SUMMARY

• Niagara takes the number 53 spot in the June 2018 TOP500 list of supercomputers (https://www.top500.org/list/2018/06).
• Scratch purging policy on Niagara is in effect.
• Burst buffer available on demand.
• Various SciNet courses and events to start next week, including a “Intro to Niagara/SciNet” session and a TechTalk on “Machine Learning Cosmic Structure Formation” on Sept 12.
• SciNet’s Jupyterhub with access to files on Niagara is online.
• my.SciNet website with access to your Niagara jobs records is online.
• Courses website now accessible with your Compute Canada password.

SYSTEM NEWS

• Monthly scratch purging on Niagara has commenced in July. On the 16th of every month, any files on /scratch that have not been accessed for two months are deleted, according to the common scratch purging policy for all Compute Canada systems (see https://docs.computecanada.ca/wiki/Scratch_purging_policy)
• Burst Buffer, a fast storage tier between the general parallel file system and system memory, is available on Niagara for users with high I/O needs, upon request (see https://docs.scinet.utoronto.ca/index.php/Burst_Buffer).
• https://jupyter.scinet.utoronto.ca is a Jupyter hub where you can pre/postprocess your data on Niagara using R or Python notebooks (see https://docs.scinet.utoronto.ca/index.php/Jupyter_Hub).
• https://my.scinet.utoronto.ca gives access to your Niagara job records, with cpu and memory utilitization, I/O patterns, etc.
• The courses site https://courses.scinet.utoronto.ca can now be logged into with the same Compute Canada password that you use for Niagara and for the jupyter.scinet and my.scinet sites. (Before, it required a SciNet password, which it still accepts.)

EVENTS COMING UP

Registration for SciNet courses is done by logging into https://courses.scinet.utoronto.ca with your Compute Canada username
and password.

Many of the events are at the teaching room or boardroom in the SciNet offices on the eleventh floor of the MaRS West Tower, suite 1140A (661 University Avenue, Toronto ON M5G 1M1). SciNet events are often recorded and broadcast (see the courses site for links).

• INTRO TO SCINET AND NIAGARA
  Wednesday Sept 12, 2018, 10:00 am – 11:30 am
  SciNet Boardroom (suite 1140, 661 University Avenue, Toronto).

  This is a class of approximately 90 minutes to introduce SciNet and the new supercomputer Niagara and teach you how to use Niagara.

  Participation counts towards the SciNet HPC Certificate.

  For more information and (free) registration, go to https://courses.scinet.utoronto.ca/404

• SCINET USER GROUP MEETING
  Wednesday Sept 12, 2018, 12:00 noon – 1:00 pm
  SciNet Boardroom (suite 1140, 661 University Avenue, Toronto).

  The SciNet Users Group (SNUG) meetings are every month on the second Wednesday (except during the summer), and involve pizza, user discussion, feedback, and a half-hour talk on topics or technologies of interest to the SciNet community.

  The TechTalk will be on

  MACHINE LEARNING COSMIC STRUCTURE FORMATION
  
  by George Stein (Dept. of Astronomy-UofT, CITA).

  Abstract: In modern astrophysics and cosmology, accurate simulations of the large scale structure of the universe are necessary. Usually, this is accomplished by so called N-body simulations, which calculate the full gravitational collapse of a region of the universe over its 14 billion year history. Instead of calculating this costly gravitational evolution, we trained a three-dimensional deep Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) to identify dark matter proto-haloes directly from the cosmological initial conditions, and showed that a CNN of this type can be a viable alternative in some cases. In this talk I will discuss current cosmological simulations and the invasion of machine learning techniques, with a focus on our work. For more information see https://arxiv.org/abs/1805.04537.

  For sign up and more information, see https://courses.scinet.utoronto.ca/410

• INTRODUCTION TO COMPUTATIONAL BIOSTATISTICS WITH R (MSC1090)
  Tuesdays and Thursday, 11 am – 12 noon
  Twelve weeks starting Sept 12.

  In this course data analysis techniques utilizing the R statistical language, will be discussed and introduced, as well as, the basics of programming and scientific computing. The goal of this course is to prepare graduate students to perform scientific data analysis. Successful students will learn how to use statistical inference tools to gain insight into large and small data sets, as well as be exposed to cutting-edge techniques and best practises to store, manage and analyze (large) data. Topics include: R programming, version control, automation, modular programming and scientific visualization.

  Students willing to take the course as part of their graduate program have to enroll through Acorn/ROSI. This course is part of the IMS graduate program and to be taught at the UofT St. George campus (i.e., not in the SciNet classroom). Contact us if you wish to audit the course without credit.

  This course will be recorded, but not broadcast.

  For more information, see https://courses.scinet.utoronto.ca/399

• INTRODUCTION TO THE LINUX SHELL
  Wednesday Sept 19, 1:00 pm – 4:00 pm
  Teaching Room 1140A (MaRS West Tower, 661 University Ave, Toronto)

  Working with many of the HPC systems in Ontario involves using the Linux/UNIX command line. This provides a very powerful interface, but it can be quite daunting for the uninitiated. In this half-day session, you can become initiated with this course. This hands on session will cover basic commands and scripting. It could be a great boon for your productivity!

  Participation counts towards the SciNet Scientific Computing Certificate.

