Computing infrastructure

Dedicated resources on the shared cloud of the mesocenter are accessible via Bilille. Any member of a local biology and health academic research unit or platform can request access to these resources following the procedure described below. 

The Process

Your administrative manager (usually your laboratory director) and then a Bilille manager must approve your account creation request. Administrative manager approval is required for any use of IT resources. Bilille then checks that your request fits within the platform's scientific perimeter. Then, the mesocenter team will create your account.

In Practice

The request is made by email. You must send a mail from your institutional address to your administrative manager, with a copy to bililleuniv-lillefr and hpcuniv-lillefr.

Subject: Request to open an account on the Lille Mesocentre OpenStack Cloud (Bilille project).

Email text: Ask your manager to authorize you to use the Bilille Cloud by replying to your message with "Reply All". Specify your laboratory, the nature of the project, the software used, your contract end date for fixed-term contracts, and any software licenses.

Example email:

Dear Sir/Madam,

As part of my research, I would like to use the HPC resources of Bilille and the Lille University Computing Centre.
I will, therefore, request access to the OpenStack Cloud, which requires your validation.
To do so, simply reply to this email (via reply all) approving my request.

Research Unit and Team: XXXXX / XXXXX
Establishment: XXXXX
End date: XXXXX
Nature of the project: XXXXX
Software used: XXXXX

Thank you in advance.
Sincerely,

Best Practices and Rules of Use

Before using the cloud for the first time, please read the Bilille Cloud charter (PDF). In this document, you will find useful information: VM lifecycle, data confidentiality, obligations in case of publication, etc. The use of the cloud is conditional on the acceptance of the terms of this charter.

Mailing List

Bilille Cloud users are automatically subscribed to the bilille-cloud-usersuniv-lillefr mailing list. This list has two objectives: to allow the dissemination of information relating to the cloud to users (new resources, modifications to the charter, etc.) on the one hand, and to allow users to contact each other on the other hand (to regulate the sharing of resources, for example).

Documentation

All information on cloud configuration can be found on the Univ. Lille mesocenter documentation: https://hpc-doc.univ-lille.fr/en/docs/category/cloud-openstack/.

Thanks to the pooled funding from the EquipEx+ MuDiS4LS project and the Cross-Disciplinary-Project PIE (Protein-Interaction-Evolution), 22 Nvidia L40S 48Gb GPUs will be progressively installed in the mutualised cluster from late 2024 to mid-2025. In addition, 182TB of storage, usable from the cluster, will be made available for research on these two projects.

Any member of a local biology and health academic research unit or platform can request access to these GPU resources following the procedure described below. 

The Process

Your administrative manager (usually your laboratory director) and then a Bilille representative must approve your account creation request. Administrative manager approval is required for any use of IT resources. Bilille then checks that your request fits within the platform's scientific perimeter. Then, the mesocenter team will create your account.

In Practice

The request is made by email. You must send a mail from your institutional address to your administrative manager, with a copy to bililleuniv-lillefr, guillaume.brysbaertuniv-lillefr and hpcuniv-lillefr.

Subject: Request to open an account on the Lille Mesocentre HPC Cluster (Bilille project).

Email text: Ask your manager to authorize you to use the HPC Cluster by replying to your message with "Reply All". Specify your laboratory, the nature of the project, the software used, your contract end date for fixed-term contracts, and any software licenses.

Example email:

Dear Sir/Madam,

As part of my research, I would like to use the HPC resources of Bilille and the Lille University Computing Centre.
I will, therefore, request access to the HPC Cluster, which requires your validation.
To do so, simply reply to this email (via reply all) approving my request.

Research Unit and Team: XXXXX / XXXXX
Establishment: XXXXX
End date: XXXXX
Nature of the project: XXXXX
Software used: XXXXX

Thank you in advance.
Sincerely,

Best Practices and Rules of Use

The use of the storage space is conditional on the acceptance of the mudis4ls-storage charter (PDF).

You must notify bililleuniv-lillefr and hpcuniv-lillefr of any publication or communication of results requiring the use of the HPC Cluster. You must also explicitly acknowledge Bilille and the Université de Lille mesocenter in these publications.

Documentation

All information on the HPC Cluster can be found on the Univ. Lille mesocenter documentation: https://hpc-doc.univ-lille.fr/en/docs/category/cluster-hybride/