[Bi-users] Bi with CentOS7 now available for early testing

[Peter Kjellström]

Migration of Bi from CentOS 6 to CentOS 7
=========================================


Short summary: We are now opening login to bi3.nsc.liu.se where users
can begin to build and run applications on the new CentOS7 based bi.
For more details keep reading.


As you may be aware of, Bi was originally supposed to be replaced with
a new cluster this year, but that was postponed for another year. That
means that Bi will outlive the support lifetime of CentOS 6 (ending in
November 2020) and we will have to update the operating system.

As we run CentOS 7 on our other active clusters Tetralith (SNIC),
Sigma (LiU), Stratus/Cirrus (NWP production) and Nebula (MET R&D), we
have decided to use that for Bi too. We have also decided to use the
same software environment (modules, compilers, libraries, scientific
software etc) that we use on those systems, with the smallest possible
changes needed to make it work on Bi.

The bad thing for you in all of this is that you will have to migrate
to a "new cluster" this autumn, without getting access to new
hardware.

The good thing for you is that you will get access to newer software
(both the base OS and the things we provide on top). Also, the step to
the newer environment will be smaller when Bi is replaced with new
hardware.


You can start testing things already
------------------------------------

We have made a new login node bi3.nsc.liu.se available, that runs
CentOS 7 and our new software environment.

As said above, we aim for the Bi environment to mirror what we have on
the other C7 systems, but we are not 100% done yet. Still, we are at a
point where you can login to start to test things.

At this time we've not done extensive testing and not all software has
been rebuilt. This means some modules will be missing, some will load
but not provide any software and some binaries will fail to launch.

We have reserved 32 nodes that runs CentOS 7. When you run
sbatch or interactive from bi3, you will get nodes from that
reservation. The number of nodes running the new environment will be
increased as time goes on.

You are welcome to login already to start testing things, rebuilding
your software, checking out the pre-installed software etc.

We recommend you load the buildenv-intel/2018a-eb build environment
module based on the Intel 2018u1 release. If you want to try gcc, we
recommend buildenv-gcc/7.3.0-bare.

If you start testing and discover something that you think should work
already, but that seems broken or missing, feel free to send us an
email at smhi-support at nsc.liu.se. We kindly ask you to preface the
subject with "Bi-C7: " to help us distinguish those emails from
questions or problem reports for the current Bi environment. Be aware
that most of us are now going on vacation so "Bi-C7" tickets may not see
much action until beginning of August (but please send them in anyway).

Have a nice summer,
 Bi C7 team (Kent, Peter K, Torbjörn)