  For sign up and more information, see https://courses.scinet.utoronto.ca/407

• INTRODUCTION TO PROGRAMMING
  Tuesdays and Thursdays, 1:00 pm – 2:00 pm
  Four weeks starting Oct 2.
  Teaching Room 1140A (MaRS West Tower, 661 University Ave, Toronto)

  New to programming? Learn the basics of programming using python in eight one-hour sessions over the course of four weeks. Sessions will consist of a mix of lectures and hands-on exercises.

  Participation counts towards the SciNet Scientific Computing Certificate.

  For sign up and more information, see https://courses.scinet.utoronto.ca/401

• INTRO TO SCINET AND NIAGARA
  Wednesday Oct 10, 2018, 10:00 am – 11:30 am
  SciNet Boardroom (suite 1140, 661 University Avenue, Toronto).

  This is a class of approximately 90 minutes to introduce SciNet and the new supercomputer Niagara and teach you how to use Niagara.

  Participation counts towards the SciNet HPC Certificate.

  For more information and (free) registration, go to https://courses.scinet.utoronto.ca/405

• SCINET USER GROUP MEETING
  Wednesday Oct 10, 2018, 12:00 noon – 1:00 pm
  SciNet Boardroom (suite 1140, 661 University Avenue, Toronto).

  The SciNet Users Group (SNUG) meetings are every month on the second Wednesday (except during the summer), and involve pizza, user
  discussion, feedback, and a half-hour talk (TBA) on topics or technologies of interest to the SciNet community. We’ll likely
  discuss the upcoming Resource Allocation Competition.

  For sign up and more information, see https://courses.scinet.utoronto.ca/411

• ADVANCED SHELL PROGRAMMING
  Wednesday Oct 17, 2018, 1:00 pm – 4:00 pm
  Teaching Room 1140A (MaRS West Tower, 661 University Ave, Toronto)

  Learn how to write bash script, use environment variables, how to control process, and much more. Requires some linux basic command line experience.

  Participation counts towards the SciNet Scientific Computing Certificate.

  For sign up and more information, see https://courses.scinet.utoronto.ca/409

• NUMERICAL COMPUTING WITH PYTHON
  Tuesdays and Thursdays, 1:00 pm – 2:00 pm
  Four weeks, starting Nov 6, 2017 (skipping the week of Nov 12-16)
  Teaching Room 1140A (MaRS West Tower, 661 University Ave, Toronto)

  Learn about research computing even with little programming experience. Covers programming in python, best practices and
  visualization. Some experience with python is required. Four home work sets will be the basic of the evaluation.

  Participation counts towards the SciNet Scientific Computing Certificate.

  For sign up and more information, see https://courses.scinet.utoronto.ca/402

• INTRO TO SCINET AND NIAGARA
  Wednesday Nov 14, 2018, 10:00 am – 11:30 am
  SciNet Boardroom (suite 1140, 661 University Avenue, Toronto)

  This is a class of approximately 90 minutes to introduce SciNet and the new supercomputer Niagara and teach you how to use Niagara.

  Participation counts towards the SciNet HPC Certificate.

  For more information and (free) registration, go to https://courses.scinet.utoronto.ca/406

• INTRODUCTION TO THE LINUX SHELL
  Wednesday Nov 21, 1:00 pm – 4:00 pm
  Teaching Room 1140A (MaRS West Tower, 661 University Ave, Toronto)

  Working with many of the HPC systems in Ontario involves using the Linux/UNIX command line. This provides a very powerful interface, but it can be quite daunting for the uninitiated. In this half-day session, you can become initiated with this course. This hands on session will cover basic commands and scripting. It could be a great boon for your productivity!

  Participation counts towards the SciNet Scientific Computing Certificate.

  For sign up and more information, see https://courses.scinet.utoronto.ca/407

• SCIENTIFIC COMPUTING FOR PHYSICISTS (PHY1610)
  Winter 2019
  Teaching Room 1140A (MaRS West Tower, 661 University Ave, Toronto)

  This course is aimed at reducing your struggle in getting started with computational projects, and make you a more efficient computational scientist. Topics include well-established best practices for developing software as it applies to scientific computations, common numerical techniques and packages, and aspects of high performance computing. While we will introduce the C++ language, in one language or another, students should already have some programming experience. Despite the title, this course is
  suitable for many physical scientists (chemists, astronomers, …).

  This course is part of the physics graduate program. Students willing to take the course as part of their graduate program have to enroll through Acorn/ROSI.

  For more information, see https://courses.scinet.utoronto.ca/398

• QUANTITATIVE APPLICATIONS FOR DATA ANALYSIS
  Winter 2019
  University of Toronto Scarborough Campus

  In this course data analysis techniques utilizing Python and R statistical language, will be discussed and introduced, as well as the basics of programming and scientific computing. The goal of this course is to prepare graduate students to perform scientific data analysis. Successful students will learn how to use statistical inference tools to gain insight into large and small data sets, as well as be exposed to cutting-edge techniques and best practises to store, manage and analyze (large) data.

  Topics include: Python and R programming, version control, automation, modular programming and scientific visualization.

  Students willing to take the course as part of their graduate program have to enroll through Acorn/ROSI. This course is part of the EES graduate program and to be taught at the UTSc campus.

  For more information, see https://courses.scinet.utoronto.ca/403

As always, further details can be found below on the SciNet courses siteand the SciNet wiki.