Dear CHPC User,
The Centre for High Performance Computing (CHPC) is preparing a major upgrade of its national high-performance computing infrastructure, with the current Lengau system being replaced by a new High-Performance Computing (HPC) system.
This upgrade is intended to provide users with enhanced computing and a more modern and reliable HPC environment. To enable the transition, the Lengau cluster will be shut down from 1 December 2026, followed by the refurbishment of the CHPC data centre and the installation, testing and commissioning of the new system.
What this means for users:
The transition is currently planned to take three to four months:
- 1 December 2026: Lengau HCP will be shut down;
- December 2026 to March 2027 (exact date to be confirmed): Data centre renovation and installation, integration, testing and commissioning of the new HPC system.
- March 2027 (exact date to be confirmed): Target date for the new HPC service to be available to users.
Please note that no HPC services will be available at the CHPC during the three to four month period from 1 December 2026 to March 2027 (exact date to be confirmed). This interruption will affect all HPC services, including access to the Lustre parallel file system and the GPU compute nodes.
The dates above represent the current implementation schedule. The CHPC will keep users informed of progress and advise promptly should there be any changes to the anticipated service-restoration date.
Important: Data migration and backup requirements
The new HPC system will use a new parallel file system. Consequently, data stored on the current Lengau Lustre file system will therefore no longer be accessible once the Lengau cluster is shut down on 1 December 2026.
All users are requested to transfer or back up all important data currently stored on the Lengau Lustre file system by 27 November 2026. We strongly encourage users not to wait until the final days before the shutdown to begin this process.
Further guidance and technical support will be provided to assist users in preparing for the transition.
Planning your research and computational work
We recognise that an interruption of this duration will significantly affect users’ research programmes and ongoing computational work that depend on the CHPC infrastructure. We are therefore communication the transition in advance to give users enough time to plan accordingly to minimise potential disruption.
The transition is an important step towards providing an improved HPC environment, with the new system expected to offer enhanced computing capabilities and more reliable services once it becomes operational and available to users.
The CHPC will provide regular updates on the progress of the transition, including any changes to the planned timeline and further information regarding the deployment of the new HPC system.
We appreciate your cooperation and patience as we undertake this significant upgrade of South Africa’s high-performance computing infrastructure.
Follow this link to Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) for more information.
If you know of users that are not receiving this communication email, please request them to subscribe to the CHPC mailing list here:
https://lists.chpc.ac.za/sympa/info/chpc-users
For queries or assistance, please contact CHPC Help Desk at:
Kind regards
The CHPC team