Getting Started
Welcome to UF Research Computing! This page is intended to help new and uninitiated users understand and use UFRC resources. Be sure to check out our training schedule if you'd like help getting started in person!
Account creation
To create an account with UF Research Computing, you need to read UFRC Account Policy. After you have reviewed the policy, 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
The simplest method for file transfer is through the use of graphical file transfer client. UFRC recommends:
After you have chosen and downloaded a client, configure the client to connect to sftp.rc.ufl.edu, using your username and password to log in.
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.
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 file editor on your local machine, and then transfer the files to the cluster afterwards. A 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
UFRC uses 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.
Scheduling jobs using SLURM
UFRC uses the Simple Linux Utility for Resource Management, or SLURM, to allocate resources and schedule jobs. Users can create SLURM job scripts to submit jobs to the system. These scripts can, and should, be modified in order to control several aspects of the job, like resource allocation, email notifications, or output destination:
- See the Annotated SLURM Script for a walk-through of the basic components of a SLURM job script
- See the Sample SLURM Scripts for several SLURM job script examples
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 submitted 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 our staff know by submitting a support request.