Login to a console environment¶
Learning outcomes
- Practice using the documentation of your HPC centre
- Understand what a console environment is
- Understand what a terminal is
- Understand what a prompt is
- Understand that after login, one is on a login node
- If needed: has installed an SSH client
- Windows: MobaXTerm
- Can log in to the console environment using a terminal
For teachers
Teaching goals are:
- Learners have practiced using the documentation of their HPC cluster
- Learners understand what a console environment is
- Learners understand what a terminal is
- Learners understand what a prompt is
- Learners understand that after login, one is on a login node
- If needed, learners have installed an SSH client
- Windows: MobaXTerm
- Learners have logged in to the console environment using a terminal
Teaching non-goals are:
- Use X forwarding
Prior questions:
- What is a console environment?
- What is a terminal?
- What is a prompt?
- What is SSH?
- What is an SSH client?
- Do you know any SSH clients?
- What is a login node?
- How to behave on a login node?
Feedback questions:
- Q: What is a console environment?
- A: a text-only environment
- Q: What is a terminal?
- A: the text-only program to work with your computer
- Q: What is a prompt?
- A: the text before the place where you type
- Q: What is the purpose of a prompt?
- A: it shows, among others, which console you are in (bash/python/R) and in which folder you are
- Q: What is a login node?
- A: the first computer of your HPC cluster you arrive at
- Q: How to behave on a login node?
- A: only do file management and light calculations
What is a console environment?¶
A console environment, accessed via Ubuntu's Terminal
Why login via a terminal?¶
Using a terminal is powerful, where a remote desktop is clumsy. Copy-pasting text to a terminal on the remote desktop will quickly make you wonder if it cannot be done in a smarter way.
A terminal and SSH clients¶
A terminal is a text-only program that can do many things, for example, starting a program. An SSH client is a program that allows you to connect to another computer. Some SSH clients can run from a terminal or vice versa.
Exercises¶
Exercise 1: Have an overview of the documentation that the centres provide¶
Here, we log in to your HPC cluster's console environment via a terminal, starting from the documentation of your favorite HPC cluster.
Where is the documentation of my favorite HPC cluster?
| HPC Cluster | Documentation |
|---|---|
| Alvis | Documentation |
| Arrhenius | Documentation |
| Berzelius | Documentation |
| Bianca | Documentation |
| COSMOS | Documentation |
| Dardel | Documentation |
| Kebnekaise | Documentation |
| LUMI | Documentation |
| Pelle | Documentation |
| Tetralith | Documentation |
| Vera | Documentation |
(If needed) Exercise: install an SSH client if needed¶
Go to the documentation of your favorite HPC cluster, then answer the questions below.
- Find the page on SSH clients
- Try starting a terminal and type
sshand then enter. If you do not get an error message, you are lucky to have an SSH client installed!
How does it look like when ssh works?
Your output will look similar to this:
richel@richel-N141CU:~$ ssh
usage: ssh [-46AaCfGgKkMNnqsTtVvXxYy] [-B bind_interface] [-b bind_address]
[-c cipher_spec] [-D [bind_address:]port] [-E log_file]
[-e escape_char] [-F configfile] [-I pkcs11] [-i identity_file]
[-J destination] [-L address] [-l login_name] [-m mac_spec]
[-O ctl_cmd] [-o option] [-P tag] [-p port] [-R address]
[-S ctl_path] [-W host:port] [-w local_tun[:remote_tun]]
destination [command [argument ...]]
ssh [-Q query_option]
- If there is an error, install the recommended SSH client
Exercise 2: login via SSH¶
How difficult will this be?
This depends mostly your operating system and HPC cluster:
| Operating system | Difficulty | Reason |
|---|---|---|
| Linux | Easy | Pre-installed and working SSH agent |
| MacOS | Hard | Access rights clash with SSH agent |
| Windows | Medium | Need to install MobaXterm |
| HPC Cluster | Difficulty | Reason |
|---|---|---|
| Alvis | Hard | Uses SSH keys, must be in SUNET |
| Arrhenius | Easy | Uses password |
| Berzelius | Easy | Uses password |
| Bianca | Medium | Uses password, must be in SUNET |
| COSMOS | Easy | Uses password |
| Dardel | Medium | Uses SSH keys |
| Kebnekaise | Easy | Uses password |
| LUMI | Medium | Uses SSH keys |
| Pelle | Easy | Uses password |
| Tetralith | Easy | Uses password |
| Vera | Easy | Uses password |
Go to the documentation of your favorite HPC cluster. then answer these questions.
