If you use the Sun E10K Supercomputer (Helios) or the server Norfolk for UNIX processing, then please read this news.

Supercomputer Hardware Problems -

Over the past few weeks, we have experienced a number of processor failures on Helios (the Sun E10000 Supercomputer).  Helios has 64 processors.  32 of them are from the original installation and 32 are from the upgrade done last year.   Some of the older processors have started to fail.  When one does fail, Helios reboots.  We are able to dynamically unconfigure the system board that has the bad CPU, have Sun Microsystems replace it, then configure the board back into the running system.   We are working with Sun to replace ALL of the older processors ASAP so that we do not keep on getting surprised by these unscheduled reboots of the system.

LSF Queue Changes - Effective Monday, November 12, 2001 -

LSF is the queue management software used to manage the workload on the real workhorse servers, Helios and Norfolk.  We are making some changes to the queue configurations to better manage the workload and to make queue names and configurations a little more meaningful and consistent between Helios and Norfolk.

A few new queues will be created, some old queues will be phased out and deleted. The following table outlines the major settings for each queue.
A (*) indicates a new/changed setting value, and (**) indicates that whatever value was there is removed.
 

Queue Name Batch / Interactive Run Limit (min) Disp Prio Nice Max Proc Max Jobs Job Limit Per 
User
Job Limit Per 
Host
Load Sched
UT
Load 
Stop 
UT
Host
short Both 15 50* 0* 1 ** 90%* Norfolk
normal Both 600* 30* 5* 1 ** ** 90% Norfolk
long Batch* 20* 10 1 ** ** 80%* Norfolk
SAS Both 600* 30 5* 1 ** 2 Norfolk
SPSS Both 600* 30 5* 1 2 2* Norfolk
SAS-long Batch* 20* 10* 1* 2* 1* 80%* Norfolk
bigjobs DELETE* X X X X X X X X X X Norfolk
hpc-short* Both* 15* 50* 0* Helios
hpc-normal Both 600 30* 5* 90%* ** Helios
hpc-long Batch* 20* 10* 90% ** Helios
hpc-mpi Batch* 20* 10* 80% ** Helios
hpc-mpi-short Both* 15 50* 0 4 Helios
hpc
PHASE OUT*
Interactive 600* 1* 15* 80%* ** Helios
hpc-batch PHASE OUT* Batch 1* 15* 80%* ** Helios
Host Name Max Jobs Job Limit Per 
User
MEM
Limit
Load
Sched
UT
Load
Stop
UT
Norfolk ** 3 5MB* 100%* 100%*
Helios 100% 100%