Introduction to Supercomputing at HLRS

The course is aimed at beginners. No prior knowledge of Linux, programming, or HPC is required.
A working HLRS account is required for the hands-on sessions. Before attending, make sure the following steps are complete:

1. Your project supervisor has set up an account for you
2. You have submitted your completed user form to accounting-info(at)hlrs.de (and sent the original per post)
3. You have set up two-factor authentication
4. Your IP address is registered at HLRS, or you have VPN access set up

If your account is not yet active, follow the step-by-step activation guide before the course starts.

• Beginners: 10.5 hours
  
  Learn more about course curricula and content levels.

This course is intended for users of the HLRS systems, in particular:

• those new to working on our clusters
• those experienced with other HPC systems who are new to Hunter

After completing this course, participants will be able to work productively on the HPC systems at HLRS. Specifically, they will know how to:

• know how to access the HLRS systems via SSH
• know how to work on the Linux command line
• know how to transfer data and manage storage and workspaces
• know how to set up software environments with modules and Python
• know how to submit and monitor jobs with the PBS batch system

Lucas Jordan (HLRS)

Day 1 suits those new to Linux; Day 3 and parts of day 2 (systems, workspaces, pitfalls) are relevant to all new users.

You can find all course material on the course website.

Day 1: Getting Started with Linux · 09:00–13:00

• 09:00 Welcome & Course Overview

• 09:15 SSH & Bash Basics

• 10:20 Break

• 10:50 Hands-on: SSH & Unix Shell Basics

• 13:00 End

Day 2: Cluster Orientation & Practical Skills · 09:00–13:00

• 09:00 Quiz: Day 1

• 09:10 Security Essentials

• 09:30 HLRS Systems Overview

• 09:50 Practical Pitfalls

• 10:10 SSH Tunneling & Git behind the Firewall

• 10:25 Software Environments & Containers

• 10:40 Buffer / Q&A

• 11:00 Break

• 11:30 Hands-on: File Transfer & Filesystem

• 13:00 End

Day 3: Working on the Cluster · 09:00–13:00

• 09:00 Quiz: Day 2

• 09:15 Module & Programming Environment

• 09:30 Batch System / PBS — Overview

• 09:50 Energy & Cost Awareness

• 09:55 Software Available on Hunter

• 10:10 Profiling (overview)

• 10:20 Example: OpenFOAM® & ParaView

• 10:40 Break

• 11:10 Hands-on: Modules & Job Submission

Please be aware that the talks will be recorded. You declare that you are aware of and consent to the recording by registering.

• Students without master’s degree or equivalent at a German university: 0 Euro
• PhD students or employees at a German university or public research institute: 0 Euro

Further fee categories can be found in the registration page.

Lucas Jordan phone 0711 685 87206, training(at)hlrs.de

We thank the Jülich Supercomputing Centre for their support in planning this course, in particular Ilya Zhukov and Jolanta Zjupa (JSC) for sharing advice and course materials.

I. Zhukov and J. Zjupa, “Tutorials on High Performance Computing With Python: Reflections on a Decade of Teaching by the German HPC Community,” in Practice and Experience in Advanced Research Computing 2025 (PEARC '25), Columbus, OH, USA, 2025. DOI: 10.1145/3708035.3736077