The SLAC theory group currently has 3 computing nodes that can be used by any member of the theory group.
The nodes are maintained by the SLAC IT and provide a linux infrastructure.
Access
First, make sure that a SLAC UNIX user account has been created for you. This is done by SLAC IT. Please note that the UNIX accounts are different from the SLAC Windows (or Exchange) accounts that you use to read SLAC email, etc.
In order to gain access to the machines your SLAC UNIX user account must be added to the netgroup "u-theory". To be able to the user group access the Theory Group disk space, you will need to be added to the ypgroup "theorygrp".
If you cannot log in yet and you are not part of this group, The easiest way is to ask Alex to do both of these steps for you. These changes may take ~24-72 hours to become effective. Alternatively, you may send a ticket to SLAC IT and request to be added to the group both groups in order to access the machines.
Currently, also Alex holds administrative rights on the machines.
Address
epp-theory01.slac.stanford.eduepp-theory02.slac.stanford.eduepp-theory02theory03.slac.stanford.edu
Login
Access via ssh is possible from within the SLAC network. To connect from outside, use a VPN (details here).
To connect from a terminal use, for example,
ssh -Y username@epp-theory01.slac.stanford.edu
Use the -Y option if you'd like to enable X11 forwarding – this will allow you to open remote windows. Make sure you have an X11 client installed on your local system. For example, on a Mac, this would be XQuartz.
Alternatively, ssh into one of the SLAC gateway machines. These are accessible without VPN. For example,
...
More details are available here.
Storage Space
| Anchor | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
In addition to your AFS home directory, we have local drives in our theory machines.
This local drives are mounted on the machines at
/nfs/farm/g/theory/u1/nfs/farm/g/theory/u2/nfs/farm/g/theory/u3
and provide 22TB, 14TB and 27TB of disk space respectively.
Make sure that enough space is available for your files when writing to these drives, for example by using
...
When you log out of the computing nodes, your writing privileges on AFS will be revoked but you will still be able to write onto these disks.
Software
The machines already have a lot of handy software installed. This includes many software packages available via the SLAC AFS system, /afs/slac.stanford.edu/. See here for details.
For example, the Intel compilers are found in /afs/slac.stanford.edu/package/intel_tools/.
Likewise, Maple releases live in /afs/slac.stanford.edu/package/maple/. Maple 2018 binaries are linked to /usr/local/bin, so typing "maple" or "xmaple" should bring them up, provided you have /usr/local/bin in your PATH.
Mathematica for LINUX is also installed, version 12.3.1 as of this writing. So long as you have /usr/local/bin/ in your PATH, both “mathematica” and “math” (invoking the kernel through the command line) should work.
Special software can be installed globally on our machines - contact SLAC IT.Many standard tools are already available via the SLAC system - see here.
Usage
The machines are used in a shared fashion - please respect the computing needs of others that might be using them at the same time.
Check how much memory and CPU capacity is available for example by using the command
...
To run programs for extended periods of time or when disconnected from the computing nodes use programs like screen.
Likewise, be mindful of the shared disk space on u1, u2, and u3. To be flexible, we do not impose per-user quotas, but please make sure your output doesn't fill the disks, which will make it impossible for anyone in the group to use them.