The WestGrid computing facilities are distributed among several resource provider sites, with some specialization at each site. WestGrid is connected by good networks so that users can use the system which best fits their needs, regardless of where it is physically located.

WestGrid provides several types of computing systems, since different users' programs will run best on different kinds of hardware. The systems are for high performance computing, so they are something beyond what you would find on a desktop. We have clusters, clusters with fast interconnect, and shared memory systems.

Use the system which best fits your needs, not necessarily the one closest to you. Anything else is less than optimal and a waste of valuable resources.

See the QuickStart Guide for New Users introduction to choosing the most appropriate system. For more detailed information about the differences between the WestGrid systems, see the pages in this section.

Serial programs can run on one CPU or core of a compute cluster. Some researchers have a serial program which they need to run many times; they can run multiple copies simultaneously on a cluster.

Parallel programs have multiple programs running at the same time which have some need to communicate with each other. Then the important distinction is how much they need to communicate and how quickly they need to do it. In order of increasing demands, those programs can run on a regular cluster, a cluster with a fast interconnect, or a shared memory machine. This depends on how the program is written (MPI, OpenMP, threads, etc). How well a parallel program scales will determine how many nodes of a cluster or machine that program should be run on.

Other factors will also affect the decision of which system to run on. For example, the amount of memory available, the software which is installed, the restrictions due to software licensing, etc.

WestGrid also has specialized systems. For example, ones with special visualization capabiliites, FPGAs, GPUs, etc.

See the QuickStart Guides for more information about each system.

List of facilities by location

• Simon Fraser University

  • Storage facility (gridstore and blackhole), Hydra, Robson, Tantalus, Snowpatch, Bugaboo

• University of Alberta

  • Nexus group, Cortex group, Checkers

• University of British Columbia

  • Glacier, Orcinus

• University of Calgary

  • Matrix, Terminus

• University of Saskatchewan

            Storage facility (Silo and Hopper)

List of facilties by general type

• storage

  • SFU Storage facility, USask Storage Facility

• shared memory

  • Nexus group, Cortex group

• cluster

  • Glacier, Robson, Snowpatch

• cluster with fast interconnect

  • Matrix, Tantalus, Terminus, Bugaboo, Checkers, Orcinus

• visualization

  • Hydra

Future Plans

These systems are being installed and configured now:

UVic - serial, parallel, and storage.

U of Calgary - high performance MPI.

U of Lethbridge - large memory.

U of Manitoba  - fat nodes.

U of Alberta - add GPUs to some nodes on checkers.

More to come in 2010 and 2011 [update plan]:

UVic  parts 2 and 3 of storage, part 2 of serial.

UBC part 2 of compute, storage

SFU parts 2 and 3 of compute and storage

UofCalgary part 2 or storage and compute.  Also "new architecture"

UofA part 2 of compute and storage.  Also shared memory.

UofS 2010 and 2011: Storage parts 2 and 3