Getting Started

After you have an access to Lab computing resource, you can start on using it for your scientific task. Here are some instructions that will help you to get started. More detailed information for experienced users can be found in Documentation

What are the hardware and software facilities available?

To learn about our systems, please see:

If you want to use software that is not available on PDS Lab cluster, you can submit the Software request form to request for installation of new software/libraries on Lab's cluster. Your request will be reviewed and the decision made is based upon the compatibility, suitability of the software on the cluster.

How do I access the hardware?

Once you have an account, you may logon to the PDS Lab system. The email sent when your account was created indicates your account information. Users are welcomed the lab room to work on the multi-core cluster machine or can also remotely connect it from your existing computer. Use the login host: hydra.ucdenver.pvt

  • To connect a workstation in Lab Room to PDS Lab cluster
    • Login to a workstation in Lab using student account (see instructions in PDS Lab Room).
    • Open Terminal from Linux menu
    • At the command line of terminal, type ssh username@hydra.ucdenver.pvt (replace "username" by the your username. For example, alex@hydra.ucdenver.pvt)
    • Enter your password and you can start your work here
  • To connect your existing computer to PDS Lab cluster,
    • Use VPN to connect Downtown Campus network
    • See below instructions for details on login to PDS Lab system.

How do I access the hardware from a Windows machine?

You would need SSH Secure Shell or PuTTY to connect to PDS Lab machine from your Windows machine. SSH Secure Shell or PuTTY provides a terminal window in which you can perform all your command.

How do I access the hardware from a Linux machine?

If you are using a Linux, we guess you already are a computer expert and know what to do. So use any terminal program and ssh with the following command: ssh username@hydra.ucdenver.pvt (replace username by the your username. For example, alex@hydra.ucdenver.pvt). 

How do I access the hardware from a Mac machine?

 If you are using a Mac, use OpenSSH terminal program and ssh with the following command ssh -Y username@hydra.ucdenver.pvt (replace username by the your username. For example, alex@hydra.ucdenver.pvt). OpenSSH is available on Mac OS so you don't need to install it. To copy files between hydra and your local machine, login the cluster and then use sftp command for file transferring.

How do I upload files from my Windows machine to cluster machine?

To upload files from your Windows machine to the home directory in the PDS Lab cluster machine, you can use WinSCP or SSH Secure Shell. See here for more details of using WinSCP. If you use SSH Secure Shell, select Window menu and then select New file Transfer.

How do I compile the programs?

PDS Lab cluster supports GNU compilers to compile your serial programs and parallel programs. See here for more details on compiling your program on cluster.

How do I run my programs?

Running a program on the cluster has a little difference from running a program on a PC. See here for more details on running your program on cluster.

How do I run graphical applications on cluster machine?

You can use Xming to run graphical applications on cluster machine such as gedit. Please see Xming for more details

Monitoring the cluster

During your working process, you may need to know how the cluster is working. There are two methods of monitoring cluster.

  • Monitoring cluster from PDS Lab website:
    This method give you a visual view with a lot of information of cluster status
    • Login to website with your account information
    • Choose Facilities menu and then click on Monitoring Cluster option

  • Monitoring cluster from command line of terminal program
    • Login to PDS Lab machine by one of above methods
    • At command line of terminal program, type beostatus -c  (For more option in monitoring cluster, see Documentation)

Information for users without Unix/Linux knowledge

The PDS lab cluster machine has CentOS operating system (a Linux distribution). You are required to have some basic knowledge on Unix/Linux to get started on using cluster. We currently do not offer any Unix/Linux tutorial. Documentation also may help. Please feel free contact us for any trouble that you have while working in Linux environment. Below are some useful links to get started with Unix/Linux.

http://www.unix-manuals.com
http://www.ee.surrey.ac.uk/Teaching/Unix
http://users.actcom.co.il/~choo/lupg/tutorials