The VOLE-3D Cluster Is Being Retired

The VOLE-3D cluster is being retired over spring break, 2024. The cluster will be shut down on the week of March 4th. 

Users of the VOLE-3D cluster are encouraged to use the new VOLE-FX3 cluster. VOLE-FX3 offers significantly newer software experience and all applications from VOLE-3D are available on the newer cluster.

More Detailed FAQ

Why is VOLE-3D being retired head of VOLE-2D?

The hardware used for VOLE-3D is old and the warranty on it is about to expire. This leads to many support related issues, including software and security issues. 

Additionally, VOLE-3D was used by a very small number of users. At most, we have observed 20 concurrent users. Compare this to well over a hundred on both the old VOLE-2D and the new VOLE-FX3 clusters.

Why is there no 3D-accelerated cluster for VOLE-FX3?

We have tested many 3D applications, and found that VOLE-FX3 supports 3D applications as-is, and benchmarks have shown that it outperforms VOLE-3D by a significant margin. 

Are there software differences between VOLE-3D and VOLE-FX3?

VOLE-3D runs on Ubuntu 20.04, and cannot be upgraded. VOLE-FX3 runs on the current Ubuntu 22.04 and will be upgraded to the latest version when it is released. One piece of software missing from VOLE-FX3 is the virtualgl package, but testing has shown that it is not needed and in fact decreases performance.