Getting Started with High Performance Computing
The Illinois Campus Cluster Program (ICCP), a high performance compute (HPC) cluster available to investors at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, now offers a free, all-online training where users learn how to get started with HPC.
This tutorial introduces how to use the ICCP to run scientific application code. You will learn:
- Fundamental concepts of scientific computing on a high-performance computing (HPC) cluster
- How to access the Illinois Campus Cluster
- Manage, edit, and transfer files
- How to setup your software environment
If you have an ICCP account, you will also complete a hands-on exercise where you will run an example application. If you do not have an ICCP account, descriptions are provided so you can still follow along with the hands-on segment. Even if you are not a Campus Cluster user, you can still learn a lot from this tutorial about using an HPC cluster for scientific computing.
Check out the ICCP investors to see if you already have access through your campus unit.
How to access the training
The HPC moodle training site is provided free for the benefit of the scientific research computing community. Some of the courses on the site allow guest access, but you must log in and enroll in a course for full access. If you are affiliated with the University of Illinois, click on the globus login button, select your institution from the dropdown menu, and enter your university NetID and password. There is also an option to login with your XSEDE credentials if you already have an XSEDE account.
Once you are logged in, you can explore the different learning opportunties available. You can take courses to earn a badge recognizing your new skills and professional development. There are self-paced tutorials on high-end computing topics, like parallel computing and multi-core performance, as well as options like “Developing Webinar Training” that teach how to create your own training modules. Live workshops are included in the offerings and users are welcome to register, attend, and access archival materials even if they missed an event.
More about the Illinois Campus Cluster Program
The Illinois Campus Cluster provides access to computing and data storage resources and frees you from the hassle of administering your own compute cluster. Any individual, research team, or campus unit can invest in compute nodes or storage disks or pay a fee for on-demand use of compute cycles or storage space. Staffing and shared infrastructure fees are partially subsidized by campus to help keep your costs as low as possible!
To learn more, check out our video featuring Illinois researchers using the Campus Cluster.
The project is a collaboration with the National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA) at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and supported by the National Science Foundation's Office of Cyberinfrastructure through the Extreme Science and Engineering Discovery Environment (XSEDE) project.