Anvil CPU resources provide general-purpose computing nodes for a wide range of research workloads. They are suitable for data processing, simulations, and other tasks that do not require GPUs.
Login to Anvil CPU
- Users can use their ACCESS account to receive an allocation and login.
- Logging into your ACCESS account will require Duo two-factor authentication.
SSH Login
$ ssh x-ACCESS-username@anvil.rcac.purdue.edu
File Transfer
| Supported Methods | Data Transfer Node | URL |
|---|---|---|
| SCP | anvil.rcac.purdue.edu | |
| RSYNC | anvil.rcac.purdue.edu |
Storage
File System
| Directory | Path | Quota | Purge | Backup | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Anvil ZFS | /home | 25 GB | Not Purged | Home directories: area for storing personal software, scripts, compiling, editing, etc. | |
| Anvil ZFS | /apps | N/A | Not Purged | Applications | |
| Anvil GPFS | /anvil | N/A | Not Purged | ||
| Anvil GPFS | /anvil/scratch | 100 TB | Files older than 30-day will be purged | User scratch: area for job I/O activity, temporary storage | |
| Anvil GPFS | /anvil/projects | 5 TB | Removed 90 days after allocation expiration | Per allocation: area for shared data in a project, common datasets and software installation | |
| Anvil GPFS | /anvil/datasets | Common data sets (not allocated to users) |
External Storage
Files in scratch directories are not recoverable. Files in scratch directories are not backed up. If you accidentally delete a file, a disk crashes, or old files are purged, they cannot be restored.
$PROJECTspace. The project space will be created for each allocation. $PROJECT and $WORK variables refer to the same location and can be used interchangeably.
ANVIL CEPH
Anvil Ceph is intended to provide scalable, fault-tolerant, and high-throughput storage for large or persistent research data. It supports both object and block storage, making it suitable for hosting shared datasets, storing long-term research outputs, and enabling data access for containerized or cloud-integrated workflows. Ceph complements the Lustre-based storage tiers by offering durable and easily expandable storage for diverse data management needs.
Inspecting file system quotas
To check the quota of different file systems, type myquota at the command line.
Jobs
Notes:
- Specify your desired partition to prevent it from being automatically assigned to the shared queue
- e.g.:
-p wholenode
- e.g.:
- For node-exclusive (wholenode and wide) queues, your job will automatically be allocated one full node.
See Anvil example job scripts - https://www.rcac.purdue.edu/knowledge/anvil/run/examples
Queue specifications
Metrics updated 2026-05-02
| Name | Purpose | CPUs | GPUs | RAM | Jobs
30 days
|
Wait Time
30-day trend
|
Wall Time
30-day trend
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| debug | 256 cores AMD EPYC™ 7763 CPUs | 256GB | 416 |
|
|
||
| wholenode | 2,048 cores AMD EPYC™ 7763 CPUs | 256GB | 20,286 |
|
|
||
| wide | 7,168 cores AMD EPYC™ 7763 CPUs | 256 GB | 331 |
|
|
||
| shared | 128 cores AMD EPYC™ 7763 CPUs | 256 GB | 640,797 |
|
|
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| highmem | 128 cores AMD EPYC™ 7763 CPUs | 256 GB | 1,720 |
|
|
Most Frequently Used Software
The following software packages are among the most frequently used on Anvil CPU, based on job data from XDMoD.
| Application | Description | Research Discipline | Jobs |
|---|---|---|---|
| python | Python is a high-level, interpreted programming language known for its simplicity and readability. It supports multiple programming paradigms and has a vast ecosystem of libraries and frameworks. | Computer & Information Sciences, Software Engineering, Systems & Development | 36,418 |
| orca | Orca is a flexible, efficient, and powerful quantum chemistry software written by Frank Neese and co-workers. It provides accurate and reliable computational simulations of molecular structures and properties based on quantum mechanical methods. | Chemical Sciences | 10,636 |
| lammps | LAMMPS (Large-scale Atomic/Molecular Massively Parallel Simulator) is a classical molecular dynamics code designed for simulating large-scale atomistic systems. It is highly versatile and can be used to model a wide range of materials and complex molecular structures. | Chemical Sciences | 6,527 |
| r | R is a free software environment for statistical computing and graphics. It compiles and runs on a wide variety of UNIX platforms, Windows, and MacOS. | Computer Science | 2,639 |
| gromacs | GROMACS (GROningen MAssive Parallel MD for Molecular Dynamics) is a versatile package for molecular dynamics simulations with a strong emphasis on high-performance computing capabilities. | Biological Sciences | 2,146 |
| q-espresso | Quantum ESPRESSO is an integrated suite of computer codes for electronic-structure calculations and materials modeling at the nanoscale. | Condensed Matter Physics | 2,073 |
| spec | 1,666 | ||
| ncbi-blast | BLAST+ is a suite of programs designed to allow researchers to compare nucleotide or protein sequences to sequence databases and identify similarities. | Genomics | 1,090 |
| openfoam | OpenFOAM (Open Source Field Operation and Manipulation) is a free, open-source computational fluid dynamics (CFD) software package developed by the OpenFOAM Foundation. It is widely used for simulating complex fluid flows in various industries and academic research. | Physical Sciences | 1,053 |
| citcoms | 1,024 |
Datasets
| Name | Description |
|---|---|
| AI | https://datasetdocs.readthedocs.io/en/latest/ai/index.html |
| Covariates | https://datasetdocs.readthedocs.io/en/latest/Covariates/index.html |
| Geospatial | https://datasetdocs.readthedocs.io/en/latest/geospatial/index.html |
| Hydrological | https://datasetdocs.readthedocs.io/en/latest/hydrological/index.html |
| iGenomes | https://datasetdocs.readthedocs.io/en/latest/igenomes/index.html |
| Meteorological | https://datasetdocs.readthedocs.io/en/latest/meteorological/index.html |
| GeoAI | https://datasetdocs.readthedocs.io/en/latest/geoai/index.html |