Höchstleistungsrechenzentrum Stuttgart: Supercomputing Academy: HPC-Cluster

Prerequisites and content levels

Prerequisites

Basic knowledge of processors, memory, networking, and their interactions within HPC clusters.
Familiarity with software, libraries, operating systems, batch systems, and licensing relevant to HPC environments.
Proficiency in working with working on complex Excel or Calc spreadsheets.

Content levels

Beginners: 24 hours
Intermediate: 16 hours
Advanced: 10 hours

Learn more about course curricula and content levels.

Target audience

This course is intended for, but is not limited to, the following groups:

Data center staff planning to take over or set up a new HPC cluster.
HPC users involved in the design and procurement of HPC clusters.
Administrative and management personnel seeking to understand the structure, costs, and cost models of HPC clusters.
Anyone interested in the design, procurement, and operation of HPC clusters
Anyone interested in sustainability in data centers and the HPC domain

Learning outcomes

After completing this course, participants will:

Gain essential business administration knowledge to evaluate offers and make purchasing decisions for HPC clusters.
Understand the economic and legal implications of on-premises and cloud operational models.
Learn to design HPC clusters based on specific requirements and calculate investment and operational costs.
Incorporate sustainability principles into decision-making processes effectively.

Instructor

Dr. Norbert Conrad (HLRS) norbert.conrad(at)hlrs.de

Agenda

Week 1: Cost Accounting, Decision Theory, Investments
Week 2: Operational Models, Benchmarks, Licenses, and License Servers
Week 3: Cluster Design
Week 4: Sustainability, Data Center Sustainability, Sustainable Procurement, End-of-Life Management, Management Systems (EMAS, ISO Standards), Blue Angel Certification, Change Management

Dates for the Seminars and Exam (Preliminary schedule)

Seminars are scheduled on Tuesdays from 17:00 to max 19:00: February 17 (kick-off), February 24, and March 03, 10, and 17 (discuss the content of weeks 1-4).
Exam is scheduled for Friday, March 27. You may start the approximately 2-hour exam anytime between 05:00 and 23:00. The official course dates reflect the course weeks only, not your exam preparation or the exam itself.
Although the schedule is preliminary, we strongly recommend that you reserve these dates when you register for this course.

Registration information

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

Registration closes on February 08, 2026.

Late applications after the registration phase are still possible according to the course capacity. For late applications we can not guarantee an ILIAS account by the course start.

Fees

0 Euro: Employees of the HLRS, or the Jülich Supercomputing Centre (JSC), or the Leibniz Supercomputing Centre (LRZ)
52,50 Euro: Students without master’s degree or equivalent
127,50 Euro: PhD students or employees at a German university or public research institute
255 Euro: PhD students or employees at a university or public research institute in an EU, EU-associated or PRACE country other than Germany
510 Euro: PhD students or employees at a university or public research institute outside of EU, EU-associated or PRACE countries
1410 Euro: Other participants, e.g., from industry, other public service providers, or government
Link to the EU and EU-associated (Horizon Europe), and PRACE countries.

HLRS concept for flexible learning

Flexible learning

This course offers flexible learning, allowing you to learn at your own pace and access online course materials and cluster resources. Web-seminars are held weekly to discuss the learning modules and to answer your questions. We also provide forum channels that enable you to communicate with the lecturer and peers, as well as to share your experiences.

Learning duration

The course is divided into multiple learning units of 10 hours each. Participants can learn the individual learning content on their own schedule. In addition, this course has fixed dates for virtual seminars and the exam.

Course certificate & confirmation of participation

The High-Performance Computing Center (HLRS) issues participants a confirmation of participation if they have joined all seminars and hand in at least 50% of the assignments, as well as a course certificate if they have passed the exam at the end of the course.

Technical requirement

Stable Internet connection so you can access and download the learning materials.
Access to video conferencing tool with camera and microphone for participation in regular seminars.

Contact

Lucas Jordan, phone 711 685-87206, 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. SIDE 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 has been coordinating one of the AI Factories of the EuroHPC JU: HammerHAI.

Further courses and training team

See the training overview and the Supercomputing Academy pages.
See also information about the HLRS training department and staff.

Supercomputing Academy: HPC-Cluster - Design, Cost, and Sustainability

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