Introduction to Boston University’s Shared Computing Cluster (SCC)

1. Introduction to Boston University’s Shared Computing Cluster (SCC) Aaron Fuegi IS&T Research Computing Services

2. Information Services & Technology Outline • What is the Shared Computing Cluster (SCC)? • Getting an Account on the SCC • Connecting to the SCC • Using the SCC (Hands-On) • Questions?

3. Information Services & Technology Motivations For Using The SCC • Researchers need to: • Collaborate with colleagues on shared data. • Run code that exceeds workstation capability (RAM, Network, Disk). • Run code that runs for long periods of time (hours, days, weeks) • Run code in highly parallelized formats (use 100 machines simultaneously). • Might want to do all of those things 1000 times. • Access specialized software packages.

4. Information Services & Technology What Is The SCC? • A Linux cluster with over 800 nodes, 18,000 processors, and 316 GPUs. Currently over 6.0 Petabytes of disk. • Located in Holyoke, MA at the Massachusetts Green High Performance Computing Center (MGHPCC), a collaboration between 5 major universities and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. • Went into production in June, 2013 for Research Computing. Continues to be updated/expanded. • http://www.bu.edu/tech/support/research/computing-resources/scc/

5. Information Services & Technology Why Holyoke? – MGHPCC Benefits • Green, environmentally friendly design. • Low cost, clean and renewable energy source. • Space on-site for building expansion (years 10-20). • Opportunities for shared facilities and services. • Opportunities for collaboration with other institutions. • BU “Far West” – Two 10Gigabit/second Ethernet connections from BU to the MGHPCC. • http://www.bu.edu/tech/support/research/rcs/mghpcc/

6. Information Services & Technology MGHPCC - Photo

7. Information Services & Technology Service Models – Shared and Buy-In • Many of the elements of the SCC are paid for by BU and university-wide grants and are free to the entire BU Research Computing community. • Other elements (around 60% of the processors) are purchased by individual faculty or research groups through the Buy-In program with priority access for the purchaser. • http://www.bu.edu/tech/support/research/computing-resources/service-models/

8. Information Services & Technology SCC Architecture Public Network Public Network VPN Only >6.0PB SCC1 SCC2 GEO SCC4 File Storage Login Nodes Private Network Private Network Compute Nodes More than 800 nodes with ~18,000 CPUs and 316 GPUs

9. Information Services & Technology Storage • Research projects are by default granted 50GB of backed-up spaced (/project/PROJNAME) and 50GB of not-backed-up space (/projectnb/PROJNAME). These numbers can be increased for free to 200GB/800GB. • Project groups can either purchase or “rent” additional storage. • All users have a Home Directory with a 10GB quota. • http://www.bu.edu/tech/support/research/computing-resources/file-storage/

10. Information Services & Technology Storage Space (in GBs)

11. Information Services & Technology Storage – What files should go where? • Home Directory – Personal files, custom scripts. • /project – Source code, files you can’t replace. • /projectnb – Output files, downloaded data sets. Large quantities of data that you could recreate in the incredibly unlikely event of a disastrous data loss. • /stash – Manual backup of vital /projectnb data. • http://www.bu.edu/tech/support/research/system-usage/using-scc/managing-files/

12. Information Services & Technology Storage - Restricted (dbGaP) Data • Some projects, mostly those on the BU Medical Campus, require dbGaP security measures: • /restricted/project/PROJNAME – backed up space for dbGaP data • /restricted/projectnb/PROJNAME – not backed up space for dbGaP data • Only accessible through scc4.bu.edu and compute nodes

13. Information Services & Technology Storage – Scratch Space • Each node (login or compute) has a directory called /scratch stored on a local hard drive. This can be used by batch jobs to quickly write temporary files. • If you wish to keep these files, you should copy them to your own space when the job completes. • Scratch files are kept for 30 days, with no guarantees. • http://www.bu.edu/tech/support/research/system-usage/running-jobs/resources-jobs/local_scratch/

14. Information Services & Technology Snapshots – Recovering lost files • Available for Home Directories, all Project Disk Space, and STASH. Backups made daily at Midnight. [adftest2@scc1 ~]$cd .snapshots [adftest2@scc1 ~]$ls 140613/ 140624/ [adftest2@scc1 ~]$cd 140613 [adftest2@scc1 ~]$ls –l -rw-r--r-- 1 adftest2 scv 71 May 29 19:41 myfile [adftest2@scc1 ~]$cp myfile ../../ http://www.bu.edu/tech/support/research/computing-resources/file-storage/#Snapshots

