Introduction 'Connect'¶

Goal¶

The goal of these login sessions is that you are able to login to your HPC cluster in at least 1 way.

The multiple ways to connect to your HPC cluster¶

You have an account at an HPC cluster (a prerequisite for this course) and you want to connect to your HPC cluster.

There are multiple ways to do so!

Here is an overview of the ways to login in this course:

Feature	Desktop environment using a web browser	Console environment	Desktop environment using a remote desktop client
Example screenshot
Environment	Desktop environment	Console environment	Desktop environment
Summary	Familiar to most	Less familiar to most	Familiar to most
Type of user interface	Graphical	Terminal	Graphical
Installation needed?	Unlikely	Likely	Most likely
Program used	A web browser	An SSH agent	A remote desktop client
Example programs	Firefox, Chromium, Chrome, Edge, Safari	Terminal, MobaXterm	ThinLinc, Remmina, krdp
Works on which clusters?	All except Arrhenius HPC, Dardel and Tetralith	All	All, except Bianca
Course session	Session	Session	Session

Demo¶

The teachers will show how it looks like to login to an HPC cluster's remote desktop environment, with the goal to show you how this looks like. You will do so yourself in the exercises

Exercise 1: be assigned a Zoom room¶

We will use breakout rooms, as this is best for interaction and learning. However, some prefer to work alone. In this course, we allow for both.

For a quick process, we follow the following procedure:

flowchart TD

  prefer_work_together(Prefer to work together?)
  say_yes[Say yes]
  say_no[Say no]

  prefer_work_together --> |Yes| say_yes
  prefer_work_together --> |No| say_no

Want to work together?	Where to click in Zoom
Yes
No

A teacher will redirect you to a room.

In your breakout rooms, start with the next exercise.

Good luck and enjoy!

Exercise 2: find your first way to login¶

Not all HPC clusters can do all ways to login.

Below an overview of the sessions and their relations.

flowchart TD

  use_cluster_without_webbrowser_login(Use Arrhenius HPC, Dardel or Tetralith?)
  use_bianca(Use Bianca?)
  account[Account for HPC cluster]
  login_desktop_website_no[Login to desktop environment from a website]
  login_console_no[Login to console environment]
  login_desktop_tool_no[Optional: login to desktop environment using a remote desktop client]

  login_console_yes[Login to console environment] --> done
  login_desktop_tool_yes[Login to desktop environment using remote desktop client]


  account --> use_cluster_without_webbrowser_login
  use_cluster_without_webbrowser_login--> |No| login_desktop_website_no
  login_desktop_website_no --> login_console_no
  login_console_no --> use_bianca
  use_bianca --> |No| login_desktop_tool_no --> done
  use_bianca --> |Yes| done

  use_cluster_without_webbrowser_login--> |Yes| login_desktop_tool_yes
  login_desktop_tool_yes --> login_console_yes

  done[Done all login options!]

Decision tree to find out which sessions to follow in which order. The same information is shown in the table below.

Done?

Then it is time to start your first file transfer :-) !