TU Delft clusters comparison

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Cluster comparison

TU Delft clusters

DAIC is one of several clusters accessible to TU Delft CS researchers (and their collaborators). The table below gives a comparison between these in terms of use case, eligible users, and other characteristics.

DAICDelftBlueDAS
Primary use casesResearch, especially in AIResearch & EducationDistributed systems research, streaming applications, edge and fog computing, in-network processing, and complex security and trust policies, Machine learning research, ...
ContributorsCertain groups within TU Delft (see Contributing departments)All TU Delft facultiesMultiple universities & SURF
Eligible users
  • Faculty, PhD students, and researchers from contributing departments
  • MSc and BSc students (if recommended by a professor) are provided limited access
All TU Delft affiliates
  • Faculty and PhD students who are either members of the ASCI research school or the ASCI partner universities
  • ASTRON employees
  • NLeSC employees
  • Master students (if recommended by a professor) are provided limited access
WebsiteDAIC documentationDelftBlue DocumentationDAS Documentation
Contact infoDAIC communityDHPC teamDAS admin
Request accountAccess and accountsGet an accountEmail DAS admin with details like user's affiliation and the planned purpose of the account.
Getting startedQuickstartCrash course
HardwareSystem specificationsDHPC hardwareHead node +
  • 16 x FAT nodes (Lenovo SR665, dual socket, 2x16 core, 128 GB memory, 1xA4000)
  • 4 x GPU nodes (Lenovo SR665, dual socket, 2x16 core, 128 GB memory, 1xA5000)
Software stackSoftwareDHPC modulesBase OS: Rocky Linux, OpenHPC, Slurm Workload Manager
Data storageStorageStorageStorage: 128 TB (RAID6)
Access to TU Delft Network storage✓Only in login nodesNot supported
Sharing data in collaboration✓✗
Has GPUs?✓✓✓
Cost of useContribution towards hardware purchase-

SURF clusters

SURF, the collaborative organization for IT in Dutch education and research, has installed and is currently operating the Dutch National supercomputer, Snellius, which houses 144 40GB A100 GPUs as of Q3 2021 (36 gcn nodes x 4 A100 GPUs/node = 144 A100 GPUs total) with other specs detailed in the Snellius hardware and file systems wiki.

SURF also operates other clusters like Spider for processing large structured data sets, and ODISSEI Secure Supercomputer (OSSC) for large-scale analyses of highly-sensitive data. For an overview of SURF clusters, see the SURF wiki.

TU Delft researchers in TBM and CITG already have direct and easy access to the compute power and data services of SURF, while members of other faculties need to apply for access as detailed in SURF’s guide to Apply for access to compute services.

TU Delft cloud resources

For both education and research activities, TU Delft has established the Cloud4Research program. Cloud4Research aims to facilite the use of public cloud resources, primarily Amazon AWS. At the administrative level, Cloud4Research provides AWS accounts with an initial budget. Subsequent billing can be incurred via a project code, instead of a personal credit card. At the technical level, the ICT innovation teams provides intake meetings to facilitate getting started. Please refer to the Policies and FAQ pages for more details.