Pawsey Supercomputing Research Centre has doubled the number of high-memory CPU nodes available on Setonix, increasing capacity from 8 to 16 nodes to better support memory-intensive research workflows.
Each high-memory node features dual 2.45 GHz AMD EPYC 7763 “Milan” 64-core CPUs with 1 TB of shared memory.
The latest annual Pawsey User Survey highlighted the need for more high-memory resources to run jobs that require a single shared memory space, support single-node codes, or need to access very large datasets instantly and together.
These types of workloads are increasingly common across disciplines such as health and life sciences, climate modelling, genomics, AI, and materials science. By expanding high memory capacity, Pawsey is enabling researchers to run larger, more complex jobs more efficiently, while reducing job failures caused by memory constraints.
The upgrade also benefits workflows that combine high memory and parallel computing, enabling researchers to move more efficiently between different stages of their computational pipelines on Setonix.
To ensure fairness of access to these nodes, high memory node usage is currently capped at two simultaneous jobs per individual researcher. In the future, usage will also be capped at four simultaneous jobs per project; researchers will be notified separately when the planned change is implemented. This is expected to improve availability and reduce waiting times for researchers who rely on high-memory CPU nodes.
The upgrade was made possible through a National Collaborative Research Infrastructure Strategy (NCRIS) grant awarded to Pawsey, showcasing the importance of sustained national investment in research infrastructure that responds to evolving scientific needs.
All researchers with an active Setonix CPU allocation automatically have access to the new high-memory nodes.
This upgrade is a clear example of how researcher feedback shapes Pawsey’s services and capabilities. Pawsey remains committed to listening to its user community and working towards providing access to a world-class supercomputing infrastructure that speeds up their scientific outcomes.
Pawsey Researchers are encouraged to share their experiences and priorities through our annual user survey at the end of their project, or anytime via our user feedback link https://pawsey.org.au/user-feedback/
Your feedback helps ensure Setonix continues to support the science that matters most.
