3. HPC Setup and Support

Running the GFS configurations (or nearly any GW configuration except the coarsest) is a resource intensive task. This page describes recommended Research and Development High‑Performance Computing Systems (RDHPCS) environment settings and provides contact information in case assistance is needed from a specific HPC helpdesk. While most of the documentation focuses on supported NOAA platforms, the guidance presented here can be applied to other systems.

3.1. Minimum system software requirements

The system software requirements listed in the following table represent the minimum standards for any new or existing system and reflect the development and testing environments on which the GW is maintained. Any system that does not meet these requirements will not be supported.

Software

Minimum supported version(s)

Notes

Bash

4.4.20

Python

  • 3.8.6

  • 3.10.13+

  • 3.11.6+

  • 3.10.x is not supported by METplus verification software

  • 3.11.6 is packaged with spack-stack

  • 3.9.x is untested

Spack-Stack

1.9.2

  • Available everywhere but WCOSS2

lmod

8.3.1

Slurm OR PBSpro

23.02.7

2022.1.1

  • Other schedulers may be supportable

Git

2.29.0

  • Some components e.g. GDASApp may need Git Large File Storage (Git-LFS) for downloading test data

Rocoto

1.3.5

  • 1.3.7 is required for newer versions of Ruby (3.2+)

Intel Compilers

2024.2.1

  • GNU compilers are not supported

  • Intel LLVM compilers are not yet supported

  • Intel 19.x is only supported on WCOSS2

3.2. Feature availability by RDHPCS

The GW provides capabilities for deterministic and ensemble forecasts, along with DA, across multiple platforms. However, not all features are currently supported on every system. The table below summarizes available features by platform and states their level of support.

Table 3.1 Capabilities matrix by HPC

HPC

Tier

Coupled GFS

Coupled GEFS

Coupled GCAFS

Coupled SFS

GSI DA

GDASApp DA

Coupled DA

TC Tracker

AWIPS

MOS

Fit2Obs

METplus Verification

HPSS Archiving

WCOSS2

1

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

Ursa

1

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

Hercules

1

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

Gaea C6

1

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

Orion

2

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

Derecho

1

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

AWS (Native)

2

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

AWS (PW)

3

X

X

X

X

GCP (PW)

3

X

X

X

Azure

3

X

X

X

3.3. HPC Helpdesks

3.4. Restricted Data Access

The GFS system ingests dump data files that contain global observational data. Several of these dump files include restricted data which requires additional level of permissions called restricted or rstprod. Users who wish to run cycled GFS experiments, which both use restricted observational data and produce restricted output, must obtain rstprod access.

To request rstprod access, follow one or both of the options below depending on the platform you need access for:

  • Requesting restricted data access on WCOSS2

If you need access on WCOSS2, review restricted data policy and submit the request here: https://www.nco.ncep.noaa.gov/sib/restricted_data/restricted_data_sib/

  • Requesting restricted data access on NOAA RDHPCS

If you need restricted data access on NOAA RDHPCS platforms:

  1. Login to the NOAA AIM portal

  2. select Request new access to a project

  3. Choose rstprod project

  4. Provide justification explaining why you need restricted data access

  5. Submit the request here: https://aim.rdhpcs.noaa.gov/

Note

Data that has been staged on Derecho or in an AWS S3 data bucket has already had restricted data removed.