System Access
Scientists at German universities can apply for free access to our supercomputers for research purposes as part of the NHR network. In addition, there are simplified access routes for users from Paderborn University and the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, as well as options for international users. The following information will help you to find the right way to apply for access. If in doubt, our support team will also be happy to help you.
How to apply for HPC resources
Scientists can apply for HPC resources required for their research activities. The requested resources are managed as a project with a default duration of one year. If necessary, a project can be renewed after one year by following the process of submitting a new application.
Applications have to be submitted through the Online project application system (PC2-JARDS) and must comply to the project classification, resource allowance and eligibility criteria listed in the following table. If you need a commitment of compute resources for a project proposal, please have a look at the FAQ section.
| Project Class | Purpose | HPC System | Location of Principal Investigator (*) | CPU-Core-hours, resp. GPU-Core-Hours, per project | Granting period/Project duration | Review Process | Remarks |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| NHR-Starter | This category is intended for applicants without experience with the application procedure for resource use of high performance computing, and without deeper background knowledge of high performance computing. | DE | depending on need | one year, usually followed up by a NHR-normal/large project | continuous submission, technical review | Can be submitted at any time | |
| Large (NHR) | Projects with large resource requirements | DE | > 15 Mio. CPU core-h and/or > 100,000 GPU-h or FPGA-h | one year | four times a year, | This is an NHR-project.
| |
| Normal (NHR) | Projects with medium size resource requirements (e.g. medium-sized research activity, large scale GPU accelerated application) | DE | > 4 Mio. and <= 15 Mio. CPU-core-h | one year | continuous submission, | This is an NHR-project. Can be submitted at any time.
| |
| Small | Projects with small resource requirements | UPB, NRW (only locations without local/Tier-3 resources) | <= 4 Mio. CPU core-h and | one year, extensions possible | continuous submission, | ||
Project with a special emphasis on FPGA acceleration of HPC codes (e.g. in scope of AMD/Xilinx HACC program) | Global | <= 4 Mio. CPU core-h and <= 10,000 FPGA-h | one year, extensions possible | continuous submission, | Scientists of research and teaching institutions worldwide can be granted access to FPGA systems in the context of a research collaboration with PC2. | ||
Teaching (courses, Bachelor or Master thesis) | UPB, NRW (only locations without local/Tier-3 resources) | <= 100,000 CPU core-h | 3 - 6 months | continuous submission, | Thesis with focus on FPGA-acceleration of HPC codes can be granted access to Noctua2. | ||
| Test | Porting applications, scalability analysis | DE | depending on purpose, by default 100,000 CPU core-h, 1,000 GPU-h | one month | continuous submission, | Noctua2 can be used for GPU- and FPGA-accelerated applications, Noctua1 can be used for GPU-accelerated applications. |
(*) Global = Research and teaching institutions worldwide
DE = Academic institutions in Germany
NRW = Research institutions located in North Rhine-Westphalia (State NRW)
UPB = Paderborn University
Templates
| Project Type | Purpose | Files |
|---|---|---|
| normal or large, single-year or multi-year | Detailed description for compute time application if the project has been not been scientifically reviewed yet | |
| normal, single-/multi-year | Detailed description for compute time application if the project has already been scientifically reviewed | |
| normal or large, single-/multi-year | Detailed description for extension of project | |
| normal or large, multi-year | Yearly short progress report | |
| normal or large, single-/multi-year | Final report after project end (if not applied for an extension) | |
| small project | Project report after project end (if not applied for an extension) |