Access Cirrus
Information on how to get access to Cirrus. How you get access depends on if you are working in industry or academia and how much resource you require.
EPCC continues to run the current Cirrus service on the existing hardware in an unsupported, at-risk mode. Users can apply for access using the mechanisms below and we are pleased to announce that the new Cirrus hardware will be avaiable in the latest Access to HP Call. We plan on tranistioning to the new hardware in Q4 2025.
The latest hardware refresh of the Cirrus HPC service will provide new resources for CPU-based HPC use and increase the flexibility of the service. Cirrus continues to be one of the UKRI Tier-2 National HPC Services available to researchers across all research domains funded by UKRI.
The core of the updated Cirrus service will be provided by an HPE Cray EX4000 system with over seventy thousand CPU cores connected by the high-performance Slingshot 11 interconnect. Core compilers and computational libraries will be available through the HPE Cray Programming Environment with a range of research software installed on top of this by EPCC experts.
The new Cirrus hardware is expected to be available to researchers before the end of 2025.
Resource Units
Access to Cirrus is currently granted in units of:
- Core-h for compute allocations: 1 Cirrus Core-h is the equivalent of 1 physical core used for 1 hour;
- GPUh for GPU compute allocations: 1 Cirrus GPUh is the equivalent of 1 physical GPU core used for 1 hour;
- GiB for disk allocations: 1 GiB is 1048576 kB.
Industry Access
Cirrus has been designed to support a wide range of industry applications and EPCC can provide both access to HPC resources and also consultancy to effectively exploit HPC resources.
For access to Cirrus and EPCC expertise please contact our Commercial Manager, Julien Sindt (j.sindt@epcc.ed.ac.uk, +44 (0) 131 651 3461).
Academic Access
Cirrus is one of the EPSRC Tier-2 National HPC facilities and so the access method for academic researchers is different depending on if your research falls within EPSRC remit or not.
Current Open Calls
| Call (link) | Closing Date | TA Receipt Deadline | Notes | TA Form Link |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Instant Access | Open | Open | Instant Access TA Form (Word) | |
| Director Time | Open | Open | University of Edinburgh researchers, Any Remit | Director’s Time TA form |
| Scottish Academic Access | Open | Open | Scottish Institution Only, Any Remit | Scottish Academic Access TA Form (Word) |
| Grant Access | Closed | Closed | Grant Access TA Form (Word) | |
| Access to HPC | 6 November 2025 4:00pm UK time | No TA form required at application stage | UKRI, Any Remit Full details on UKRI site |
|
| Cirrus Driving Test | Always Open | Details |
EPSRC Access
If your research falls under the EPSRC remit then you can use a number of different access routes (please follow the links for further information):
- Instant Access: small amounts of time and storage space to explore use of Cirrus for your research
- Grant Access: Larger amounts of time and storage for lifetime of research grant
In both cases, you should complete a Cirrus Technical Assessment form that includes a costing for the value of using the facility or resource, to include in your application. This short form allows our technical experts to ensure that your project will get the most out of access to Cirrus and will help us to make sure that Cirrus can support the research you wish to undertake.
UKRI Access
Access to HPC calls enable access to computational resource only for research from any UKRI remit.
- Access to HPC: Provides an open and relatively flexible route to computational support.
Access for University of Edinburgh Reseachers
If you are a researcher at the University of Edinburgh you can get access to Cirrus for your research - either on a trial basis to test the service for your research or on a larger scale for the use of Cirrus in a research programme. There is no restriction on research area remit. For both trial and larger access, applicants should use the the Director Time assessment form. For more information see the Director Time page.
Access for academics at Scottish institutions
If you are working at a Scottish institution you can get access to Cirrus for your research - either on a trial basis to test the service for your research or on a larger scale for the use of Cirrus in a research programme. There is no restriction on research area remit for Scottish academic access. For both trial and larger access, applicants should use the the same Scottish technical assessment form. For more information see the Scottish Academic Access page.
Note: If you working at a Scottish institution and wish to include Cirrus access on a Grant proposal, you should use the Grant Access process rather than the Scottish Academic Access route.
Other grant awarding bodies and researchers outside the UK
- Instant Access: small amounts of time and storage space to explore use of Cirrus for your research
- Grant Access: Larger amounts of time and storage for lifetime of research grant
Please contact the Cirrus Helpdesk in the first instance to discuss access to Cirrus.