Run GC Classic on AWS EC2

GC Classic is an OpenMP application, meaning it runs on a single node. Therefore, you do not need a complex cluster scheduler (like AWS ParallelCluster). You can simply launch a single, powerful EC2 instance using our provided Amazon Machine Image (AMI).

Available AMIs:

AMI ID

Name

OS

architecture

ami-096e8e151989dbfc5

GCC-12.3-GEOSChem

alinux2023

x86_64

It contains a dedicated storage volume mounted at /data which contains the software environment for creating a GC Classic run directory and compiling the model.

1. Launch your EC2 Instance

  1. Log in to the AWS Console and navigate to EC2.

  2. Click Launch Instance.

  3. Name: Give your instance a name (e.g., “GCC14.7-Simulation”).

  4. Application and OS Images (AMI): Search the AMI ID in Community AMIs.

  5. Instance Type: Recommended: c5n.large (2 vCPUs, 5.3 GiB RAM)

  6. Key Pair: Select your SSH key pair. (Create a new .pem key pair if you don’t have one.)

  7. Configure Security Group: Ensure the security group allows SSH access (port 22) and any other required ports for your simulation (e.g., 80, 443).

  8. Configure storage:

    • You will see two volumes listed automatically (inherited from the AMI):

      1. Root volume (30 GB): The operating system. Do not save simulation data here.

      2. EBS volume (100 GB minimum): Mounted at /data. Use this directory for everything.

    • Tip: You should increase the size of the second volume (the /data volume) as you demand for your simulation.

  9. Launch the instance. You should see your instance in the EC2 console with a status of “running”.

2. Connect and Storage Setup

SSH into your instance:

$ ssh -i your-key.pem ec2-user@<instance-ip>

Verify the Environment. The spack environment named gc-env is configured to load automatically. You can verify the compiler is ready in the spack directory /data/spack/opt/spack:

$ which gfortran

3. Download Code and Data

Now you can download the GC Classic source code and data files to your instance’s /data directory. You can follow Quickstart Guide to run GCClassic.

Warning

Do not use your home directory (~) for simulations. The root disk is small (30 GB). Always work inside /data.