UPDATES on SP5 and SP6

[Riccardo]

Dear all,

        an update about the status of /scratch on SP5 and one about
the opening schedule for the new SP6 machine.

1 - SP5 is to be considered definitively out of service:
    after deep investigations by IBM engineers the gpfs software
    problem that occurred on /scratch on SP5 seems to have
    generated loss of file system integrity beyond any recovery.
    We are very sorry for the inconvenience this might have
    created.
    Unfortunately /scratch is an high performance disk area
    but it is NOT backed-up (see our HPC-guide for details).

2 - SP6 should be available to users within the next week.
    A further notice will be sent with the exact timings.

... and finally a GOOD news:

    BCX is currently up and running!  :-)

Riccardo Brunino
HPC group
Cineca