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Connection Methods

[POWER USERS]

The Shell

[RECOMMENDED]

The Web Portal: https://ood.asre.rc.asu.edu/

What is this?
•Command-line interface

•Traditional supercomputing interface

What is this?
•Familiar browser interface

•Well defined options for file system and job management

•Full documentation browser tab away

•Simplified access to modern interfaces like Jupyter/Rstudio/MATLAB/etc

Benefits:
•Extremely powerful

•Provides superior file system and job submission, editing, processing, monitoring tools

Benefits:
Easy to access

Disadvantages:
•Very steep learning curve

•Requires knowledge of available commands and some level of nuance

Disadvantages:
•One size fits all

Quick Start

For users who have never used any HPC environment before, we would recommend reading through the detailed start.

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  1. Choose a connection method (ssh / Webportal)

  2. Connect to the ASU VPN

  3. Transfer files as needed

  4. Login Log in with your WINEDS username & password

  5. Run an interactive session or create an SBATCH script

Important Terms

  • Login Node: A node intended as a launching point to compute nodes. Login nodes have minimal resources and should not be used for any application that consumes a lot of CPU or memory. Also known as a head node.

  • Compute Node: Nodes intended for heavy compute. This is where all heavy processing should be done

  • HPC: Short for “High Performance Computing” it refers to a group (cluster) of computers designed for parallelism across many computers at once. Publicly these are often called “supercomputers”

  • Cluster: A group of interconnected computers that can work cooperatively or independently.

  • Job: Work assigned to be done on a compute node. Any time a compute node is assigned a job is created.

  • Scheduler: The application on our end that assigns compute resources for jobs.

  • Slurm: The brand name of our scheduler like which manages and allocates resources.

Detailed Start

Choosing a connection method

There are a few methods for connecting to the supercomputer; each has their advantages and disadvantages.

Connecting to the Supercomputer with SSH is the most versatile method, though it tends to be slower with interactive graphical applications. If you intend to use applications that rely on a point-and-click interface, we recommend the web portal “Aloe Desktop” for these cases.

Our webportal has become the standard for new users, as it provides a file system viewer and editor, a job submission tool, the ability to view the job queue, and a zoo of interactive applications including a virtual desktop, Jupyter Lab, and RStudio. In the file manager, uploading files is as easy as dragging-and-dropping through the interface!