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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.

If you are a new user under the sponsorship of an existing group, please see the new user training.

Initial Consult (optional)

Optional initial consult

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.

For the initial interview we recommend prospective users to be ready to answer questions such as:

  • Does the data fall under FERPA, HIPAA, or another restricted classification?
  • Explain in simple words what your research is about.
  • What file types will be processed initially?
  • Input files, average size of individual files, total amount of data in Gb/Tb, etc.
  • What software or pipeline is needed to process the files?
  • What is the expected output?
  • Expected results, output file types and individual file size, amount of data produced after processing in Gb/Tb.
  • Do you have any estimations on compute needs?
  • Are you or will you be working with external collaborators?

HiPerGator Accounts

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.

Next, request the accounts for the rest of the group (https://www.rc.ufl.edu/access/account-request/). Group members should select their sponsor from the list of sponsors.

Once the sponsor, or an assigned manager, replies to the request with approval, the user will be added to the group. Accounts can only be added to groups with active resource allocations (see below for details).

Add a user with an existing HiPerGator account to a group (secondary group)

Every user has a primary group, typically they group of the sponsor they selected when they filled out the account request form. Users may also be added to one or more additional groups, called secondary groups. To add a user to with an existing HiPerGator account to another group (or move them from one group to a new group) open a support request (https://support.rc.ufl.edu/). In your request, include the following:

  • Include the following in the Summary line: "Add [username] to [groupname] group".
  • Include the reason in the request's description.
  • If possible, add your sponsor's email to the ticket's CC list (available after clicking the Show Advanced Options link).

Resource Allocations

Warning

HiPerGator resource allocations (computational and storage) are required to submit jobs. User accounts will not be created for groups without access to resources.

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 trial allocation

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:

Investments in HiPerGator resource provide priority access to the resources. Groups do not own particular servers or hardware and do not have exclusive access to any servers. When jobs are submitted to the Slurm scheduler, if resources are available in the group's investment, jobs should typically start within a few minutes. For large jobs or jobs requesting resources in high demand, the delay may be longer.

Shared Departmental Allocations

Some research 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

In addition, several research groups working on collaborative projects have shared allocations accessible to members of those projects.

Recap

Once the sponsor has a HiPerGator account, a sponsor record, and a HiPerGator group with a resource allocation 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. Account creation typically takes 2-3 business days, but does not start until the sponsor approves the request.

Go Gators!

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