🚀 Getting Started with UTEP HPC

Welcome to the UTEP High Performance Computing (HPC) systems! This guide will help you set up your account, connect to the clusters, and start running jobs.

  1. Account Request

  2. Connecting to the Cluster

  3. Basic Command & Enviroment

  4. Storage and Quotas

1. Requesting an HPC Account

  1. Submit a request using the HPC Account Request Form: HPC Account Request
  2. You will receive an email with your username and a temporary password.

Tip

Optionally you can change your password after your first login by going here: RESET (The link only works when you are in UTEP network!)

2. Connecting to the HPC Login Nodes

The HPC login nodes can be accessed via **SSH**.
ssh <username>@<cluster>.utep.edu
  • Replace <cluster> witht the requested cluster (jakar, paro, and punakha).
  • Replace <username> with your HPC username.
  • For Windows, use MobaXterm, PuTTY or the built-in PowerShell SSH.
  • For macOS/Linux, use the terminal.
  • More information about ssh clients here Clients

Attention

🔑 If you are off-campus, you must first connect to the UTEP VPN.

Understanding the HPC Environment

When you log in, you are on a login node.

  • Do not run computationally heavy jobs here.
  • Use Slurm to submit jobs to the compute nodes.

Available Clusters

  • Jakar – General purpose cluster
  • Paro – Advanced research cluster (requires special approval)
  • Punakha – GPU-specialized cluster (requires detailed project justification)

3. Basic Commands and Enviroment

A quick reference for the most common commands on the UTEP HPC clusters.

📂 File & Storage

pwd               # show current directory
ls                # list files
cd /path/to/dir   # change directory
cp file1 file2    # copy files
mv file1 file2    # move/rename files
rm file1          # remove files
mkdir newdir      # create new directory

Check quotas

qta_h   # Home quota
qta_w   # Work quota

⚙️ Software Modules

module spider        # list all available software
module load <name>   # load a module
module list          # show loaded modules
module unload <name> # unload a module
module purge         # reset to a clean enviroment

Tip

If you need additional software, submit a request: HPC Software Request

📊 Job Management (Slurm)

sbatch job.slurm     # Submit a job
squeue -u <username> # Check your jobs
scancel <jobid>      # Cancel a job
sacct -j <jobid>     # Job info

🖥️ Monitoring Usage

top            # check running processes (on login node)
squeue         # view job queue
sacct          # job accounting info

4. Storage and Quotas

Continue with Storage and Quotas

Tip

Support & Help: * 📩 General Questions: HPC Support Request * 🔑 Accounts: HPC Account Request * 📦 Software: HPC Software Request