New Users

Welcome to MCSR! We understand that using supercomputers in a UNIX environment for the first time can be a little intimidating. Hopefully the links below will give you all the information you need to get started.

1. We have a fairly strict password policy. Getting familiar with it will cause you less frustration in the future.
2. Take a quick look at our very short list of rules.
3. Now you’re ready to download an SSH client and get connected to the supercomputers.
4. Look at a brief description of our supercomputers and decide which one is best suited to your job. Maple is best for most purposes.
5. Now, login to your chosen supercomputer and run an example job. This will introduce you to some basic UNIX and PBS mechanics. PBS is the system we use to allocate and share resources on the supercomputers.
6. Before you start running jobs of your own it’s a good idea to get familiar with basic UNIX commands.
7. Have a look at how our software is organized. Then check our Documentation page and see if the software you want to use is listed. If you find that we do not have your software installed, you can install it yourself in your home directory, or contact us to have it installed.
8. We have example jobs for most of our installed software. Find the example job for the software you want to use, copy to your home directory, modify it to fit your purposes, and run it. Look back at the Running an example job page if you need a refresher on how to do that.
9. PBS has a lot of helpful options. Take a moment to look at our Running jobs page for more information on PBS.

If you still have questions, please feel free to contact the MCSR staff for assistance.