Research Cyberinfrastructure
- Chris Weaver
Facilities, Equipment, and Other Resources
 University-wide Computing Resources
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Computing Facilities
The research computing cyberinfrastructure at the University of Louisville consists of a general-purpose, high-performance distributed-memory cluster (with fourteen GPGPU nodes), five high-memory SMP systems, and an informatics cluster.
The general-purpose compute cluster is composed of 530 IBM iDataplex nodes 312 of which are equipped with two Intel Xeon L5420 2.5GHz quad-core processors and 218 of which are equipped with two Intel Xeon 5650 2.66GHz hexa-core processors for a total of 5112 processor cores. Each node has between 16 and 48 GB of memory (2GB to 4GB per core), and the node interconnects are a mixture of low-latency, 10 Gigabit Ethernet (10 Gbps), Gigabit Ethernet (1Gbps) and InfiniBand (16 Gbps) technology. In addition fourteen of the iDataplex nodes are equipped with dual NVIDIA M2050 or M2070 GPGPU cards. The general-purpose cluster has an estimated peak performance of over 50 TFLOPS. Â
Four of the high-memory systems each have 32 3.3GHz CPUs, 8 TB of high-speed, dedicated scratch disk and 768GB of RAM. One high-memory system has 128GB of RAM and 16 4.7GHz IBM Power6 CPUs.
The four-node, dedicated Spark/Hadoop informatics cluster has 50 TB of high-performance storage for high-reliability big data applications.
All research systems share approximately 400 TB of data storage and scratch space based on IBM's General Purpose File System (GPFS). All research systems are housed in the University's secure, underground data center and are administered by a team of specialized HPC system administrators and supported by a team of research computing consultants with experience in HPC software and database design, development and optimization.
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Campus Networking
The University of Louisville’s campuses are served by a 40 Gigabit per second (Gpbs) campus backbone network. This backbone is comprised of over 80 miles of fiber in a dual ring configuration. The wired network can provide 100Mbps and 1Gbps Ethernet service for faculty and staff communications needs. With the recently completed Pervasive Wireless Project, the U of L campus wireless network provides 802.11n wireless connectivity to wireless devices at speeds up to 300Mbps. This wireless connectivity is available across all of U of L's campuses, classrooms and buildings. The University of Louisville is connected to the Internet2 node via dedicated 10Gbps optical fiber backbone network. The Internet2 connection gives the University of Louisville direct, high-bandwidth, access to national research and education networks such as XSEDE/Teragrid.
The University of Louisville is also a member of the Kentucky Regional Optical Network (KyRON). This regional optical network is managed and operated through a consortium including the University of Louisville, the University of Kentucky and the Kentucky Council on Postsecondary Education. Participating universities are interconnected using 10Gbps optical links. The Kentucky RON extends the research data sharing capabilities of the University of Louisville with other participating universities throughout the state, and provides new opportunities for collaboration.
Data Center Facilities
The Cardinal Research Cluster is housed in the UofL Information Technology Data Center located in the Miller IT Center on the university’s Belknap campus. This facility provides over 5000 square feet of secure, environmentally controlled data center space including a FM200 fire suppression system. The data center is fed by 1000kVA electrical service with backup power provided by a large UPS and an 1125 kVA diesel generator. The research cluster is equipped with its own dedicated in-row cooling systems, and utilizes cold aisle containment to improve cooling efficiency. The facility is physically secure with limited keycard access and is monitored 24 hours a day.