Biochemistry Computational Cluster
Overview
The Biochemistry Computational Cluster (BCC) is a High Throughput Computing (HTC) environment available to members of the University of Wisconsin-Madison Department of Biochemistry. The cluster utilizes HTCondor for workload management and was developed in collaboration with the Center for High Throughput Computing (CHTC). The BCC can process jobs locally or leverage additional computing resources through HTCondor flocking to CHTC.
Intended Audience
This service is intended for:
- Faculty, staff, students, and researchers within the Department of Biochemistry.
- Users who require High Throughput Computing (HTC) resources for non-interactive computational workloads.
HTC vs. HPC
Use the BCC When:
- Running large numbers of independent computational jobs.
- Processing workloads that can be distributed across many compute resources.
- Using HTCondor-based job submission workflows.
Use Other HPC Resources When:
- Large-memory computing environments are required.
- Parallel processing across multiple nodes is necessary.
- You are not a member of the Department of Biochemistry.
Researchers outside of the Department of Biochemistry may obtain a free account through the Center for High Throughput Computing (CHTC).
Accessing the BCC
To request access or receive assistance with the cluster, create an access ticket with CALS IT. Include your PI and HTC project description in your request.
Getting Started
Users should review the following tutorial:
Tutorial 1 – Accessing Linux Cluster and HTCondor
Data Storage Guidelines
Cluster Resources
Submit Node
- CPU: 2 × Intel Xeon E5-2650v2 (8-core, 2.60 GHz, 3.40 GHz Turbo)
- Memory: 128 GB DDR3 ECC/Registered RAM
- Storage: More than 2 TB SSD RAID-5 shared scratch storage
- Network: 10 Gigabit Ethernet
Dedicated Compute Nodes (9)
- CPU: 2 × Intel Xeon E5-2680v2 (10-core, 2.80 GHz, 3.60 GHz Turbo)
- Memory: 64 GB DDR3 ECC/Registered RAM
- GPU: NVIDIA Tesla K20M
- Local Storage: 240 GB SSD
- Network: 10 Gigabit Ethernet
The BCC is connected to the Center for High Throughput Computing (CHTC), providing access to additional UW-Madison computing resources when configured for HTCondor flocking.