15. Information Services & Technology Accounting – CPU Hours/SUs • No monetary charges for CPU use on the SCC. • Usage is tracked in Service Units (SUs). If a project exceeds its allocation, the project leader (LPI) must submit a request for additional resources. Reports on usage are mailed out monthly to all users and project leaders. Large requests require approval by the Large Allocation Review Committee (LARC). • http://www.bu.edu/tech/support/research/account-management/manage-project/#SUS

16. Information Services & Technology Software (Tutorial this semester) • Programming Languages: C, C++, Python, CUDA, Perl • Math, Data Analysis, and Plotting: MATLAB, Mathematica, IDL, MAPLE • Statistics: R, Rstudio, SAS, Stata • Visualization: ImageJ, VTK, ParaView, VMD, Maya • Domain Specific Packages: Bioinformatics, Engineering, Geographic Information Systems (GIS) • Parallel: MPI, MATLAB PCT, OpenMP, OpenACC • http://rcs.bu.edu/software/

17. Information Services & Technology GPU Computing • Fast computation using GPUs (graphics processing units). 100x speedups possible for some codes. • 316 GPUs available. • Programming: C++ and FORTRAN - CUDA, OpenACC • Software Packages: MATLAB PCT, R • Machine Learning & Chemistry: Some applications in these areas can quite easily take advantage of GPUs. • If interested, take one or more of our GPU tutorials. • http://www.bu.edu/tech/support/research/software-and-programming/programming/multiprocessor/gpu-computing/

18. Information Services & Technology Getting an Account on the SCC • Using tutorial accounts today. These should not be used after today. • All users of the SCC must be on a Research Project headed up by a full-time BU Faculty member. • Exception: 3 month trial accounts for students/tutorial attendees. Email help@scc.bu.edu if interested. • http://www.bu.edu/tech/support/research/account-management/

19. Information Services & Technology Alternative: Linux Virtual Lab • Available to any BU community member that needs access to a Linux system. Send email to ithelp@bu.edu to get access. • Advantages: • Permanent account • Full access to SCC software via scc-lite.bu.edu • Disadvantages: • No batch system access • Limited disk space • http://www.bu.edu/tech/services/support/desktop/computer-labs/unix/

20. Information Services & Technology Connecting to the SCC • Windows - MobaXtermhttp://www.bu.edu/tech/support/research/system-usage/getting-started/connect-ssh/#windows • Macintosh – Built-in Terminal applicationhttp://www.bu.edu/tech/support/research/system-usage/getting-started/connect-ssh/#apple • Linux – Terminal applicationhttp://www.bu.edu/tech/support/research/system-usage/getting-started/connect-ssh/#linux

21. Information Services & Technology Connecting - Details • Software you need: • SSH Client – To log in to the SCC machines, such as scc1.bu.edu and then run commands • X Forwarding – Display graphics for those programs with a GUI interface (such as MATLAB) or that otherwise display images. • File Transfer – Transferring files between the SCC and your local machine using SFTP. • VNC – Advanced users only. Faster graphics:http://www.bu.edu/tech/support/research/system-usage/getting-started/remote-desktop-vnc/

22. Information Services & Technology Questions so Far • Questions on the Shared Computing Cluster so far? • Remainder of the tutorial will be hands-on getting a feel for using Linux and the SCC. • If you are already familiar with Linux, this section may be slow for you.

23. Information Services & Technology Using the SCC (Hands-On) • Linux “Command Line” Environment – No menus or graphics unless in specific software packages. • Login Nodes - Interactive use, code development.General: scc1.bu.edu, scc2.bu.eduEarth & Environment Dept. Users: geo.bu.eduBUMC and Restricted Data Users: scc4.bu.edu • Compute Nodes – Run “Batch Jobs” on, both single and multi-processor.Names like scc-bc5.bu.edu

24. Information Services & Technology Using the SCC - Basics • This tutorial is going to cover the very basics of Linux on the SCC. Please consider taking a fuller Linux tutorial from us or online if you end up using the SCC significantly. • We have on our web site some material for new users of Linux and the SCC at:http://www.bu.edu/tech/support/research/system-usage/getting-started/commands/

