Höchstleistungsrechenzentrum Stuttgart: Hackathon: Porting and Optimization for Hunter

Prerequisites and content levels

Prerequisites

To participate in the Hackathon, you should already have an account on Hawk/Hunter and make sure to be able to access Hunter from the place you plan to work, e.g. via VPN. Please check with your PI if you are unsure if VPN access is enabled for your account. See https://kb.hlrs.de/platforms/index.php/VPN for how to set up VPN.

Furthermore, kindly provide the following details by submitting an email to training(at)hlrs.de and CC to Björn Dick: dick(at)hlrs.de by the workshop registration deadline.
- Scientific domain you are working in,
- name of your code including URL (if available),
- Numerical approaches (should not be the majority of the provided details),
- name of the compute time budget used,
- programming language,
- programming models used (MPI, OpenMP, etc.),
- list of dependencies/libraries,
- known issues with specific compilers
- information on porting efforts done so far
- IO requirements (what is written to disk? with which frequency? number of files generated per each of those I/O events? volume of those files?)
- Size of your test case in terms of number of Hawk nodes used as well as expected runtime.
Running AI codes also necessitates information about:
- The user's AI software stack.
- IO requirements (e.g., dataset size, number of files, model size, number of checkpoints)
- The workflow along with computational requirements (e.g., number of GPUs needed for model training/fine-tuning and hyperparameter tuning).
Additionally, we require that you bring your own code including a test case which is set up according to the following rules:
use case selection:
- When processing the test case, your code should have a behavior and profile which is as close as possible to that of current and future production runs.
- If possible, the test case should be representative for those production runs of your group which consume the largest part of your compute time budget.
number of cores:
- In order to be representative, the test case should be in size comparable to the respective current and future production runs.
- In order to save valuable resources and to allow for a productive workflow, it should, however, be as small as possible.
- So, please, be prepared to reduce the size of your test case during the workshop! This can often be achieved by reducing the simulated domain or resolution and keep the computational load per core constant ("weak down scaling").
wall time:
- In order to allow for a productive workflow, the wall time should be a few minutes only.
- At the same time, it should cover all important parts of the code, i.e. computation, communication and I/O.
- So take into account to reduce the number of simulated time steps and be prepared to increase I/O frequency to render investigation of I/O possible within such a low number of timesteps.

If you are unsure about how to set up your test case, please contact Björn Dick (see contact data below).

In general the language of instruction is German, but can be changed to English if required.

Instructors

HLRS, HPE and AMD user support staff

Learning outcomes

Knowledge about and practical experience with deploying your code in CPE.
Overview of available programming models for AMD APUs and how to use them.
Important knowledge about how to optimize your code for the APU and which performance metrics are important.

Handout

If handouts will be available, participants will get them as PDFs.

Hybrid course

This course will be hybrid, i.e. it will take place at HLRS on-site, but it will also be possible to attend remotely. Participants, remote as well as on-site, have to be aware and agree that they might appear in the live video stream taken by a camera in the back of the lecture room or by a webcam on laptops. The live stream will not be saved. We strongly recommend to attend this course on-site since on-site attendance is much more effective and efficient in our experience. Therefore we might give priority to on-site over remote participants during registration.

Dates

The Hackathon consists of two parts

a preparation phase with a discussion of your project and goals for the hackathon, taking place November 20,
the actual coding phase, where you will work towards your goal and optimize your code for Hunter, taking place December 1-5.

The first phase will be a virtual event. The second phase will be offered as a hybrid event. Please select for the hybrid event on which days you plan to be on-site at HLRS.

We expect you to participate in both phases, in the first at least to discuss your project and goals.

If you need a recap on APUs, OpenMP target offload, or AMD tools, attending the course Introduction to OpenMP Offloading with AMD GPUs would be an option. For subscribers of the HLRS training news, self-study materials are also available.

Agenda

- preliminary -

Local times: Central European Time Zone (Berlin).
Communication format: Face-to-face, via Slack, Zoom, and email.

Preparation Phase

November 20, 9-17 h

Tutor assignment
Development of agenda for your code
Develop to-dos (Compile & Profile)
Set up of test case together with tutors
Agree on checkpoints with tutors until the hackathon starts

Coding Phase

December 1-5, 8:45-9:00 (Monday opening at 12:45 to facilitate travelling to Stuttgart)	Local registration/drop in to Zoom
December 1-5, 9:00-17:30 (Monday opening at 13:00 and Friday closing at 13:00 to facilitate travelling to/from Stuttgart)	Working on your code and workflow together with HLRS/HPE/AMD support staff

Registration information

Apply for this course via the button at the top of this page.

Please submit information about your code, see section Prerequisites and content levels, as soon as you applied for the workshop via email to training@hlrs.de. You can book individual days according to your and your project's needs, attending a full workshop in this case is not necessary.

Please be aware that the talks might be recorded. You declare that you are aware of and consent to the recording by applying.

Please apply before November 19, 2025.

Fees

Students without master’s degree or equivalent at a German university: 0 Euro
PhD students or employees at a German university or public research institute: 0 Euro

Further fee categories can be found in the registration page.

Our course fees include coffee breaks (in classroom courses only).

Contact

Björn Dick phone 0711 - 685 87189, bjoern.dick(at)hlrs.de
Tobias Haas phone 0711 685 87223, training(at)hlrs.de

HLRS Training Collaborations in HPC and AI

HLRS is part of the Gauss Centre for Supercomputing (GCS), together with JSC in Jülich and LRZ in Garching near Munich. EuroCC@GCS is the German National Competence Centre (NCC) for High-Performance Computing. HLRS is also a member of the Baden-Württemberg initiative bwHPC. Since 2025, HLRS coordinates HammerHAI.

Further courses

See the training overview and the Supercomputing Academy pages.

Hackathon: Porting and Optimization for Hunter

Veranstaltungsort

Prerequisites and content levels

Prerequisites

Instructors

Learning outcomes

Handout

Hybrid course

Dates

Agenda

Preparation Phase

Coding Phase

Registration information

Fees

Contact

HLRS Training Collaborations in HPC and AI

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