ASPIRE 2A and ASPIRE 2A+ Scheduled System Maintenance from 28 Nov 2024, 9am to 3 Dec 2024, 1pm

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Dear Users,

Please note that the ASPIRE 2A and ASPIRE 2A+ systems will be undergoing a scheduled system maintenance from 28 November 2024 (Thursday), 9am to 3 December 2024 (Tuesday), 1pm. The scheduled system maintenance is to ensure long term reliability, uptime and stability of the systems. 

Do take note of the following dates. 

ASPIRE 2A Maintenance activities:

  1. PBS Pro Version Upgrade to 2024.1.1.
  2. Multiple Security Patches.
  3. Data Center Power Maintenance.
  4. GPFS Parallel Filesystem Storage eFix.
  5. Faulty Hardware Replacement.
  6. CDU Coolant Replacement.
  7. System Health Check.

ASPIRE 2A+ Maintenance activities:

  1. Lustre Parallel Filesystem Storage Firmware Update.
  2. Multiple Security Patches.
  3. Data Center Power Maintenance.
  4. ConnectX-7 Mellanox Firmware Update.
  5. Nvidia GPU Driver Update.
  6. Enroot Container version upgrade to 3.5.
  7. System Health Check.

Please contact our Helpdesk via the Service Desk Portal or email us at [email protected] if you have any questions. For enquiries regarding ASPIRE 2A, please indicate the following in your email subject heading – “ASPIRE 2A: [issue]”.

Thank you.

Warm regards,

The NSCC Team

[Resolved] Service Disruption for Users Accessing ASPIRE 2A

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Dear ASPIRE 2A Users,

We are pleased to inform you that the storage issue on the ASPIRE 2A system has been resolved. You may proceed to login as per normal.

We apologise for any inconvenience this disruption may cause. If you have any questions, please contact us at [email protected]. For enquiries regarding ASPIRE 2A, kindly include “ASPIRE 2A: [issue]” in the subject heading of your email.

Thank you for your understanding and patience.

Warm regards,

The NSCC Team

Service Disruption for Users Accessing ASPIRE 2A

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Dear ASPIRE 2A Users,

Please be informed there is a service disruption on the ASPIRE 2A system due to an issue with the storage system. Our team is diligently investigating the issue and working towards a swift resolution.

We will provide updates as soon as further information becomes available.

We apologise for any inconvenience this disruption may cause. If you have any questions, please contact us at [email protected]. For enquiries regarding ASPIRE 2A, kindly include “ASPIRE 2A: [issue]” in the subject heading of your email.

Thank you for your understanding and patience.

Warm regards,

The NSCC Team

[Resolved] Service Disruption for Users Accessing ASPIRE 2A

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Dear ASPIRE 2A Users,

We are pleased to inform you that the service disruption on the ASPIRE 2A system has been resolved. You may proceed to login as per normal.

We apologise for any inconvenience this disruption may cause. If you have any questions, please contact us at [email protected]. For enquiries regarding ASPIRE 2A, kindly include “ASPIRE 2A: [issue]” in the subject heading of your email.

Thank you for your understanding and patience.

Warm regards,

The NSCC Team

Service Disruption for Users Accessing ASPIRE 2A

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Dear ASPIRE 2A Users,

We regret to inform you there is a service disruption on the ASPIRE 2A system as some components are currently experiencing an outage. Our team is diligently investigating the issue and working towards a swift resolution.

We will provide updates as soon as further information becomes available.

We apologise for any inconvenience this disruption may cause. If you have any questions, please contact us at [email protected]. For enquiries specifically regarding ASPIRE 2A, kindly include “ASPIRE 2A: [issue]” in the subject heading of your email.

Thank you for your understanding and patience.

Warm regards,

The NSCC Team

[Resolved] Service Outage – NSCC Helpdesk Email ([email protected])

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Dear NSCC Users,

We are pleased to inform you that the outage affecting our Helpdesk email channel ([email protected]) has been resolved. The service is now fully operational, and you can resume contacting us through email as usual.

