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Migration plan

The new Atos will not only replace the current HPC service provided by the Cray XC40 systems, but also all Linux servers, e.g. ecgate. The onboarding to the new system will happen in stages

All users are invited to migrate their workload to the Atos at their earliest convenience. Before starting any migration work users are encouraged to familiarise themselves with the Atos HPCF and ECGATE services. Even though not all relevant data centre services are yet in place, e.g. ecaccess/ectrans is currently missing, the system is open to users to start testing and migrating their applications on the Atos. Current Cray users have access to the Atos since February and users from Member and Cooperating States with access to the ecgate service will be invited by the end of June to migrate and test their applications on the Atos.  

HPC users will be charged System Billing Units for their usage with the start of the Atos contract, see HPC accounting, while the non-HPC service will remain free.  

Indicative timeline

ECS services.

The Atos system, is still awaiting formal acceptance but is providing a full parallel service, reliably supporting the running of the Release Candidate Phase.  As we are getting closer to the switch of the operational forecast to the Atos, expected for 18 October 2022, the support level will be heightened to 24/7 from 1 October. From 1 November usage of the operational Atos HPC service (hpc-login) will be charged against SBU allocations. In the meantime Atos usage can already be monitored. The Atos ECS service (ecs-login) which replaces ecgate will remain free of charge.

• After 31 October the Cray HPCF and all attached filesystems will no longer be available. The Cray will be immediately shutdown by the vendor and users must copy all files they need to keep to the Atos before that date.
• From 1 November a full general user service on ecgate will no longer be available. All users are urged to migrate their activities as early as possible and copy all files still needed to the Atos before that date.
• A reduced ecgate service will still be available from 1 November until 13 December, mainly to run TC1 activities. As ECMWF’s focus is on the systems in Bologna, ecgate will only be supported on a least-effort basis.

To support users with their migration we are offering Atos expert sessions. Please see the event page for more details and to register. 

Indicative timeline

Since 1 Oct the Atos is supported 24/7. The start of the Atos contract is currently expected for 1 November 2022. The service provided by the Cray HPC and the ecgate system will end on 31 October 2022. During the reliability test the Atos is expected to provide an operational level of service in parallel to the Cray. 

All dates TBC.   

decommissioning of the Reading data centre will start on 1 November 2022.