BwUniCluster 2.0 User Access

Navigation: bwHPC BPR / bwUniCluster

Important note: bwUniCluster is not in production mode yet.

bwUniCluster is Baden-Württemberg's general purpose tier 3 high performance computing (HPC) cluster co-financed by Baden-Württemberg's ministry of science, research and arts and the shareholders:

• Albert Ludwig University of Freiburg
• Eberhard Karls University, Tübingen
• Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT)
• Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg
• Ulm University
• University of Hohenheim
• University of Konstanz
• University of Mannheim
• University of Stuttgart

To log on bwUniCluster an user account is required. All members of the shareholder universities can apply for an account.

1 Registration

Granting access and issuing user accounts for bwUniCluster requires to fill in the bwUniCluster application form and to sign the terms of usage (step A). Once approved please register for an user account (step B).

1.1 Step A: Application Form / Terms of Usage

Please fill in and sign the application form or read instructions provided by your university:

• Application form for members of the Albert Ludwig University of Freiburg
• Application form for members of the Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen
• Application form for members of KIT
• Application form for members of the Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg
• Instructions for members of the Ulm University
• Application form for members of the University of Hohenheim
• Instructions for members of the University of Konstanz
• Application form for members of the University of Mannheim
• Application form for members of the University of Stuttgart

1.2 Step B: Web Registration

After step A and its approval please visit:

• https://bwidm.scc.kit.edu
  1. Select your home organization from the list and click Proceed
  2. You will be directed to the Identity Provider of your home organisation
  3. Enter your home-organisational user id / username and your home-organisational password and click Login button
  4. You will be redirected back to the registration website https://bwidm.scc.kit.edu/
  5. Select bwUniCluster Service Description (on the left hand side)
  6. Click Register
  7. Finally
     • for all non-KIT members mandatorily set a service password for authentication on bwUniCluster
     • for KIT members optionally set a service password for authentication on bwUniCluster

2 Login

After finishing the web registration bwUniCluster is ready for your SSH based login. bwUniCluster has two dedicated login nodes. The selection of the login node is done automatically and is based on a round-robin scheduling. Logging in another time the session might run on the other login node.

Only the secure shell SSH is allowed to login. Other protocols like telnet or rlogin are not allowed for security reasons.

A connection to bwUniCluster can be established by the command:

$ ssh <UserID>@bwunicluster.scc.kit.edu

If you are using OpenSSH (usually installed on Linux based systems) and you want to use a GUI-based application on bwUniCluster you should use the ssh command with the option -X

$ ssh -X <UserID>@bwunicluster.scc.kit.edu

2.1 About UserID / Username

<UserID> of the ssh command is a placeholder for your username at your home organization together with a prefix as followed:

• Freiburg: <UserID> = fr_username
• Heidelberg: <UserID> = hd_username
• Hohenheim: <UserID> = ho_username
• KIT: <UserID> = username (without any prefix)
• Konstanz: <UserID> = kn_username
• Mannheim: <UserID> = ma_username
• Stuttgart: <UserID> = st_username
• Tübingen: <UserID> = tu_username
• Ulm: <UserID> = ul_username

2.2 About Password

By default, for KIT members your bwUniCluster password to log on matches that one of your KIT account, while for all non-KIT members your bwUniCluster password is that one you saved during the web registration (compare step 7 of chapter 1.2). At any time, you can set a new bwUniCluster password via the registration website https://bwidm.scc.kit.edu by doing the following steps:

1. visit https://bwidm.scc.kit.edu and select your home organization
2. authenticate yourself via your home-organizational user id / username and your home-organizational password
3. find on the left side bwUniCluster and select Dienstpasswort setzen
4. set new service, i.e. bwUniCluster, password, repeat it and click Save button.

2.3 Allowed activities on login nodes

The login nodes of bwUniCluster are the access point to the compute system and to your bwUniCluster $HOME directory. The login nodes are shared with all the users of bwUniCluster. Therefore, your activities on the login nodes are limited to primarily set up your batch jobs. Your activities may also be:

• short compilation of your program code and
• short pre- and postprocessing of your batch jobs.

To guarantee usability for all the users of bwUniCluster you must not run your compute jobs on the login nodes. Compute jobs must be executed to the queueing system. Any compute job running on the login nodes will be terminated without any notice. Any long-running compilation or any long-running pre- or postprocessing of batch jobs must also be executed to the queueing system.

3 First steps on bwUniCluster

For setting up your environment to use compilers and installed software please visit:

• bwUniCluster user environment

For guides on how to submit jobs on bwUniCluster please visit:

• bwUniCluster batch jobs

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