FAQs ASPIRE2A+

FAQs

General

ASPIRE2A+ general questions, and configuration queries

1.1. What is Aspire2A+

Aspire2A+ is a supercomputer operated by the National Supercomputing Centre (NSCC) Singapore.

It is powered by an NVIDIA DGX SuperPOD™ system consisting of 40 DGX H100 compute nodes. It is an Al powerhouse that features the groundbreaking NVIDIA H100 Tensor Core GPU.

It comes with a high-performance parallel file systems solution that provides 2.5PB usable capacity on NVMe for scratch storage and 27.5 PB usable capacity of home storage on DDN Lustre File storage and NVIDIA InfiniBand high speed interconnect.

The Aspire2A+ system has 40 DGX H100 compute nodes, each compute node has Intel(R) Xeon(R) Platinum 8480C CPU with 112 cores, 2 TB of system memory, 8 NVIDIA H100 GPUs with 640 GB of Memory and 8 x 3.84 TB NVMe drive storage. Aspire2A+ has login nodes dedicated to each organization.

1.2. What does Service Unit (SU) mean and how do jobs consume this based on different resources

SU is the currency to utilize resources on the Aspire2A+ system.
SU is charged based on the requested CPU and GPU resources as follows:
For GPU jobs: 128 SU for 1 ngpus per hour (no charge for ncpus)

Note:-

GPU Jobs will have fixed CPU and Memory ratio enforced i.e. for every 1 GPU requested, 14 CPU and 235 GB of memory will be allocated and SU charged will be 128.

Accessing Aspire2A+

Queries regarding accessing ASPIRE2A+, logging in and transferring files.

2.1. How do i enroll to get access to ASPIRE 2A+

Only approved projects will be able to access ASPIRE 2A+.

Please refer to this page for more information.

2.2. How do I access Aspire2A+

To utilize ASPIRE 2A+ resources, you need to login to the cluster. Please follow the below table to determine how to access ASPIRE 2A+.

How to reach login node via optimal path

User From Entity	Host/FQDN Login Node	If connect from outside campus network
NUS	aspire2p.nus.edu.sg	connect to NUS VPN first
NTU	aspire2pntu.nscc.sg	Note:- NTU users will need to request NTU jump host to access ASPIRE2A+ via aspire2pntu.nscc.sg Please email your jump host access request to [email protected]
A*STAR	aspire2p.a-star.edu.sg	connect to A*STAR VPN first
SUTD	aspire2p.sutd.edu.sg	connect to SUTD VPN first
VPN Users	aspire2p.nscc.sg	For all users not from the above categories, please connect to ASPIRE2A+ VPN first before accessing login nodes. Kindly refer to VPN guides here: 1 – ASPIRE2A+ VPN for Windows 2 – ASPIRE2A+ VPN for Mac 3 – ASPIRE2A+ VPN for Linux

For example, a user from NUS can reach the login node using ssh client via

“ssh [email protected]”

Common client tools for connecting to login nodes and file transfer

Operating System	Function	Tools
Windows	SSH Secure Client	Putty, MobaXterm
	File Transfer	FileZilla, Winscp

Linux/Unix	SSH Secure Client	Terminal or ssh
	File Transfer	FileZilla, scp, rsync–e ssh

MacOS	SSH Secure Client	ssh
	File Transfer	scp, rsync -e ssh

Follow the below instructions to connect to ASPIRE2A+ through portal:

Open the web browser and browse for the URL provided above.
Use your ASPIRE2A+ credentials to access the web portal.

Below are instructions to connect using SSH/SCP on UNIX/Linux or Mac:

Open any SSH terminal
Type ssh user-id@”Host/FQDN login node”
Enter the password (characters are invisible while typing the password)
Once logged in successfully you should be able to see a “$” prompt that allows you to execute Linux commands

If you want to use the X11 interface, replace the above ssh command with ssh -X.

For X11 – ssh -Y user-id@”Host/FQDN login node”, make sure you have XQuartz installed for OS X 10.8 or higher.

Below are instructions to connect using SSH/SCP on Windows:

Open any SSH terminal software (e.g. putty, MobaXterm)
In case of putty, type the login host name and click on Open button (Putty may allow you to login automatically without asking for password. In case if putty asks for username/password, you need to type the login ID and password from your university.)
In case of MobaXterm, type to command at the prompt “ssh user-id@’Host/FQDN Login Node'”
Upon successful login, you will be prompted with “$” to use NSCC Supercomputer

2.3. How do I download files from the internet

Users will be able to access files on the Internet using http or https methods using tools such as curl or wget.

2.4. I forgot my password. How do i change/reset my password?

Please login to https://user.nscc.sg/ with your organization credentials and click on set/reset your password. Once a new password is set you can login to NSCC with the new password.

Please follow the Password Reset guide and follow the step-by-step instructions.

Note that the password must contain:

a minimum of 8 characters;
a mixture of upper and lower cases;
numbers (0-9); and
at least one special character: !@#$%^&*+=?>

If you still cannot access your account after resetting your password, please contact our help desk at [email protected]

2.5. Why did my SSH session terminate automatically after a period of idling?

Aspire2A+ SSH session idle timeout is set to 12 hours. The ssh session will terminate automatically after. This is a security measure to ensure that NSCC offers a safe environment to all users of Aspire2A+.

