text

Use the Neocortex data transfer node for moving files to and from Neocortex storage. PSC documents rsync as the preferred method; sftp is also supported, and scp is available but not recommended for large transfers.

Use data.neocortex.psc.edu for transfers to project or shared storage, such as locations under /ocean/projects/<GRANT_ID>/. See the Neocortex Data Management and Storage documentation for current examples.

File Transfer Methods
Transfer Method
rsync
Data Transfer Node / Globus Collection
data.neocortex.psc.edu
Transfer Method
sftp
Data Transfer Node / Globus Collection
data.neocortex.psc.edu
Transfer Method
scp
Data Transfer Node / Globus Collection
data.neocortex.psc.edu
Storage Text

Neocortex SDFlex uses PSC's persistent /jet and /ocean filesystems for personal and project data. Use $HOME for small personal files, $PROJECT for project data, and $PROJECT/../shared for files shared with project members.

SDFlex provides node-local storage at /local1 through /local4. These locations are temporary and visible only from the SDFlex compute nodes. Use $LOCAL inside jobs and copy important results back to persistent project storage before the job ends.

If you belong to multiple PSC projects, run newgrp <GROUP_ID> before using $PROJECT for the intended allocation.

Jobs Information

Neocortex SDFlex uses Slurm for interactive and batch workloads. The sdf partition contains the two SDF execution environments, sdf-1 and sdf-2. Use the login node only for light tasks such as editing files, inspecting allocations, and submitting or monitoring jobs.

Before submitting work, confirm the correct project and Unix group:

projects groups newgrp GROUPID

Common Slurm commands include:

squeue -u $USER # Show your queued and running jobs squeue -j JOB_ID # Show one job scancel JOB_ID # Cancel a job scontrol show job JOB_ID # Display detailed job information

For an interactive session on an available SDF node, use:

interact

To request a specific SDF execution environment:

srun --nodelist=sdf-1 --pty bash -i

A minimal CPU-only SDFlex batch job can use:

#!/bin/bash #SBATCH --job-name=sdf-example #SBATCH --partition=sdf #SBATCH --account=GROUPID #SBATCH --time=01:00:00 #SBATCH --cpus-per-task=28 #SBATCH --output=%x-%j.out newgrp GROUPID echo "Running on $(hostname)" echo "Local storage: $LOCAL" ./my_program

Submit the script and monitor it with:

sbatch job.sbatch squeue -u $USER

CPU-only preprocessing, compilation, data preparation, and memory-intensive SDFlex workloads should not request a Cerebras accelerator. A CS-2 training or evaluation workflow that requires a Cerebras system must additionally request the Cerebras generic resource:

#SBATCH --gres=cs:cerebras:1 #SBATCH --ntasks=7 #SBATCH --cpus-per-task=14

The default wall-time value documented for Neocortex reservations is four hours, and the maximum supported wall time is 48 hours. Request only the time needed because shorter jobs are generally easier to schedule.

See the instructions for running interactive, batch, validation, compilation, and Cerebras jobs on Neocortex, the complete Neocortex Slurm and Cerebras job-script examples, and the Neocortex reservation and wall-time instructions.

Storage Filesystems
Directory
Home
File System Path
/jet/home/<PSC_USERNAME>
Quota (Deprecated)
25 GB cap
Notes
Personal files; max quota may block login
Directory
Project
File System Path
/ocean/projects/<GRANT_ID>/<PSC_USERNAME>
Quota (Deprecated)
Allocation based
Notes
Project data and shared storage
Directory
Local
File System Path
/local{1..4} or $LOCAL
Quota (Deprecated)
Job only
Purge Policy
Cleared after job
Backup Policy
Not backed up
Notes
Temporary high-speed SDF job I/O
Queue Specifications
Queue Name
sdf
Purpose
Large-memory CPU workloads, preprocessing, compilation, data staging, and Cerebras CS-2 host workflows
CPU Type
Intel Xeon Platinum 8280L
RAM (Deprecated)
24 TiB total across the HPE Superdome Flex system