Thank you for your patience and understanding during this time. We appreciate your support and are here to assist you with any questions or concerns.

Warm regards,


The NSCC Team

Service Outage – NSCC Helpdesk Email ([email protected])

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Dear NSCC Users,

We would like to inform you that our Helpdesk email channel ([email protected]) is currently experiencing an outage. Rest assured, our team is working diligently to restore the service as soon as possible.

In the meantime, you can still reach the Helpdesk through the Service Desk Portal (https://keris.service-now.com/csm) for any assistance or questions.

We sincerely appreciate your understanding and patience during this time. Please know that we are doing everything we can to resolve the issue promptly.

Thank you for your continued support.

Warm regards,
The NSCC Team

Scheduled ASPIRE 2A Maintenance on 21 August 2024, 7pm to 9pm SGT

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Dear ASPIRE 2A Users,

We would like to inform you of a scheduled maintenance for ASPIRE 2A to enhance system performance and address connectivity improvements.

Start: Wednesday, 21 August 2024, 7:00 PM SGT
End: Wednesday, 21 August 2024, 9:00 PM SGT


Estimated Duration: 2 hours

Purpose: To enhance connectivity and resolve issues related to a single network device link.

Maintenance Activities:

  • Backup of network appliances
  • Implementation of connectivity enhancements
  • Health check of network appliance devices

Please note that during this time, you may experience intermittent disruptions to the VPN connection.

If you have any questions or require assistance, please contact our Helpdesk via the Service Desk Portal or email us at [email protected]. For inquiries specific to ASPIRE 2A, kindly include “ASPIRE 2A: [issue]” in the subject line of your email.

Thank you for your cooperation.

NSCC Team

Housekeeping of Storage Data on ASPIRE 2A

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Dear Users,

As the ASPIRE2A storage inode usage is at above 95% utilisation, you are strongly encouraged to do some housekeeping to your project directories by removing old storage data that are not required anymore.

Please make full use of the /scratch directory for the storing of temporary data.

If you require any assistance, please contact us at [email protected].

Thank you.

Best regards,

NSCC Team

Updates on Intel Compilers and Separation of MKL Library on ASPIRE2A

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Date: 11 July 2024

Dear Users,

Updates on Intel Compilers

There are potential security vulnerabilities in older versions of Intel oneAPI Toolkits, including those previously offered when users swapped to PrgEnv-intel on ASPIRE2A. To avoid these potential vulnerabilities, NSCC Singapore has changed how modules work when users swap to PrgEnv-intel.

Now when users swap to PrgEnv-intel, the intel/2024.0 will be loaded instead of intel/2022.0.2 (verify with ‘module list’). Due to these changes, we recommend ALL applications previously built with older versions of Intel oneAPI Toolkits (2022) be rebuilt with the new Intel oneAPI Toolkits (2024). The module swapping process remains unchanged EXCEPT that the MKL library will not load by default (please refer to the next section). Module swapping is usually done with the following command:

module swap PrgEnv-cray PrgEnv-intel

Please note that, not specific to ASPIRE2A, the Intel C/C++ classic compilers (icc and icpc) have already been removed, and the Intel Fortran classic compiler (ifort) has been deprecated (not removed) since version 2024.0. Intel plans to completely remove ifort starting from version 2025.0.

We recommend migrating to icx, icpx and ifx, which are the successors to icc, icpc, and ifort respectively.

Updates on MKL Library:

Previously, the MKL environment would be exported when users swapped to PrgEnv-intel. Moving forward, the MKL environment will NO longer be exported by default.

If users wish to use MKL with Intel or any other programming environment, please add the following line:

module load mkl/2024.0

These updates are crucial for maintaining the security and functionality of our systems, and we thank you for your understanding in this matter. If you have any questions or need assistance with these changes, please do not hesitate to reach out to our helpdesk at [email protected].

Thank you.

NSCC Team