Why the Trillium Cluster is Different

Many researchers approach the national compute clusters available through the Digital Research Alliance of Canada as if they were interchangeable, expecting the same workflows, software environments, and usage models everywhere. Yet the Trillium supercomputer at SciNet was designed with a different purpose and architecture than the other clusters. Understanding these differences can significantly improve productivity and research outcomes. 
Trillium was built to support the largest scientific computations. This influences not only its hardware, but also how users access and use the system, despite the many features it shares with other clusters. In this colloquium, we will discuss the why and how of Trillium’s login requirements, job scheduling, and storage systems.
We will also explore which research computations and workflows are best suited to Trillium, and which may be better served by the general-purpose clusters. Finally, we will show how interactive work remains possible through Trillium’s debug partition and OnDemand service.