Glossary

Key Points

Why should I use a HPC cluster?	High Performance Computing (HPC) involves connecting to large computing systems elsewhere in the world HPCs typically have thousands to hundreds of thousands of cores HPCs have the ability to perform calculations and run simulations that would be impossible on normal machines
Connecting and moving around	SSH keys are used to establish secure shell connections to remote computers. Most HPCs worldwide require them to gain access. To log into a HPC, use `ssh YourUsername@remote.computer.address`
Moving and editing	You will have 2 main directories associated with your account. Your `work` directory will have much more space than `home` Absolute path is the location in a file system relative to the root `/` directory Relative path is the location in a file system relative to the directory you are currently in `vim` is one of the most popular and flexible text editors
Understanding Modules and Environments	Modules are the way to make software, compilers and libraries available within the login session To load a module, use `module load my_module` An environment typically refers to a directory that contains a specific collection of installed packages The `base` conda environment will have a selection of python packages
Bash Scripting	A shell script is a list of bash commands in a `.sh` text file Bash scripting is an essential element in HPC
Submitting Jobs	The scheduler handles how compute resources are shared between users A job is a shell script with specific instructions for the scheduler Ideally, every shell script should be run through an interpreter You should allocate more resources than you need, otherwise your job will be ‘killed’

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Introduction to High Performance Computing: Glossary

Key Points

Glossary