Getting Started

This web page provides an overview of the steps you need to take to make use of our systems. More in depth explanations are given on these topics on separate web pages that you can access through this menu option.

  1. The first step is to apply for an account. Do this under the APPLY menu. Once your account has been created you will receive an email to let you know you can start using our systems.
  2. To use a system you will have to connect to it. You can do this from any networked computer on campus (if you are off campus you will also need to use the university vpn (virtual private network)). When you connect to the system you will logon using your University user-name and password to start a session and you will logoff to end the session. The hostnames of our systems are the name of the system with the postfix ” ” so for example the hostname for ARC2 is .
    The Windows users and Linux users connect and logon to our systems using the same secure protocols (ssh) but with different software.
  3. Our systems use the Linux operating system. This has a text based user interface where the text is typed into a window called a shell. This way of working with your computer is called the command line interface. Your “view” of the system is called an environment and can be configured to best suit your needs.
  4. Your home area on the systems comes with relatively little disc space. We advise that you make use of the /nobackup area to store data and codes but be aware that as the name suggests data is not backuped and important data should be removed from the machine quickly.
  5. The software and applications that you wish to use on the systems are made available to you through modules .
  6. Executing your software and applications must be done through the batch queue system which is also known as the batch submission system or scheduler. Your jobs wait in a queue and run when the scheduler can allocate the correct resources. The scheduler runs on a “fair share policy” so that resources are prioritized for users and faculties that have relatively low usage at the time of submission.
  7. If you need to run a job so that you can interact with it through a GUI (graphical user interface) then you will need to request an interactive job through the scheduler.
  8. We request that all users acknowledge use of this service in any relevant publications so that the service continues to be funded at its current level.