25. Information Services & Technology Using the SCC – ssh • From your ssh/terminal application on your tutorial workstation or your laptop or on a machine at home:ssh -l adftest2 scc1.bu.edu • “ssh” is the command you areissuing • “-l adftest2” is a “command line option” to specify your login name on the SCC • “scc1.bu.edu” is a “parameter” of the command • Make sure to hit the “Enter” key after every command

26. Information Services & Technology Using the SCC - Logging In Windows/MobaXterm local_prompt% ssh adftest2@scc1.bu.edu Mac local_prompt%ssh –Y adftest2@scc1.bu.edu Linux local_prompt%ssh –X adftest2@scc1.bu.edu

27. Information Services & Technology SFTP File Transfer to/from the SCC • Graphical Applications • Windows – MobaXterm (Free), WinSCP (Free) • Mac – FileZilla (Free), Fetch (BU site license) • Command Line Applications • rsync • scp • http://www.bu.edu/tech/support/research/system-usage/getting-started/get-started-file-transfer/

28. Information Services & Technology File Transfer Issues – dos2unix • Windows, Macs, and Linux in text files define “end of line” differently. To solve this issue, there is a utility called dos2unix. This is not an issue with binary files. • Transfer text file “example.txt” from Windows to Linux. Rewrite “example.txt” as a Linux style file.[adftest2@scc1 ~]$ dos2unix example.txt • https://www.computerhope.com/unix/dos2unix.htm

29. Information Services & Technology Using the SCC – the “prompt” • You should now see something like:[adftest2@scc1 ~]$ • This is what is called the “prompt” and indicates the system (the bash “shell” in particular) is ready to accept commands from you. “adftest2” is your login name. “scc1” is the machine you are on. “~” is the directory you are in – in Linux “~” is a shorthand for a person’s home directory.

30. Information Services & Technology Using the SCC - X-Forwarding (Graphics) • Run the command xclock to see if graphics are working for you. [adftest2@scc1 ~]$ xclock • A window similar to the image on the right should come up. • Click the X in the upper right to close this window. • http://www.bu.edu/tech/support/research/system-usage/getting-started/x-forwarding/

31. Information Services & Technology Using the SCC – pwd • Show the current “full path”, the directory you are in with its parent and all levels of grandparents up to the root directory (/). Items you type will be shown in bold:[adftest2@scc1 ~]$ pwd/usr2/collab/adftest2 • Here the command pwd “returns” (prints to your screen) the result “/usr2/collab/adftest2”

32. Information Services & Technology Using the SCC – man • The man (short for “manual”) command is used to look up information about a Linux command.[adftest2@scc1 ~]$ man pwd PWD(1) User Commands PWD(1) NAME pwd - print name of current/working…SYNOPSIS pwd [OPTION]... …

33. Information Services & Technology Using the SCC – man cont. • For some commands, such as if you run man cd, you will get a general manual page for the bash shell and not such a particular page as for pwd. • You can page through the manual page for a command a screenful at a time using the “spacebar”, a line at a time using the “Enter” key, and quit out of the page by typing q.

34. Information Services & Technology Using the SCC – mkdir • Create a new directory:[adftest2@scc1 ~]$mkdir newdir • Creates a new directory (folder) to store files in within your home directory.

35. Information Services & Technology Using the SCC – ls • List the contents of a directory:[adftest2@scc1 ~]$lsnewdir • Or with a command line option, asking for more details:[adftest2@scc1 ~]$ ls -l total 0 drwxr-xr-x 3 adftest2 adftest 512 Oct 28 16:03 newdir

36. Information Services & Technology Using the SCC – Users, Groups, and File Permissions • The SCC is a Multiple User System: • Many users. • Many groups/projects. • Users can belong to multiple groups. • Files Access Control: • Every file has an owner. • Every file belongs to a group. • Every file has “permissions” controlling access to it.

37. Information Services & Technology Using the SCC – File Permissions • From the previous slide:drwxr-xr-x 3 adftest2 adftest 512 Oct 28 16:03 newdir • “drwxr-xr-x” gives the “permissions” for this directory (or file). The “d” indicates this is a directory. There are then three sets of three characters for “user” (u), “group” (g), and “other” (o) access levels. “r” indicates a file/directory is readable, “w” writable, and “x” executable. A “-” indicates no such permission exists.

