Apply for HPC access
Access the BluePebble HPC environment
Before you start using BluePebble, please ensure you read:
HPC for your research
University staff can either join another PI's existing HPC project or can apply to create a new HPC project of their own.
IMPORTANT: Your new HPC account will be opened approximately 1 week after we receive your application.
Apply for a new HPC project
- Please make sure that the HPC Project(s) you are using align closely with the work you are doing.
- A PI can check their existing HPC project codes by logging in to their HPC projects area.
- If you want to join an existing HPC project please ask the project holder for the code and include the HPC project code when you apply to join the HPC project.
Apply for a new HPC project or join an existing project
Postgraduate researchers
Postgraduate researchers can use BluePebble. Your supervisor will need to apply for a HPC project for your research if they don't already have a suitable HPC project you can use. Once your supervisor has supplied you with a HPC project code, please include this in the application form when you apply to join the HPC project.
Academic Collaborators and Visiting staff
Collaborators who are working with University of Bristol academics on collaborative research can be given access to BluePebble, but they will need to have honorary associate status, a new simplified process for honorary status is available on the University sharepoint, academic collaborators will need to confirm they will abide by University IT service and ACRC usage policies.
HPC for your teaching and student project
Using the University's HPC clusters for teaching and student projects is by prior arrangement only.
With the future transition from BlueCrystal 4 to BlueCrystal 5, teaching and student projects will run on BluePebble in Teaching Block 1, 2025.
Applying for the resources you need is straightforward, but please apply 6 weeks in advance due to high demand.
Request HPC resources for teaching or student projects
Training courses
Command Line Interface (CLI) and Linux
You will need to understand how to use a Command Line Interface (CLI) to work on BluePebble and BlueCrystal 4.
If you are new to Linux we recommend this short online Linux tutorial and the Introduction to Linux courses.