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ITS News 04/2024

HPC Cluster Festus

The new high-performance computer ‘Festus’ from the BZ HPC (Research Centre for Scientific Computing) has been in the test phase since August.  The cluster, which is funded by the DFG, was designed and built by ITS staff to meet the needs of the 40 members of the BZHPC. It is used in particular for computationally intensive research projects on electronic structure and dynamics, product and process optimisation and AI-supported analysis of medical data.

We asked the people involved a few questions about this exciting project:

René Meißner, what were the main reasons for procuring a new HPC cluster?
René Meißner: The demand for computing power at the University of Bayreuth has risen sharply. Computer-aided methods are no longer a niche topic and are used in all departments. This has led to an increase in demand that the previous systems could no longer fulfil.

What new possibilities and capacities does the new HPC cluster offer compared to the old system?
René Meißner: The new cluster offers additional and faster computing resources. For some applications, ‘Festus’ is twice as fast per core. It offers more storage capacity and reliability.

Festus also saves energy by switching off unused parts. These advantages benefit users and the university. Further improvements such as topology-sensitive scheduling are for specialists.

Prof. Dr. Kümmel, what is special about the BZHPC and how can researchers who were not involved in the application process also use the computer?
Prof. Dr. Stephan Kümmel: The special feature of the BZHPC is that scientists in this centre jointly procure and use large-scale research equipment across the boundaries of chairs, specialist groups and faculties. In this way, synergies are leveraged and existing resources are optimally utilised in the interests of sustainability.
All UBT researchers also benefit from this commitment, as the computer systems can be used by everyone within a prioritisation system.

What goals are to be achieved with the new HPC cluster in your research fields and what tasks will it take on?
Prof Dr Stephan Kümmel: My working group conducts research in the field of many-body quantum mechanics. The new cluster will enable us, for example, to simulate the energy and electron transfer processes that play a role in light-collecting systems, e.g. in photosynthesis or photocatalysis. In this way, we hope to contribute to the development of new materials for a more sustainable energy supply.

Prof. Dr. Oberhofer, could you please briefly describe your field of work and explain why computing is an important tool in your scientific work and how much you need ‘Festus’ for this?
Prof. Dr. Harald Oberhofer: We work in the field of theoretical material physics, mainly on understanding charge transport processes in organic and inorganic energy materials and the design of new materials. To this end, we simulate the influences on transport at a microscopic level based on so-called electronic density functional theory. This requires the numerical solution of complex integrodifferential equations, which is only possible on high-performance computers for the materials we are analysing. Thanks to ‘Festus’, we can consider larger (and therefore more realistic) simulation cells and treat them with more precise (and therefore computationally more complex) methods.

What is your field of work, Prof Dr Wilczek, and why is computing important for it? What contribution can ‘Festus’ make?
Prof Dr Michael Wilczek: Together with my group, I am researching various complex systems. Turbulence is a central topic here. On the one hand, we are investigating the fundamental properties of turbulent flows, but on the other hand we are also analysing the dynamics of rain droplets in clouds or plankton in the ocean, for example. Computer simulations play an important role here. They help us to better understand phenomena and provide data for further analyses. To a certain extent, simulations are our computer-aided experiments.

With the new ‘Festus’ cluster, we have the opportunity to carry out our simulations virtually in-house. This has several advantages: Firstly, we can obtain results without long waiting times and therefore also quickly develop new ideas for our research. Secondly, we have a direct line to the competent contacts from ITS, who can support us in our work and customise ‘Festus’ to our needs. Festus thus complements supra-

Prof. Dr. Vlot-Schuster, could you please describe your field of research and briefly explain why computing and ‘Festus’ are important for your work?
Prof. Dr. Vlot-Schuster:

Who has access to the HPC cluster and what requirements do users have to fulfil?
René Meißner: The HPC cluster will be available to all members of the university from mid-January. Members of the chairs that were involved in the procurement will be prioritised for order processing.

If you have any further questions about HPC, please contact us at the following e-mail address: hpc@uni-bayreuth.de

team member HPC & high-performance computer Festus
Facts Festus

Thank you for your time and the exciting insights into the project. We look forward to following the progress and success of ‘Festus’ over the coming years.

* Topology-sensitive scheduling optimises the distribution of tasks in an HPC system by taking into account the physical and logical arrangement of the computing units.

Christmas Closing

We would like to draw your attention once again to a perfidious scam that is currently
is currently occurring more frequently at our university: the so-called gift card attack. Despite our regular warnings, there are unfortunately repeated incidents of employees falling for these scams.

How does gift card fraud work?

The fraudsters pretend to be superiors or trustworthy persons in their emails, which is why this scam is called CEO fraud. Under a pretext, such as an urgent gift for a colleague, you are asked to buy gift cards and send the codes to the fraudsters. These emails appear harmless and contain no malicious attachments or links. The financial damage only occurs when the codes are passed on.

Important information on detection and prevention

  1. Check the sender address: Make sure that the e-mail address matches the address you know. Personal e-mail addresses at the university usually have the format: vorname.nachname@uni-bayreuth.de.
  2. Be particularly careful with mobile devices: It is often more difficult to recognise fake emails on smartphones and tablets.
  3. Verify the enquiry: Ask the supposed sender in another way, e.g. by telephone.
  4. Do not allow yourself to be put under pressure: Fraudsters often try to force a quick response by putting you under time pressure.
  5. Report suspicious e-mails: Use the report mail button or forward suspicious e-mails to its-security@uni-bayreuth.de.

New challenges through AI

We would like to pay particular attention to the increasing use of artificial intelligence
intelligence (AI) by fraudsters. This enables them to write emails in error-free and easily understandable German. This makes it increasingly difficult to recognise phishing attacks based on linguistic errors or unusual formulations. You should therefore be particularly vigilant and not rely on linguistic features alone to judge the authenticity of an email

What to do in an emergency?

Should you nevertheless become a victim of such fraud, please contact our Information Security Officer Ralf Stöber immediately (phone: 3177,
e-mail: isb@uni-bayreuth.de). Quick information enables swift action and prevents further damage.

Stay vigilant and protect yourself and your colleagues from these devious attacks.

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