38. Information Services & Technology Using the SCC - chmod • Change the permissions on the directory “newdir” so that members of your group can write to it:[adftest2@scc1 ~]$ chmodg+wnewdir • and note the difference:[adftest2@scc1 ~]$ ls -l total 0 drwxrwxr-x 3 adftest2 adftest 512 Oct 28 16:03 newdir

39. Information Services & Technology Using the SCC – chmod cont. • The chmod command also works with the following mappings, readable=4, writable=2, executable=1, which are combined like so: [adftest2@scc1 ~]$ls –l newdir drwxrwxr-x 3 adftest2 adftest 512 Oct 28 16:03 newdir [adftest2@scc1 ~]$chmod750 newdir [adftest2@scc1 ~]$ls -l newdir drwxr-x--- 3 adftest2 adftest 512 … (0+0+0=0) (4+2+1=7) (4+0+1=5)

40. Information Services & Technology Using the SCC - cd • Change directory to “newdir”:[adftest2@scc1 ~]$ cd newdir • You can also move to other directories by giving a “full path” (a path starting with the / character) such as:[adftest2@scc1 newdir]$ cd /usr/local/bin/ • Type just cd anytime to go back to your home directory.

41. Information Services & Technology Using the SCC – cp (Start C Example) • We will now begin a sequence of commands to compile and run a very simple C code. We start by copying the code from our “examples” directory into the current directory, which can be abbreviated by the . (period) character:[adftest2@scc1 newdir]$ cp /project/scv/examples/c/examples/ex01-helloworld/helloWorld.c .

42. Information Services & Technology Using the SCC - more • Look at the contents of the C source code file we just copied using the more command:[adftest2@scc1 newdir]$ more helloWorld.c#include <stdio.h>intmain(intargc, char *argv[]) {/* print message */printf("Hello, World!\n");return (0);}

43. Information Services & Technology Using the SCC - gcc • Compile the source code file we just copied into the binary file hello using the Gnu C compiler gcc:[adftest2@scc1 newdir]$ gcc -o hello helloWorld.c • The “-o hello” option causes the output file to be named “hello”. Without this, it would be named “a.out” regardless of the name of your source code file.

44. Information Services & Technology Using the SCC – File Execution • Note that the compiled file is automatically made “executable”:[adftest2@scc1 newdir]$ ls -l hello-rwxr-xr-x 1 adftest2 adftest 6430 Oct 28 15:49 hello • Now we run the command from the current directory:[adftest2@scc1 newdir]$ helloHello, World!

45. Information Services & Technology Using the SCC – qsub and qstat • Use the Open Grid Scheduler (OGS) command qsub to submit our compiled program to the batch system:[adftest2@scc1 newdir]$ qsub -b y hello Your job 1041461 ("hello") has been submitted • If you are quick, you can monitor this job using qstat:[adftest2@scc1 newdir]$ qstat –u adftest2job-ID prior name user state submit/start at queue … ------------------------------------------------------------------------ …1041461 0.00000 hello adftest2 qw 09/02/2014 11:44:28 …

46. Information Services & Technology Using the SCC – qsub output • The job should run soon and produce an output file:[adftest2@scc1 newdir]$ cat hello.o1041461hello, world • There will also be an error file which should be empty:[adftest2@scc1 newdir]$ cat hello.e1041461

47. Information Services & Technology Using the SCC – qsub Details • Submit non-interactive batch jobs using qsubqsub[options] command [arguments] • Setting default qsuboptions using a .sge_request file:http://www.bu.edu/tech/support/research/system-usage/running-jobs/advanced-batch/#sge_request • http://www.bu.edu/tech/support/research/system-usage/running-jobs/submitting-jobs/

48. Information Services & Technology Using the SCC – qsub options

49. Information Services & Technology Using the SCC – qsub options cont.

50. Information Services & Technology Interactive Batch Jobs • Used for doing interactive work, such as in MATLAB, that takes more than 15 minutes of CPU time.[adftest2@scc1 newdir]$ qsh –l h_rt=24:00:00Your job 5274760 ("INTERACTIVE") has been submittedwaiting for interactive job to be scheduled .....Your interactive job 5274760 has been successfully scheduled. • New window comes up after a little while:[adftest2@scc-pi4 newdir]$ matlab-singleCompThread • http://www.bu.edu/tech/support/research/system-usage/running-jobs/interactive-jobs/