Skip to content

From Zero to HiPerGator

Read this document if your you are new to UFIT Research Computing, but would like to use the HiPerGator supercomputer for research or teaching classes.

Initial Consult (optional)

Optional step

If you are not sure whether HiPerGator will meet your needs, what resources you will need or just prefer a personal conversation to reading documentation you are welcome to schedule a discussion with us before you take any other steps.

Whether you prefer Zoom or a face-to-face conversation go to Remote Support page and use the Bookings system to set up a meeting with one of our support staff members.

HiPerGator Group Sponsor

Since every HiPerGator group must have a sponsor the first step for any new group is to get the Group's PI/Leader/Sponsor's account and a group established on HiPerGator. The sponsor has to be the first person to request a HiPerGator account indicating that they are a new sponsor. In the process, we will create their primary sponsored group.

Resource Allocations

Warning

HiPerGator resource allocations (computational and storage) are required to perform work on HPG

A HiPerGator group must have at least the minimal computational and storage allocations on HiPerGator to perform any meaningful work or to add new users to the group.

  • WARNING: no work besides short (<= 10 min) tests can be run on login nodes at the risk of account suspension. See the Development and Testing for details.
  • Add new users to the group. See the Groups and Allocations policy for details.

Trial Allocation (optional)

Optional step

Unless you have previous supercomputing experience and/or know exactly what resources you will need for your work we recommend that the group's sponsor request a free trial allocation for storage and computational resources to get the group started on HiPerGator. Group members can then use HiPerGator for the 3-month duration of the trial allocation to determine what resources and applications they really need.

Purchasing Resources

At the end of a trial allocation, the group's sponsor must submit an investment request for HiPerGator resources if the group would like to continue using the cluster. There are two types of purchases that differ in how the use of the research funding is accounted for and in the duration of the investment

Some groups may have access to shared departmental allocations. In this case, instead of purchasing resources, group members can submit a request to be added to a departmental group to gain access to the shared resources.

Some examples of departments with shared allocations include

HiPerGator User Accounts

Once the sponsor has a HPG account, a sponsor record, and a HPG group with a resource allocation of at least 1 NCU and 1 BlSU research group members will be able to submit HiPerGator account requests under that sponsor. Once the requests are approved by the sponsor, their HiPerGator Linux accounts will be created.

Go Gators!

At this point a research group is established on HiPerGator and can proceed with their computational work.