Logging in

The exact login procedure for HPC systems varies between institutions; check the documentation from your local Research Computing group for details. Two-factor authentication is widely used for HPC systems, so keep your phone on hand.

What happens once you’re in?

When you log into an HPC cluster, there’s often some kind of policy reminder (so you can’t claim you didn’t see it), and maybe a set of relevant documentation links.

Then there’s usually some kind of system status message: is the system working? How busy is it? How many jobs do you currently have running?

Don’t worry too much about the job wait time you might see: in reality, your wait time will depend on lots of different factors, including how many resources you’re requesting.

Login node

HPC systems aren’t set up like big cloud servers where you can just log in and start your computational analysis: when you log in, you’re accessing a special server called a login node, which isn’t designed for computation. It’s more like a train station: it won’t take you anywhere, but it’s a space where you can double-check you have everything in your luggage (your files), generally get ready (install software), then catch a train to where you want to go (submit a job).

Don’t try to run computational jobs on the login node. You’ll probably either get an error message or an email from the sysadmin.

🌲 Logging into Sherlock

If a faculty member has already requested an account for you on Sherlock (see Getting access), you can connect to it by opening a command line (on a Mac, go to Applications > Utilities > Terminal; on Windows, search for Command Prompt) and typing ssh your-sunet-id@sherlock.stanford.edu (replacing your-sunet-id with your actual SUNet ID). Some text will pop up asking how you want to do two-factor authentication; choose an option and once you successfully authenticate, you’ll be logged into the login node on Sherlock.

🌲 Logging into Farmshare

If you don’t have access to Sherlock, you can log into Farmshare by opening a command line (on a Mac, go to Applications > Utilities > Terminal; on Windows, search for Command Prompt) and typing ssh your-sunet-id@rice.stanford.edu (replacing your-sunet-id with your actual SUNet ID).