bwHPC
bwHPC (Baden-Württemberg High Performance Computing) is a state-wide initiative that provides integrated computing and data storage infrastructure for research and teaching. It is funded by the Ministry of Science, Research and Arts (MWK) Baden-Württemberg, the German Research Foundation (DFG), and the ten state universities.
bwHPC-S5
bwHPC-S5 (Scientific Simulation and Storage Support Services) is the coordinating project for user support across all bwHPC clusters. It connects all ten state universities in a federated support network and covers three areas:
- HPC: Technical operation, user support and further development of bwUniCluster 3.0, NEMO 2, Helix, BinAC 2 and JUSTUS 2
- Data Intensive Computing (DIC): Support for processing large datasets in research, development and teaching
- Large Scale Scientific Data Management (LS2DM): Coordination of data acquisition, analysis, storage, archiving and publication
bwHPC Website · bwHPC Wiki · bwHPC eLearning
Available bwHPC Clusters
| Cluster | Location | Scientific Communities |
|---|---|---|
| bwUniCluster 3.0 | KIT (Karlsruhe) | All fields, teaching |
| bwForCluster NEMO 2 | Freiburg | Neuroscience, Particle Physics, Materials Science, Microsystems Engineering |
| bwForCluster Helix | Heidelberg | Structural & Systems Biology, Medical Sciences, Soft Matter, Digital Humanities, Mathematics & CS |
| bwForCluster BinAC 2 | Tübingen | Bioinformatics, Astrophysics, Geosciences, Pharmacy, Medical Informatics |
| bwForCluster JUSTUS 2 | Ulm | Theoretical Chemistry, Condensed Matter Physics, Quantum Sciences |
Other bwForClusters
Researchers at the University of Freiburg can apply for access to other bwForClusters in addition to NEMO 2. The appropriate cluster is not chosen by the user — it is assigned based on research focus and hardware requirements. All bwForClusters require a short project description at registration.
bwForCluster Helix (Heidelberg)
For research in Structural & Systems Biology, Medical Sciences, Soft Matter, Digital Humanities and Mathematics & CS.
Network: non-blocking InfiniBand HDR (200 Gbit/s). Storage: ~11 PB IBM Spectrum Scale (~800 TB Flash).
CPU nodes:
| Type | Nodes | CPUs | Cores | RAM |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Standard | 355 | 2× AMD EPYC 7513 | 64 | 256 GB |
| Fat | 15 | 2× AMD EPYC 7513 | 64 | 2 TB |
GPU nodes:
| Nodes | GPUs | GPU RAM |
|---|---|---|
| 29 | 4× NVIDIA A40 | 48 GB each |
| 26 | 4× NVIDIA A100 | 40 GB each |
| 4 | 8× NVIDIA A100 | 80 GB each, 2 TB RAM |
| 3 | 8× NVIDIA H200 | 141 GB each, 2.3 TB RAM |
bwForCluster BinAC 2 (Tübingen)
For research in Bioinformatics, Astrophysics, Geosciences, Pharmacy and Medical Informatics. OS: Rocky Linux 9.
Network: HDR InfiniBand / 100 GbE. Storage: 8.1 PB Lustre.
CPU nodes:
| Type | Nodes | CPUs | Cores | RAM |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Standard | 180 | 2× AMD EPYC Milan | 64 | 512 GB |
| SMP | 16 | — | — | 2 TB |
GPU nodes:
| Nodes | GPUs | GPU RAM |
|---|---|---|
| 32 | 2× NVIDIA A30 | 24 GB each |
| 8 | 4× NVIDIA A100 | 80 GB each |
| 4 | 4× NVIDIA H200 NVL | 141 GB HBM3e each, 1.5 TB RAM |
bwForCluster JUSTUS 2 (Ulm)
For research in Theoretical Chemistry, Condensed Matter Physics and Quantum Sciences. OS: Rocky Linux 8.
692 compute nodes, 33,696 cores. All nodes: 2× Intel Xeon Gold 6252 (Cascade Lake, 24 cores each), Omni-Path 100 Gbit/s.
| Type | Nodes | Cores | RAM |
|---|---|---|---|
| Standard | 456 | 48 | 192 GB |
| Medium | 44 | 48 | 384 GB |
| SSD | 148 | 48 | 384 GB + 2× 1.6 TB NVMe |
| Medium SSD | 20 | 48 | 768 GB + 2× 1.6 TB NVMe |
| Large SSD | 8 | 48 | 1,536 GB + 5× 1.6 TB NVMe |
| GPU | 14 | 48 | 192 GB + 2× NVIDIA V100S |
Storage: 250 TB $HOME (with backup) + 1,200 TB workspaces (Lustre).