Nimbus cloud supercomputer

Optimal compute and data storage solutions for your evolving research needs, including AI and machine learning capabilities.

Achieve your research goals

Nimbus can tackle the most challenging research questions in a fraction of the time usually required.

Bath's high performance computing environments are available to all academic staff and doctoral students.

Nimbus is scalable to meet both the smallest and largest computational needs
Choose from a large diversity of processors optimised to meet specific research needs
Tiered and cost effective storage solutions for short or long term data storage
Choose a guaranteed Pay-As-You-Go compute service or a significantly cheaper Spot services which carries the risk of being terminated.
Hosted in the Microsoft Azure cloud, Nimbus runs on regularly updated cutting-edge hardware.

Think big. Be bold.

Nimbus has critical AI capabilities, near-limitless compute power and flexible storage options.

Our new cloud supercomputer promises to accelerate our scientific discovery process exponentially and allows us to engage globally in computationally intensive research.

Technical specifications

Compute, networking, software and storage options.

User-friendly tools for easy access:

Bespoke Research Computing Account Management Portal (requires a University VPN connection)
Environment Modules for managing software and applications
Slurm workload manager for easy job scheduling
Azure CycleCloud for automated workload configuration and management
Compute from anywhere with Open OnDemand (HTTPS). Create, save, submit, and monitor your jobs and to access graphical applications on compute nodes.

Training material

Get started using Bath's High Performance Computing environments

Access our online training material covering the Unix Shell, the Account Management Portal and Intro to HPC, the Nimbus cloud supercomputer and the Anatra HTC cluster.

Book your place on our next Intro to cloud HPC for new users training course.

Costs and funding

Calculate your compute costs and receive the funding you need.

There is a cost associated with using the Nimbus, so you will need funding to cover your computational costs.

Calculate your costs

Use the Research Computing Cost Estimator tool to calculate your compute costs. Simply launch the tool, then select the compute instances you require and specify how many node hours you need.

Receive the funding you need

You can receive high performance computing (HPC) funding from your department's Research Computing Champion, or a research project PI may grant you access to use their HPC budget.

Alternatively, you can apply for a University Research Computing Accelerator Award or external grant funding. Find out more.

Manage your HPC funds

Use the University's Research Computing Account Management Portal to administer your HPC budget, adjust budget allocations and monitor your spending. You need a (University VPN connection) to access the portal.

Top up your HPC budget
Research grant holders and owners of Business World (Agresso) cost codes can request to have additional funds transferred into their 'HPC budget' category.

Bath's supercomputing environments

Nimbus is the largest of Bath's research computing environments

The University's portfolio of research computing environments includes:

The Anatra HTC cluster which is earmarked for software applications that can't run in the cloud, such as Gaussian and GaussView
The GW4’s regional Isambard HPC service
Bespoke cloud HPC teaching clusters

Acknowledge Research Computing

Citing us helps secure continued funding for our services.

Find out how to acknowledge Research Computing in your publications and when presenting results.

Read our simple 3 step guide

Training course: Cloud HPC for new users

Book your place

Help, Support and Suggestions

Get in touch, we’re here to help you.