Getting complex scientific software to run efficiently on modern HPC hardware is rarely straightforward. When UiB researcher Daniel Gunning needed to build and run the Ice-sheet and Sea-level System Model (ISSM) on Olivia, he ran straight into intricate dependency challenges.
The model has a complex dependency stack (with PETSc, MUMPS, MPI, etc.) that needed to be tuned specifically for Olivia’s Slingshot interconnect, and the usual approaches were not working.
How we helped:
Our container specialist, Jean Iaquinta, built a turn-key Docker/Apptainer image bundling the entire stack:
- Core Stack: ISSM, PETSc, MUMPS, and MVAPICH with full OFI/CXI support for Slingshot-11 (and InfiniBand).
- Zero Compromise: Multi-node execution with no loss in performance.
- Cross-Platform: Fully validated on both Olivia’s x86_64 (AMD EPYC) and aarch64 (Grace Hopper) partitions.
The result? A fully reproducible, ready-to-use workflow that can be easily shared, replicated, and cited.
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