Department of Maths and Stats local
Department of Maths and Stats local
Researchers at the Department of Mathematics and Statistics can access several specialist resources for computing, in addition to the university network of windows-based computers. Do discuss your computing needs with your line manager or supervisor at an early stage to ensure you get the support (and equipment) you need.
University IT support
For all questions about central IT resources, see the IT services pages, which include information about security, accessing help, cloud computing, ordering IT equipment etc. The IT helpdesk allows you to log calls for assistance, notify of errors and order equipment. When you raise a request (for example IT help desk -> I need something -> Server/Cloud/Website -> Server – Access Permissions) it is recommended that you add “FAO Research IT” in the subject line as well as your line manager, in case approval is needed.
Access off-site
For some of the resources here you need to access via a virtual private network – more details here: VPN.
High-Performance Computing resources
You can request access to high-performance computing facilities, namely ISCA, Isambard, Archer or DiRAC.
Maths Clusters
You can request access to several linux clusters (named maths1-maths7). These machines are freely available for anyone in the department to use – they have been purchased outright, and so do not require additional grant money to be provided. The maths machines have the following hardware/software specifications:
These machines all share the same home space, which is separate to the University’s own linux homedrives that you may be familiar with from older University linux machines. The maths machines’ home space currently has no quota system, but please take care to make sure your usage is not excessive.
Maths1-4 are currently configured differently than maths5-7, as Maths1-4 use Scientific Linux, whereas Maths5-7 use Red Hat Enterprise Linux. In future maths1-4 will be updated to Red Hat Enterprise Linux, so if you are starting out with these machines it would make sense to use maths5-7. In addition, all the software available on maths1-4 will not automatically be available on maths5-7. If there is software you would like on maths5-7, please contact the IT support desk. (Note that some software is not available on maths5-7, but alternatives are installed. E.g. screen is now depracated, but tmux has been installed as a useful alternative.)
Note that maths1 is the only machine with magma installed, so if you don’t need this software, please use one of the other machines instead if possible (besides, every other machine is of higher spec). Note that maths5-7 are slightly faster than the other machines, despite the lower clock speed.
To use one of these machines:
GPU Resources
To access GPUs within the university, there are several options:
Research Software Engineering and Research Data Science Group
The University has created a centralised Research Software Engineering (RSE) and Research Data Science (RDS) groups, which together form the Research Software and Analytics Group, to assist our research community with complex and bespoke research software needs. You can contact them to get time written into a grant.
Using Repositories and Coding For Reproducible Research.
People can link their Exeter e-mail to a repository such as Github or Zenodo when creating accounts, and there are workshops available to support training: https://uniexeterrse.github.io/workshop-homepage
Data Backup
Do make sure you have a backup solution in place to prevent loss of data from e.g. power cuts, support is available to provide backup solutions. Do contact IT helpdesk to make sure this is in place if you are not confident this is the case.
Department Research IT Working Group
We have a small group of staff in the department who meet occasionally to advise on strategic directions for Research IT facilities and support. If you have any suggestions or want to know more, please contact Dan Partridge.