Computing infrastructure

Due to a decision by the Mesocentre to discontinue its cloud infrastructure, it is no longer possible to request access to the Mésocentre's OpenStack Cloud service.

Existing accounts remain active for the time being. However, a gradual shutdown of the associated virtual machines and storage services is planned, with the service scheduled to be fully discontinued by summer 2027.

However, we can guide you through the process of getting access to the IFB Biosphere cloud (https://biosphere.france-bioinformatique.fr/).

Please contact us for further information.

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

Any member of a local academic research unit or platform in the fields of biology and health can request access to these GPU resources.

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 group).

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 the Lille University Computing Centre.
I have read and agree to comply with the Terms and Conditions of Use available on the Mesocentre website. 
I would therefore like to request access to the HPC Cluster, which requires your approval.
To do so, simply reply to this email (via reply all) approving my request.
 

Research Unit and Team: XXXXX / XXXXX
Employer (U.Lille, CNRS, Inserm...): XXXXX
Position (permanent, CDD, PhD, intern...): XXXXX
Access end date: XXXXX
Principal(s) objective(s) of the project: XXXXX
Type(s) of data processed: XXXXX
Software(s) you plan to use: XXXXX

Thank you in advance.
Sincerely,

Best Practices and Rules of Use

The use of the HPC resources of the Lille University Computing Centre and the storage space of Bilille is conditional on the acceptance of the General Terms of Use (GTU) of the Mesocentre and  the mudis4ls-storage charter (PDF).

You must notify hpcuniv-lillefr of any publication or communication of results requiring the use of the HPC Cluster. You must also explicitly acknowledge 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/