2.6. My account has expired, what should I do?

The NSCC account password expires every 90 days. Please be reminded to reset your password before the expiry of your password. If you did not reset your password after 90 days, your account will expire. Upon expiry of the account, you will not be able to login to NSCC system and the messages as shown below will be displayed when using the ssh connection.

Your account has expired; please contact your system administrator
You are required to change your LDAP password immediately.
Connection closed by xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx
There’s a grace period of 90 days on top of the 90-day expiry, after which to activate the account, one must contact us through [email protected] in order to activate the account, however it is mandatory to re-set the password after activating the account.

Files in home directory are untouched until 90 days post which the files from home directory will be archived, while file in scratch still follow the purge policy.

To activate the account, one must login to https://user.nscc.sg/ with your organization credentials and click on set/reset your password. Once a new password is set you can login to NSCC with the new password.

PS: Changing password through passwd command will have no effect on the expiry date.

If your account is still not re-activated after resetting your password, please contact our help desk at [email protected]

2.7. Why does my VPN disconnect automatically while I’m actively using it?

Aspire2A+ VPN connection remains valid for up to 24 hours. VPN connection will automatically terminate after the time limit is reached. Users are required to re-reconnect to re-establish the VPN connection.

2.8. Is there other option beside installing the DUO 2FA mobile app?

Only the Duo 2FA mobile app is supported currently. NSCC is in the midst of exploring other alternatives.

2.9. How can I access the compute nodes of my running job through SSH via login nodes?

To access the compute node of a running job through SSH via login nodes, you need to export the job id in environment first.

For example, if the job ID is 123456.pbs101 and the nodes assigned are:

a2ap-dgx001 and a2ap-dgx002, you can do the following:

$ export PBS_JOBID=123456.pbs101

Then, SSH will be allowed on a2ap-dgx001 and a2ap-dgx002 from the node where you exported the PBS_JOBID and the SSH sessions will be attached to that PBS JOB.

$ssh a2ap-dgx001

Subsequent SSH sessions from any of the compute node will already have the PBS_JOBID exported and will not require to export PBS_JOBID.

if the PBS_JOBID is not correctly exported and the JOB ID did not match, SSH session will be rejected.
if there are multiple jobs running, you need to export the relevant Job Id every time to SSH to the compute node.

To check the current exported job ID in the current session on login node, you can do:

$ echo $PBS_JOBID

Projects Application

NSCC resources can only be utilized through approved projects.

3.1. When will I know whether my project is approval by the committee?

NSCC Singapore will announce the results of the Call for Projects via a Letter of Award to the respective Research Offices (RO) of the hosting institutions. For all communications, including the award of projects and post-award management of granted compute resources, NSCC Singapore will liaise with the ROs as the primary point of contact.

Hence, project applicants are advised to reach out to your respective ROs for updates.

3.2. Why can’t I see my projects in the Project Portal?

Please note that only the project applicant will be able to see the project in the Project Portal. Only projects allocated under the Call for Project will be indicated in the portal.

You may use the following command to check all projects that you are part of Aspire2A+: myproject

3.3. I’m leaving the project team; can I transfer the ownership of my project?

Please complete Part I and Part II of the form and send the request to [email protected].

This is a form to request changes to the Project Applicant of an approved and active project. An official email is mandatory.

Note: Requests for this change can only be made by the Project Applicant or Project Investigator of the project.

Form Download: NSCC Request Form_Change of Project Applicant_Template

3.4. How do I add new users to my project?

For the addition of existing users:

Please complete Part I of the form and send the request to [email protected].

This is a form to request changes to the membership of an approved and active project. Note that requests for membership changes can only be made by the Project Applicant or Principal Investigator of the project.

Form Download: NSCC Request Form_Change of Membership_Template

Please note that only users with a valid NSCC user ID can be added to the project.

Account creation:

For users from NUS, NTU, A*STAR, SUTD, TCOMS, SMU, SIT, SP, TP and RP: Please register for one via the self-service portal here.
- Users from SMU, SIT, SP, TP and RP need to contact [email protected] to request for access to NSCC’s VPN after account creation
For users from all other entities: Please request for an account via the Account Creation Form here.
- Please note that this is subject to approval.

3.5. My project has been approved, but I need more resources. How do I request for additional resources for my project?

In order for the new committee SRAC to better assess your project, please provide all required information for your project via the Additional Project and Funding Information Form.

The PI/applicant of the project should send an email to [email protected] with the Form Response ID once completed.

3.6. Will my project expire? What happens at the end of project cycle?

Yes, projects that are not renewed will expire by the end of the project cycle. When your project ends, please update the project deliverables in the Project Portal.

At the end of the project cycle, all resources granted will expire.

Project quota will be set to zero (0) hours and no jobs will be dispatched.
All project data will remain in the system for one month.
After one month, all project data will be archived.
All archived data will be retained for 5 months from the date of archival.
A charge of $0.029 per GB/month will be imposed for retrieval of archived data.

