New HPC Training Sessions

Offered by LSA IT for the entire University community.

Here's an opportunity for Flux cluster users and potential users to learn about using the Flux computing cluster.  This will be a hands-on experience, in which you will log in to the cluster and work with jobs.

We're offering three courses this term, some with multiple sessions:

HPC 100:

This course will familiarize the student with the basics of accessing and interacting with high-performance computers using the GNU/Linux operating system's command line. Topics include: a brief overview of Linux, the command shell, navigating the file system, basic commands, shell redirection, permissions, processes, and the command environment. Through hands-on experience, students will become familiar with the Linux command-line interface to high-performance computer systems, or other Linux systems for manipulating and analyzing data.

HPC 101 (prerequisite is HPC 100 or equivalent):

This course will provide an overview of cluster computing in general and how to use the U-M Flux Cluster in particular. Topics to be covered include cluster computing concepts, common parallel programming models, introduction to the Flux Cluster; creating, submitting, observing, and analyzing cluster jobs; common pitfalls and how to avoid them; and some useful tools. We will issue you a temporary allocation to use for the course, or you can use your existing Flux allocations, if any. Short sample programs will be provided, or come to class with your own.

HPC 201 (prerequisite is HPC 101 or equivalent):

This course will cover some more advanced topics in cluster computing on the U-M Flux Cluster. Topics to be covered include a review of common parallel programming models and basic use of Flux; dependent and array scheduling; advanced troubleshooting and analysis using checkjob, qstat, and other tools; use of common scientific applications including Python, MATLAB, and R in parallel environments; parallel debugging and profiling of C and Fortran code, including logging, gdb (line-oriented debugging), ddt (GUI-based debugging) and map (GUI-based profiling) of MPI and OpenMP programs; and an introduction to using GPUs.

Please visit http://ttc.iss.lsa.umich.edu/ttc/sessions/tag/hpc/ to register for the session(s) of your choice.  Seating is limited, so please register early.  We plan on teaching this courses again next term, so folks can take them later if they can't make it this time.

Please forward this to your researchers who are using or contemplating using Flux for their research.  We think graduate students will want to attend, and faculty and admins are certainly welcome as well.