What is Stratus?

 

Stratus is a subscription-based Research Compute Cloud with support for Protected Data

Backed by HPE hardware and open-source software, OpenStack (Pike) and Ceph (Luminous)

The Infrastructure-as-a-Service is hosted on-premise at the Minnesota Supercomputing Institute

Why Cloud Computing?

 

Cloud computing supports non-traditional HPC workflows:

  • Clinically certified pipelines -- version locked software stacks for reproducibility

  • Software distributed as images and containers -- developer controlled environments

  • Protected data -- ephemeral storage, network isolation, per-user ACLs

  • Long running jobs (> 1 mo.) -- persist through maintenance windows

 

Stratus or HPC (Mesabi, Mangi, Agate)?

 

Stratus does not compete with HPC

Stratus has a self-service, on-demand model. You get what you want, when you want it.

The caveat: you are responsible for management and security of your own VMs.

Whenever possible, use Mesabi!

 

Managing Expectations

 

Before you get started, let’s clarify one more time: Stratus is not a managed HPC environment

  • No software modules. Install your own.

  • No job scheduler. Run jobs as scripts or install your own.

  • No global Tier I Storage (i.e., Panasas) with group directories. Transfer data manually.

  • No automatic backups of VMs, storage, or data.

  • Hardware is oversubscribed to emphasize flexibility and capacity over performance

Sane defaults for VM and port security are already applied. If you change settings, you are opting out of our protections at your own risk!

Category: 
Stratus