Please plan your resource utilization wisely and use your allocated resources as early as possible to avoid encountering resource bottlenecks towards the end of the project cycle.

Accounting

Queries related to usage of projects, checking the allocation, and usage of project.

4.1. What is my disk quota, and is there a way to extend it?

The disk quota allocated is limited as stated below respectively:

/home – Home directory – 50GB.
/scratch – Scratch directory – 100 TB

This will not be extended on any terms. If more disk space is needed, you should apply for a project through the Project Portal.

You can check your current disk usage on /home by executing the “myquota” command.

$ myquota

+—————————————————————-+———————————+
| Block Limit | Inode Limit |
| Filesystem Type Usage Quota | Usage Quota |
+—————————————————————————————————+
| home LUSTRE 132k 50G | 26 0 |
| scratch LUSTRE 4k 100T | 1 0 |
+=========================================================+

Purging policy is implemented on scratch directory and files unused for more than 30 days will be purged automatically.

Files under home or project directories are untouched.

4.2. How to view SU usage breakdown by project users?

The myprojects command provides detailed information about project usage, user/project-specific details, and historical data reporting with customizable date ranges.

-p : Fetch project details for a specific project ID.
-l: Show detailed project usage.
-s : Specify the start date (in YYYY-MM-DD format) for detailed usage reporting. Defaults to yesterday if not specified.
-e : Specify the end date (in YYYY-MM-DD format) for detailed usage reporting. Defaults to yesterday if not specified.
-h: Display help for the command.

Can I use multiple options together?

Yes, you can combine options to refine your query. For example:

myprojects -p project-id -l -s 2025-01-01 -e 2025-01-25

Note: The program only displays data since 2024-09-01 onwards.

How can I display the command’s help information?

myprojects -h

Files and Filesystems

Queries regarding file systems such as home, scratch, and project

5.1. Can I access files belonging to someone else or another project?

By default, any file is restricted to individual and the project/group. In case you need to let other users access your files, please contact the service desk (access Service Desk or contact [email protected]).

5.2. What is the scratch space?

The /scratch is a temporary space for your working or transient data. Any files that have not been accessed for more than 30 days may be removed without notice.

5.3. I lost my files in scratch

The /scratch is a temporary space for your working or transient data. Any files more than 30 days old may be removed without notice. Therefore, please do regular housekeeping and move your files to your home or project space if you still need them.

5.4. Does NSCC have backup of files

No, NSCC does not have any backup system currently. If the files are deleted by accident or intentional, there’s no way we can retrieve the files.

Please note that the /scratch is a temporary space for your working or transient data. Any files more than 30 days old may be removed without notice. Therefore, please do regular housekeeping and move your files to your home or project space if you still need them

File Transfer

Queries related to File transfer

6.1. I have my data in my local Desktop/laptop. How can I copy the data to ASPIRE2A+?

You can use one of the file transfer protocols which supports copying over SSH (e.g. scp). Please note that the transfer rate depends on the network speed between ASPIRE 2A+ and your device.

6.2 How do I transfer files from my organization HPC to ASPIRE2A+?

The easiest way to transfer files from your organisation HPC is to use rsync.

For example, to transfer /scratch/johnsmit/project1 directory in your existing cluster to ASPIRE2A+ /project/johnsmit/ directory, you can run the following command on your cluster:

$ rsync -avz -e ssh /path/to/the/files @.nscc.sg:/project/johnsmit/

Note: Please replace login with the respective login node mentioned in the table access methods. For VPN connected users (either via stakeholder or NSCC vpn), user may have limited bandwidth and speed is expected to be slow.

6.3 How do I transfer files from ASPIRE2A+ to my PC?

From PC:

For Microsoft Windows/Mac, the preferred/suggested method is to use FileZilla or any other file transfer utility to transfer your local files to a desired location in NSCC.

From Linux machine/Mac terminal, you can either use scp or rsync command to copy files from your local pc to NSCC.

The simple syntax for rsync should be:

: rsync -arvz -e ssh [email protected]:/destination/path/in/nscc /path/to/files

From a cluster in your organisation:

SSH Secure client (putty, MobaXterm) published on the internet, there is no straightforward method but if your cluster is in A*STAR extranet, this can be possible. Please try the below syntax:

: rsync -arvz -e ssh /path/to/files astar.nscc.sg:/destination/path/in/nscc

For all other users, you will need to copy your files to your PC and transfer back to NSCC.

6.4 How do I access files on ASPIRE2A+ using a graphical user interface?

Please use WinSCP or Filezilla software to use GUI for file transfer.

Choose your HPC System:

ASPIRE2A

ASPIRE2A+

FAQs

General

Accessing Aspire2A+

Projects Application

Accounting

Files and Filesystems

File Transfer

NSCC

Useful Links

Contact Info

FAQs

General

Accessing Aspire2A+

Projects Application

Accounting

Files and Filesystems

File Transfer

NSCC

Useful Links

Contact Info

Choose Your HPC SystemBefore Proceeding:

Choose Your HPC System
Before Proceeding: