Introduction to High-Performance Computing

This workshop is an introduction to using high-performance computing systems effectively. We obviously can’t cover every case or give an exhaustive course on parallel programming in just two days of teaching time. Instead, this workshop is intended to give students a good introduction and overview of the tools available and how to use them effectively.

By the end of this workshop, students will know how to:

This lesson is part of a 2-day ARCHER2 course, you can find the material for day 1 at Introduction to the UNIX shell for High Performance Computing.

General Information

Where: This course will be taught online via Blackboard Collaborate. All attendees will be sent the joining link prior to the event.

When: 3 June 2021. Add to your Google Calendar.

Requirements: Participants must bring a laptop with a Mac, Linux, or Windows operating system (not a tablet, Chromebook, etc.) that they have administrative privileges on. They should have a few specific software packages installed (listed on the setup page). They are also required to abide by the ARCHER2 Training Code of Conduct.

Accessibility: We are committed to making this workshop accessible to everybody.

Materials will be provided in advance of the workshop. If we can help making learning easier for you please get in touch (using contact details below) and we will attempt to provide them.

Contact: Please email support@archer2.ac.uk for more information.

Collaborative Document

During the course, we will make use of a collaborative document known as an Etherpad. You can find the document at:


Prerequisites

Command line experience is necessary for this, second day of the workshop. If you did not already have this experience, you should have gained it from the first day of the workshop.

Requirements

Participants must bring a laptop with a Mac, Linux, or Windows operating system (not a tablet, Chromebook, etc.) that they have administrative privileges on. They should have a few specific software packages installed (listed in the Setup section below). They are also required to abide by the ARCHER2 Training Code of Conduct.

Schedule

Setup Download files required for the lesson
09:30 1. Why use an HPC System? Why would I be interested in High Performance Computing (HPC)?
What can I expect to learn from this course?
09:50 2. Working on a remote HPC system What is an HPC system?
How does an HPC system work?
How do I log on to a remote HPC system?
10:25 3. Break Break
10:40 4. Working with the scheduler What is a scheduler and why are they used?
How do I launch a program to run on any one node in the cluster?
How do I capture the output of a program that is run on a node in the cluster?
12:00 5. Lunch Break
13:30 6. Accessing software via Modules How do we load and unload software packages?
14:15 7. Transferring files with remote computers How do I transfer files to (and from) the cluster?
14:45 8. Break Break
15:00 9. Using resources effectively How do we monitor our jobs?
How can I get my jobs scheduled more easily?
15:40 10. Using shared resources responsibly How can I be a responsible user?
How can I protect my data?
How can I best get large amounts of data off an HPC system?
16:00 Finish

The actual schedule may vary slightly depending on the topics and exercises chosen by the instructor.