- Find the page about how to login to the console environment of your HPC cluster via SSH. Use a password when having the option to choose between using a password and using an SSH key
I cannot find it. Where is it?
| HPC cluster | Documentation |
|---|---|
| Alvis | Documentation |
| Arrhenius | Documentation |
| Berzelius | Documentation |
| Bianca | Documentation |
| COSMOS | Documentation |
| Dardel | Documentation |
| Kebnekaise | Documentation |
| LUMI | Documentation |
| Pelle | Documentation |
| Tetralith | Documentation |
- Log in to your HPC cluster
How does that look like?
For Arrhenius, your output will look similar to this:
richel@richel-latitude-7430:~$ ssh richel@arrhenius1.hpc.arrhenius.naiss.se
(richel@arrhenius1.hpc.arrhenius.naiss.se) Password:
(richel@arrhenius1.hpc.arrhenius.naiss.se) Verification code:
Last login: Mon Jun 1 07:43:29 2026 from 2001:9b1:dff:5300:10ac:fa07:cec:9f48
Welcome to Arrhenius!
**** Project storage directories available to you:
Project NAISS 2026/4-278, PI Richel Bilderbeek
/nobackup/proj/disk/intro_to_python
Project NAISS 2026/4-66, PI Birgitte Brydsö
/nobackup/proj/disk/spring-courses-naiss
Project NAISS 2025/22-395, PI Henric Zazzi
/nobackup/proj/disk/support_staff
*********
IMPORTANT
*********
The Arrhenius HPC system has two very different types of compute nodes:
* CPU nodes: AMD Turin x86-64 128-core CPUs.
* GPU nodes: 4 x NVIDIA GH200 with Arm Grace CPUs.
The `module avail` command shows modules for both types:
modules without a prefix are for CPU nodes, and `GPU/*` modules are for GPU nodes.
*********************************************************************
The login node is a CPU-type node. Hence, on the login node you can
only use `buildenv-*`, tools, and other software modules without the
`GPU/` prefix, and will only be able to build software for CPU nodes.
To build software for the GPU nodes, you first need to switch to a
GPU node, for example via the `interactive` command:
interactive -A <project number> --partition gpu --gpus 1
*********************************************************************
See the link below for more information and help.
**** Documentation and getting help:
https://hpc.pages.naiss.se/user-documentation/support-docs/arrhenius_hpc/basics/quickstart/
(Run "hpc-mute-login" to not show this information)
[richel@arrhenius1 ~]$
Welcome on a login node!
Need a video?
| HPC cluster | YouTube video |
|---|---|
| Alvis | YouTube video |
| Arrhenius | YouTube video |
| Bianca | YouTube video |
| COSMOS | YouTube video |
| Dardel | YouTube video |
| Kebnekaise | YouTube video |
| LUMI | YouTube video |
| Pelle | YouTube video |
| Tetralith | YouTube video |
Exercise 3: Find out where your project folder is¶
First try to find it in the documentation of your cluster.
Answer
| HPC cluster | Documentation |
|---|---|
| Alvis | Documentation |
| Arrhenius | Documentation |
| Berzelius | Documentation |
| Bianca | Documentation |
| COSMOS | Documentation |
| Dardel | Documentation |
| Kebnekaise | Documentation |
| LUMI | Documentation |
| Pelle | Documentation |
| Tetralith | Documentation |
(optional) Exercise 4: a terminal¶
Go to the documentation of your favorite HPC cluster, then answer the questions below.
- Find the page on terminals, if any
I cannot find it. Where is it?
-
If it is absent, use your favorite search engine instead.
-
What is a prompt?
Answer
The prompt is the text at the start of the line you can type on. It indicates that the terminal is waiting for user input.