Frequently Asked Questions¶
When to follow the course¶
When should I follow this course?¶
When you want to:
- connect to your favorite HPC cluster
- transfer files to/from your favorite HPC cluster
When should I consider to not follow this course?¶
These are the reasons to consider to not follow this course:
Reason 1: you want to learn advanced things¶
When you have done your first file transfers and expect to learn new and more advanced things.
In this case, the course will go too slow for you.
However, you will probably be put to work by the teachers to help out other learners. If you like to test your own knowledge by teaching others, you will likely thrive in the course.
Reason 2: you have social anxiety¶
When you have social anxiety.
In this case, the course will be too social for you.
However, in this course, it is perfectly OK to give a wrong answer or to say 'I do not know'. This is what a former learner had to say on this:
You are welcome to try and leave anytime you want. The course material is made for self-study too, with videos for all exercises. Do fill in the evaluation when you leave early :-)
How to cancel?¶
If you need to cancel, please unregister in the registration form or contact us. Thanks!
Prerequisites¶
Why are there so many prerequisites?¶
Because of constraints.
While planning the course, we started out with two hour to teach about login and filesystem navigation, and four hours to do actual fle transfer.
When the constraint was added that the
course must be maximally three hours,
it meant that we would teach what the course
is about in the minority of the time.
As teachers, we accepted this at first,
and would only teach FileZilla and rsync.
However, then another constraint was added: there should be more file transfer tools discussed. And later: also connecting to an HPC must be added.
Instead of lecturing (we should not [Hattie, 2023]),
we decided to add prerequisites instead
What are the prerequisites for following this course?¶
How can I check if I have registered?¶
You should have gotten a welcome email within a couple of days.
When it doubt, register again or contact us :-)
How to find the course's Zoom room?¶
The course's Zoom room will be emailed to you.
How can I check if I have a NAISS account?¶
When you can login at https://supr.naiss.se/.
How does that look like?
It should look similar to this:
How can I check if I have an active account at my favorite HPC cluster?¶
When you can see in https://supr.naiss.se/ that you have an active account.
Go to https://supr.naiss.se/ and click on 'Accounts'.
Where do I click?
At the left-most menu bar:
At your 'Accounts' page, you should find an account at your favorite HPC cluster that is active.
How does that look like?
It should look similar to this:
This user has multiple accounts, among others, to Arrhenius HPC.
How can I check if I can login to an HPC cluster using SSH?¶
By doing so :-)
The material to do so can be found at the session 'Login to a console environment'.
How can I login to an HPC cluster?¶
By doing so :-)
There are multiple ways to login to an HPC cluster. The material to help you choose can be found at the session 'Connect'.
Is it OK if I can login to an HPC cluster using other methods?¶
Probably: yes
- Using a web browser: yes
- Using a remote desktop client: yes
- Using a local ThinLinc client: yes
- Using Remmina: yes
- Using
krdp: yes
How to install MobaXterm?¶
This is for Windows users only.
Install MobaXterm from the MobaXterm website.
How to check that I've installed MobaXterm?¶
Run it. If it shows up, you've installed MobaXterm.
I cannot install MobaXterm on my Windows computer
- Use the Command prompt.
Use it by typing
cmdin the Windows Search window.
How to install FileZilla?¶
Under Ubuntu, you can can use the Ubuntu App Center.
How does the Ubuntu App Center look like?
Here:
For non-Ubuntu users, search the web, download and install.
Where can I find it?
The FileZilla website can be found at
https://filezilla-project.org/.
Clicking on 'Download FileZilla client' takes you to the FileZilla download page.
Download the file, maybe unzip it and run the installer
How to check that I've installed FileZilla?¶
Run it. If it shows up, you've installed FileZilla.
What if I cannot install FileZilla?¶
You will be practicing scp instead,
go the session about scp
Which HPC clusters have FileZilla installed?¶
Some HPC clusters have FileZilla installed. This is useful to transfer files to another HPC cluster. Even though this is not part of this course's goals, here is an overview:
| HPC Cluster | Has FileZilla installed? |
|---|---|
| Alvis | Yes |
| Arrhenius | Unknown |
| Berzelius | Unknown, as this is not a NAISS cluster |
| Bianca | No |
| COSMOS | No |
| Dardel | No |
| Kebnekaise | Unknown, as this is not a NAISS cluster |
| LUMI | No |
| Pelle | No |
| Tetralith | No |
| Vera | Unknown, as this is not a NAISS cluster |
How to install WinSCP?¶
- WinSCP is a secure file transfer tool that works under Windows.
How to check that I've installed WinSCP?¶
Run it. If it shows up, you've installed WinSCP.
Which HPC clusters have WinSCP installed?¶
None! All covered clusters are Linux machines!
How can I check if I have a good Zoom setup?¶
- You are in a room where you can talk
- You talk into a (standalone or headset) microphone
- Others can clearly hear you when you talk
- Others can see you
- You can hear others clearly when they talk
How can I get a good Zoom setup?¶
- Find/schedule/book a room where you can talk
- Buy a simple headset
What if I don't have a good Zoom setup? Is that OK?¶
No.
You will feel left out, as the course in highly interactive. It would be weird to the other learners.
What is meant by 'Minimal knowledge of Linux'?¶
You have minimal knowledge of Linux if you can use the commands
ls, cd, mv, cp, mkdir and are able to edit a file using a terminal
editor such as emacs/nano/vim.
One way to obtain this, is to follow the NAISS 'Command Line 101' course
Teaching¶
Why is the course learner-centered?¶
Because that is good teaching.
This course defines good teaching as 'evidence-based methods to let learners
acquire new skills and the monitoring of this acquisition'.
This means that it should be observed that learners need more/less to time
to practice and following the schedule based on that. Learner-centered teaching
has an effect size from 0.36 [Hattie ranking]
or 0.64/0.70 [Cornelius-White, 2007][Hattie, 2012].
References¶
[Cornelius-White, 2007]Cornelius-White, Jeffrey. "Learner-centered teacher-student relationships are effective: A meta-analysis." Review of educational research 77.1 (2007): 113-143.[Hattie, 2023]Hattie, John. Visible learning: The sequel: A synthesis of over 2,100 meta-analyses relating to achievement. Routledge, 2023. The effect size of lecturing can be found on page 363, which has an effect size of -0.26 with a robustness index of 4 out of 5 and is based on 3 meta analyses using 273 studies using 27,296 people, measuring for 614 effects with a standard error of 0.08. One example open access study is[Knight & Wood, 2005].[Hattie ranking]The Hattie Ranking[Knight & Wood, 2005]Knight, Jennifer K., and William B. Wood. "Teaching more by lecturing less." Cell biology education 4.4 (2005): 298-310.