With a large department like Systems, it can be easy to lose track of the exciting work our colleagues are a part of. There are interesting projects going on all around us! One incredible project under way is the Arbutus Advanced Research Computing (ARC) cloud. A research computing cloud makes highly efficient ARC resources available to researchers on request. These resources process huge data sets faster than traditional means and deliver insights that drive innovation to benefit a wide array of research areas.
Progress
Phase one of the Arbutus ARC implementation began in 2016 with the installation of storage, compute, management and control nodes in the UVic Enterprise Data Centre. These components work together to offer 15,400 virtual cores and 700 TB of storage, making one of Canada’s largest non-commercial cloud computing platforms, if not the largest. Phase two of this initiative began in 2017 and has seen the installation of more storage, compute, management and control nodes to bring the Arbutus ARC system to full specification: 20,000+ virtual cores and 3.5 PB of storage. This phase on the project is currently under way by the Research Computing Services (RCS) and Network Services (NETS) team and is making the full capacity of the system a reality!
Partners
The Arbutus project was made possible by Compute Canada, the Canadian Foundation for Innovation (CFI) and the BC Knowledge Development Fund (BCKDF). These organizations work together to enable advanced research and innovation across Canada, increasing the availability, variety and usage of ARC resources nationwide. Compute Canada works in collaboration with research institutions and not-for-profit technology consortia (including BCNet and WestGrid) to implement essential ARC infrastructure at sites across the nation and manage access to these sites. CFI and BCKDF offer capital investment and cost savings that support institutions to secure the required hardware at attainable prices. Historically, a single institution would struggle to shoulder the weight of a research computing system that is able to meet the needs of its own researchers, let alone the needs of those across Canada or around the world. Partnership with these stakeholders has allowed UVic the opportunity to contribute to the sustainable growth of research computing across Canada.
Performance
To become one of the five national hosting sites, the University of Victoria competed with other Canadian universities to demonstrate the right combination of factors to support a new ARC system. ARC systems have some key needs including significant power supply, high security measures for data centre sites, and talented staff to provide continued operational support. ARC technical teams must implement, maintain and troubleshoot issues with the systems while ensuring the security of infrastructure and data. They must do this while making both available to researchers 24/7. During the competition, UVic was able to provide a state-of-the-art enterprise data centre with robust security, space for new equipment and ample power with the necessary redundancies to ensure continuity during emergencies. These features made UVic an ideal physical location for Canada’s next ARC system. On the human resource side, UVic’s talented team of research computing administrators presented capacity to provide responsive service and timely technical support. Since the Arbutus implementation, this team has been committed to providing a top tier research computing system and has consistently reached successful service outcomes.
With Compute Canada, CFI and BCKDF, UVic is able to contribute to the sustained growth of research computing across Canada. Read next week to learn about the unique projects using the ARC cloud.