This topic describes the features of Super Computing Cluster (SCC) instance families of Elastic Compute Service (ECS) and lists the instance types of each instance family.
Background information
Before you read further in this topic, you must be familiar with the following information:
Classification and naming of instance types. Familiarize yourself with the instance family categories, naming conventions of instance types, and differences between instance families. For more information, see Classification and naming of instance types.
Instance type metrics. For information about the metrics of instance types, see Instance type metrics. You can also call the DescribeInstanceTypeFamilies and DescribeInstanceTypes operations to query the instance families and the details of all instance types provided by ECS.
Instructions for selecting instance types based on your business scenarios. For more information, see Instance type selection.
After you determine an instance type for your use case, you may need to learn about the following information:
Regions in which the instance type is available for purchase. Instance types that are available for purchase vary based on the region. You can go to the Instance Types Available for Each Region page to view the instance types available for purchase in each region. Alternatively, you can call the DescribeRegions and DescribeZones operations to query the available regions and the zones in a specific region.
Estimated instance costs. You can calculate the price of instances that uses different billing methods in the Price Calculator. You can also call the DescribePrice operation to query information about the most recent prices of ECS resources.
Instructions for purchasing an instance. You can go to the ECS instance buy page to place a purchase order for instances.
You may be concerned about the following information:
Retired instance families. If you cannot find an instance type in this topic, the instance type may be in a retired instance family. For information about retired instance families, see Retired instance families.
Supported instance type changes. Before you change the instance type of an instance, check whether the instance type can be changed and identify compatible instance types. For more information, see Instance types and families that support instance type changes.
Introduction
SCC is based on ECS Bare Metal Instance and uses high-speed Remote Direct Memory Access (RDMA) based interconnections to significantly improve the network performance and acceleration ratio of large-scale clusters. SCC has all the benefits of ECS Bare Metal Instance and provides high-bandwidth, low-latency networks.
SCC is used in scenarios such as high-performance computing (HPC), AI, machine learning, scientific and engineering computing, data analytics, and audio and video processing. In a cluster, nodes are connected through high-throughput, low-latency RDMA networks to serve high-concurrency workloads of applications, such as HPC and AI applications. RDMA over Converged Ethernet (RoCE) networks rival InfiniBand networks in terms of connection speed and can support more Ethernet-based applications.
SCC can work with other Alibaba Cloud computing services, such as ECS and Elastic GPU Service, to provide ultra-high-performance parallel computing resources for Elastic High Performance Computing (E-HPC), making cloud-based super computing possible.
HPC optimized instance families contain the following:
Comparison of SCCs, physical machines, and virtual machines
The following table compares the features of SCCs, physical machines, and virtual machines. In the table, Y indicates that the feature is supported, N indicates that the feature is not supported, and N/A indicates that the feature is not applicable.
Feature type | Feature | SCC | Physical machine | Virtual machine |
Automated O&M | Minute-level delivery | Y | N | Y |
Compute | Zero performance loss | Y | Y | N |
Zero feature loss | Y | Y | N | |
Zero resource contention | Y | Y | N | |
Storage | Compatibility with ECS disks | Y | N | Y |
Boot from system disks | Y | N | Y | |
Quick reset of system disks | Y | N | Y | |
Use of ECS images | Y | N | Y | |
Cold migration between physical and virtual machines | Y | N | Y | |
No need to install operating systems | Y | N | Y | |
No need for local RAIDs and better data protection for disks | Y | N | Y | |
Network | Compatibility with virtual private clouds (VPCs) | Y | N | Y |
Compatibility with the classic network | Y | N | Y | |
No communication bottlenecks between physical and virtual machine clusters in VPCs | Y | N | Y | |
Management | Compatibility with existing ECS management systems | Y | N | Y |
Consistent user experience on features such as Virtual Network Computing (VNC) with that on virtual machines | Y | N | Y | |
Out-of-band (OOB) network security | Y | N | N/A |
scchfc6, compute-optimized SCC instance family with high clock speeds
To use it, submit a ticket.
Introduction: This instance family provides all features of ECS Bare Metal Instance. For more information, see Overview of ECS Bare Metal Instance families.
Supported scenarios:
Large-scale machine learning training
Large-scale high-performance scientific computing and simulations
Large-scale data analytics, batch processing, and video encoding
Compute:
Offers a CPU-to-memory ratio of 1:2.4.
Uses 3.1 GHz Intel® Xeon® Platinum 8269 (Cascade Lake) processors that deliver an all-core turbo frequency of 3.5 GHz.
Storage:
Is an instance family in which all instances are I/O optimized.
Supports enhanced SSDs (ESSDs), ESSD AutoPL disks, standard SSDs, and ultra disks.
