Introduction
What is the VACC?¶
The VACC is UVM's High-Performance Computing (HPC) cluster. An HPC cluster is a collection of powerful computers (nodes), designed to work together to solve complex, resource-intensive problems much faster than a typical computer. In an HPC cluster, multiple compute nodes can work in parallel, sharing the computational load. Each node in the cluster is like a high-powered computer itself.
Why use the VACC?¶
Not all computational tasks require the VACC, but some workloads are demanding enough to be impractical or impossible for a single machine alone to complete. Common workloads include protein structure prediction, gene expression analysis, computational fluid dynamics, quantum mechanics, and computational chemistry.
Structure¶
Although at its heart the HPC is just a collection of powerful computers, there are some key differences when compared to most computers you have used. When accessing the VACC, you will connect to a login node rather than directly to the machines carrying out computations. This separation protects the login nodes from being overloaded by computationally intensive tasks and allows resources to be fairly allocated.
Additionally, each compute node does not have local storage for computational work. Instead, a large centralized pool of storage is available.
Request an Account¶
If you are a student or postdoc, you cannot request a VACC account. A faculty member (your PI or professor) must request an account, get approved, and then add you as a user.
To use the VACC, we must first grant you an account. Please go to Request Account to get started.
To request an account, you must be either a UVM faculty member or an IT support person working with a UVM faculty member who is a user of the VACC. An account owner can add additional users after approval.
After your request is approved, you will be added to the vaccusr group, which will allow you to access to the cluster.