Moving From Agave to Sol

So you used the Agave supercomputer?

Agave is aging, and the new Sol supercomputer has significantly more CPU, GPU, and Memory capacity compared to Agave, along with a newer software stack. There are many advantages to moving your Research Computing needs to Sol. This document is to help you get set up on Sol and transfer your research from Agave.

1. Creating an Account on Sol

The first step of moving from Agave to Sol means requesting an account on Sol. Here is the link to request an account: https://cores.research.asu.edu/research-computing/get-started/create-an-account

Once you have received an email confirming your Sol account has been created, you can connect to Sol via your preferred way. If you prefer the command line, connect to the Cisco VPN and then ssh to [ASURITE]@sol.asu.edu. Or, if you prefer the web portal, connect to the Cisco VPN and go to https://sol.asu.edu/ in your web browser.

2. Transferring Files From Agave to Sol

Your home directory on Agave will not automatically transfer to Sol.

If you need to transfer your entire Agave home directory to Sol, Globus is the preferred way to do this. See information on how to use Globus here: https://asurc.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/RC/pages/349143060

If you have built any software in your home directory, you will want to rebuild it rather than transfer it over.

If you just need to transfer a single directory or a few files from your Agave home directory, you can use rsync on the designated Sol Data Transfer Node (dtn). Login to Sol command line, then ssh to soldtn

Scratch space is designed to be high-capacity, temporary storage. You can use Globus to transfer your scratch space or use fpsyncon the designated Sol Data Transfer Node (dtn). Login to Sol command line, then ssh to soldtn

If you have a /data mount on Agave, reach out to Research Computing at rtshelp@asu.edu and we can assist with moving the data mount over.

3. Software

Sol should have most of the same software that is on Agave. Installed software can be viewed by running the command module avail on Sol. If there is a specific software piece that is needed that is not available on Sol, reach out to Research Computing at rtshelp@asu.edu and we can look into installing that software.

If you have built any software in your home directory, you will want to rebuild it rather than transfer it over.

3a. Python

Python on Sol is a little different from Agave. We use mamba instead of anaconda to manage environments, and mamba is faster and works better for our environment. Functionally, mamba and conda are the same. See our Wiki article: https://asurc.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/RC/pages/1663827969

4. Partitions and QOS

The partition and QOS’s been dramatically redesigned for user simplicity on Sol.

Most users can use the --partition=general and --qos=public for most compute.

All the options are listed here: https://asurc.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/RC/pages/1641906195