Network:
Supports IPv4 and IPv6. For information about IPv6 communication, see IPv6 communication.
Supports both RoCE networks and VPCs. RoCE networks are dedicated to RDMA communication.
Instance types
Instance type | vCPU | Physical cores | Memory (GiB) | Network baseline bandwidth (Gbit/s) | Packet forwarding rate (pps) | RoCE network bandwidth (Gbit/s) | ENIs |
ecs.scchfc6.20xlarge | 80 | 40 | 192.0 | 30 | 6,000,000 | 50 | 32 |
ecs.scchfc6.20xlarge provides 80 logical processors on 40 physical cores.
scchfg6, general-purpose SCC instance family with high clock speeds
To use it, submit a ticket.
Introduction: This instance family provides all features of ECS Bare Metal Instance. For more information, see Overview of ECS Bare Metal Instance families.
Supported scenarios:
Large-scale machine learning training
Large-scale high-performance scientific computing and simulations
Large-scale data analytics, batch processing, and video encoding
Compute:
Offers a CPU-to-memory ratio of 1:4.8.
Uses 3.1 GHz Intel® Xeon® Platinum 8269 (Cascade Lake) processors that deliver an all-core turbo frequency of 3.5 GHz.
Storage:
Is an instance family in which all instances are I/O optimized.
Supports ESSDs, ESSD AutoPL disks, standard SSDs, and ultra disks.
Network:
Supports IPv4 and IPv6. For information about IPv6 communication, see IPv6 communication.
Supports both RoCE networks and VPCs. RoCE networks are dedicated to RDMA communication.
Instance types
Instance type | vCPU | Physical cores | Memory (GiB) | Network baseline bandwidth (Gbit/s) | Packet forwarding rate (pps) | RoCE network bandwidth (Gbit/s) | ENIs |
ecs.scchfg6.20xlarge | 80 | 40 | 384.0 | 30 | 6,000,000 | 50 | 32 |
ecs.scchfg6.20xlarge provides 80 logical processors on 40 physical cores.
scchfr6, memory-optimized SCC instance family with high clock speeds
To use it, submit a ticket.
Introduction: This instance family provides all features of ECS Bare Metal Instance. For more information, see Overview of ECS Bare Metal Instance families.
Supported scenarios:
Large-scale machine learning training
Large-scale high-performance scientific computing and simulations
Large-scale data analytics, batch processing, and video encoding
Compute:
Offers a CPU-to-memory ratio of 1:9.6.
Uses 3.1 GHz Intel® Xeon® Platinum 8269 (Cascade Lake) processors that deliver an all-core turbo frequency of 3.5 GHz.
Storage:
Is an instance family in which all instances are I/O optimized.
Supports ESSDs, ESSD AutoPL disks, standard SSDs, and ultra disks.
Network:
Supports IPv4 and IPv6. For information about IPv6 communication, see IPv6 communication.
Supports both RoCE networks and VPCs. RoCE networks are dedicated to RDMA communication.
Instance types
Instance type | vCPU | Physical cores | Memory (GiB) | Network baseline bandwidth (Gbit/s) | Packet forwarding rate (pps) | RoCE network bandwidth (Gbit/s) | ENIs |
ecs.scchfr6.20xlarge | 80 | 40 | 768.0 | 30 | 6,000,000 | 50 | 32 |
ecs.scchfr6.20xlarge provides 80 logical processors on 40 physical cores.
scch5, SCC instance family with high clock speeds
Introduction: This instance family provides all features of ECS Bare Metal Instance. For more information, see Overview of ECS Bare Metal Instance families.
Supported scenarios:
Large-scale machine learning training
Large-scale high-performance scientific computing and simulations
Large-scale data analytics, batch processing, and video encoding
Compute:
Offers a CPU-to-memory ratio of 1:3.
Uses 3.1 GHz Intel® Xeon® Gold 6149 (Skylake) processors.
Storage:
Is an instance family in which all instances are I/O optimized.
Supports only standard SSDs and ultra disks.
Network:
Supports only IPv4.
Supports both RoCE networks and VPCs. RoCE networks are dedicated to RDMA communication.
Instance types
Instance type | vCPU | Physical cores | Memory (GiB) | Network baseline bandwidth (Gbit/s) | Packet forwarding rate (pps) | RoCE network bandwidth (Gbit/s) | ENIs |
ecs.scch5.16xlarge | 64 | 32 | 192.0 | 10 | 4,500,000 | 50 | 32 |
ecs.scch5.16xlarge provides 64 logical processors on 32 physical cores.
Billing methods
SCCs support the pay-as-you-go and subscription billing methods. For more information, see Overview of billing methods.