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RAC available resources

Below is the list of resources available for the Resource Allocation Competition 2026.

Resources in the clusters and in the cloud are organized by subsystems. Each subsystem will only show the resources that it has available. For example, the trillium-storage subsystem will only show /project storage as /nearline storage is available in the hpss-storage subsystem; trillium-compute will only show CPU (and memory), etc.

Important

There should be no discrepancies between the resources requested in the document attached to your application and the online form. In case of discrepancy, what is requested in the online form will prevail.

System Sub-system (as shown on CCDB) Available resources for each sub-system Backup storage?
Arbutus cloud arbutus-compute-cloud VCPU, VGPU, RAM, local ephemeral disk, volumes, snapshots, floating IPs, volume and snapshot storage, shared filesystem storage*, object storage No
Arbutus cloud arbutus-persistent-cloud VCPU, VGPU, RAM, local ephemeral disk, volumes, snapshots, floating IPs, volume and snapshot storage, shared filesystem storage*, object storage No
Arbutus cloud arbutus-dcache dCache storage No
Rorqual cluster rorqual-compute CPU No
Rorqual cluster rorqual-gpu GPU No
Rorqual cluster rorqual-storage Project storage, Nearline storage Yes
Béluga cloud beluga-compute-cloud VCPU, RAM, local ephemeral disk, volumes, snapshots, floating IPs, volume and snapshot storage No
Béluga cloud beluga-persistent-cloud VCPU, RAM, local ephemeral disk, volumes, snapshots, floating IPs, volume and snapshot storage No
Fir cluster fir-compute CPU No
Fir cluster fir-gpu GPU No
Fir cluster fir-storage Project storage, Nearline storage, dCache storage Yes
Fir cloud fir-persistent-cloud VCPU, RAM, local ephemeral disk, volumes, snapshots, floating IPs, volume and snapshot storage, object storage No
Fir cloud fir-compute-cloud VCPU, RAM, local ephemeral disk, volumes, snapshots, floating IPs, volume and snapshot storage, object storage No
Nibi cluster nibi-compute CPU No
Nibi cluster nibi-gpu GPU No
Nibi cluster nibi-storage Project storage, Nearline storage, dCache storage Yes
Nibi cloud nibi-persistent-cloud VCPU, RAM, local ephemeral disk, volumes, snapshots, floating IPs, volume and snapshot storage No
Narval cluster narval-compute CPU No
Narval cluster narval-gpu GPU No
Narval cluster narval-storage Project storage Yes
Trillium cluster trillium-compute CPU No
Trillium cluster trillium-gpu GPU No
Trillium cluster trillium-storage Project storage Yes
HPSS hpss-storage Nearline storage No
  • The shared filesystem storage is backed up.

How to request resources in the online RAC application form

On the CCDB portal, go to the Resource Request section of the corresponding Resources for Research Groups (RRG) or Research Platforms and Portals (RPP) online application form.

The dropdown menu under New resource request will show the list of all systems and subsystems with the corresponding resources available for allocation. To indicate that your request can be allocated in any resource and that you do not have a preference for a particular one, please check the option "I have to select a system but I don’t mind receiving an allocation on any other suitable one" in the Reason for selecting system section.

1. Requesting HPC resources: compute and storage resources are shown as different subsystems on CCDB following this convention:

  • system-compute (e.g. rorqual-compute): select these to request CPU resources. Please pay special attention to your memory requirements as this will be taken into account for final allocations.
  • system-gpu (e.g. rorqual-gpu): select these to request GPU resources.
  • system-storage (e.g. rorqual-storage): select these to request storage resources on a particular system. Each subsystem will only show the storage resources (/project, /nearline, etc.) available for that particular subsystem.

For example, if you want to request both CPU resources and /project storage resources on the Rorqual cluster, you will have to fill in two separate requests: one with the rorqual-compute subsystem for core years and memory, and another one with the rorqual-storage subsystem for /project storage (in TB).

2. Requesting Cloud resources: If you need to request cloud resources in more than one location, then you will have to make one request for each location. On CCDB, cloud resources follow this convention:

  • system-compute-cloud or system-persistent-cloud: you can select compute or persistent VMs on the Arbutus, Fir and Béluga clouds, but only persistent VMs on the Nibi cloud. Each cloud resource will only show the specific "flavours" of VMs available for that particular site.

Please email allocations@tech.alliancecan.ca with any questions on how to request resources.