Table of Contents

Transition to Alma8

The Shared Computing Cluster (SCC) operating system was upgraded from the previous CentOS 7 to the AlmaLinux 8 (Alma8) operating system in early August, 2023. The RCS staff did extensive preparation analyzing, installing, and testing software dependencies to minimize any disruptions to research activities. Even so, this operating system upgrade could impact some SCC researchers. This new AlmaLinux 8 section of the RCS web pages describes the changes and what you could have done to prepare or can do now that Alma8 is in production.

If you need to run applications under the earlier CentOS 7 environment, please review our page on using Containers to access CentOS 7 modules and if that does not answer your questions, please send email to help@scc.bu.edu for assistance.

If at any time you need assistance with your transition or have concerns about Alma8, please send email to help@scc.bu.edu.

What is Alma8 and why did the SCC upgrade to it?

What did NOT Change

  • You interact with the system in the same way.
  • The filesystem did not change. None of your files were affected by this change.
  • The batch commands are the same.

What DID Change

  • Alma8 Modules Status (table): For your convenience, we have a list of all of the modules on the system with their version numbers and what their status is under Alma8. As part of this transition, we retired a significant number of modules that have been minimally used, many of them with no replacement version.  If one of these modules is important to you, please contact us to let us know.
  • Phasing out Anaconda: The anaconda2 and anaconda3 modules were phased out with the transition to Alma8. The software libraries installed within these modules are very out of date and may not work correctly with the system upgrade.
  • System software version changes (table): Under Alma8, there are changes to some versions of popular system software packages (GCC Compiler, Python, etc) that are available without loading a module. Please see the linked table for more details.
  • Dropping support for the gnome desktop: This only affects users that run VNC on the login nodes. You can still VNC but you will get xfce4 desktop -- the same desktop environment used by the SCC OnDemand applications.
  • Dropping support for most 32-bit libraries: With Centos7 (and Centos6) we installed both 32-bit and 64-bit versions of all system libraries. We will no longer do this. Generally, only 64-bit libraries will be installed.

Alma8 Transition Timing Details

At 6:00 am on August 1, the login nodes scc1.bu.edu and scc4.bu.edu were upgraded to Alma8. At this point, all queues running CentOS 7 were disabled and then shortly after restarted running Alma8. On Wednesday, August 2 at 6:00 am, scc2.bu.edu and geo.bu.edu were upgraded. Jobs that ran before August 1 at 6:00 am ran under CentOS 7. Jobs that ran/will run after that run under Alma8. The SCC batch nodes were and are being upgraded on a rolling basis but these upgrades should largely be invisible to SCC users.

Alma8 FAQ

We have developed a Alma8 Frequently Asked Questions list that you may wish to consult if you run into any issues.