Getting Started
Welcome to UF Research Computing! This page is intended to help new or uninitiated users understand and user HiPerGator. Be sure to check out our training schedule if you'd like help getting started in person!
Account creation
To get an account at the UF Research Computing, you need to read UFRC Account Policy and then submit an account request.
Logging in
Note that for any given command, <your_username> should be replaced with your GatorLink username.
For example, if your are referencing the command ssh <your_username>@hpg2.rc.ufl.edu and your Gatorlink username is smith, you would use the command:
ssh smith@hpg2.rc.ufl.edu
Windows
Expand this section to view instructions for logging in with Windows.
Since Microsoft Windows does not come with a built-in SSH client, you must download a client from the web.
UFRC recommends using PuTTY or MobaXterm.
PuTTY
- Download PuTTY to your local machine and start the program
- Configure PuTTY using the configuration instructions for UFRC .
- Select the connection you created in the previous step and click "Open"
- At the login prompt, enter your username (this should be the same as your GatorLink username)
- Enter your password when prompted. You are now connected and ready to work!
MobaXterm
- Download MobaXterm to your local machine and start the program.
- Click "Start local terminal"
- Open a terminal and run
ssh <your_username>@hpg2.rc.ufl.edu - Enter your password when prompted. You are now connected and ready to work!
Linux / Unix
Expand this section to view instructions for logging in with Linux/Unix.
Open a terminal and run
ssh <your_username>@hpg2.rc.ufl.edu
Enter your password when the prompt appears. You are now connected and ready to work!
OS X
Expand this section to view instructions for logging in with OS X.
For OS X users, connection instructions are very similar to those for Linux users.
Terminal, the terminal emulation application for OS X, is located in the folder Applications/Utilities.
Start the Terminal application and run
ssh <your_username>@hpg2.rc.ufl.edu
Enter your password when the prompt appears. You are now connected and ready to work!
Transferring your files
SFTP and Rsync file transfers should use the servers dedicated to these transfer types, which are sftp.rc.ufl.edu and rsync.rc.ufl.edu respectively.
If the above methods seem unfamiliar or intimidating, you probably want to use a graphical file transfer client. UF Research Computing recommends:
After downloading, configure the client to connect to sftp.rc.ufl.edu, using your username and password to log in.
Globus is another mechanism for transferring data to and from HiPerGator. See the Globus page for setup and configuration information.
Editing your files
Several methods exist for editing your files on the cluster.
Native Editors
- vi - The visual editor (vi) is the traditonal Unix editor; however, it is not necessarily the most intuitive editor. View a tutorial for using vi
- emacs - Emacs is a much heavier duty editor, but again has the problem of having commands that are non-intuitive. View a tutorial for using emacs
- pico - While pico is not installed on the system, nano is installed, and is a pico work-a-like.
- nano - Nano has a good bit of on-screen help to make it easier to use.
External Editors
You can also use your favorite editor on your local machine, and then transfer the files to the cluster afterwards. One caveat to this is that files created on Windows machines usually contain unprintable characters, which may be misinterpreted by Linux command interpreters (shells). If this happens, there is a utility called dos2unix that you can use to convert the text file from DOS/Windows formatting to Linux formatting.
Using installed software
We use Environment Modules to provide access to the installed software. Read about the basic usage of environment modules for information on loading software.
Running graphical programs
Please see the Gui Programs page for information on running graphical user interface applications at UFRC.
Running jobs using SLURM
See Sample_SLURM_Scripts for a simple SLURM job script example.
To submit a job script from one of login nodes via hpg2.rc.ufl.edu, you would use the following command:
$ sbatch <your_job_script>
To check the status of running jobs, you would use the following command:
$ squeue [-u <your_username>]
View SLURM_Commands for more useful SLURM commands.
Getting help
If you are having problems using the UFRC system, please let the UFRC Staff know by submitting a support request.