Introduction to Remote Computing and HPC (Part 1 of 4) 2025-06-12

This 2-day (4-part) intensive workshop provides an introduction to accessing and computing on remote servers such as UC Davis’ HPC (high performance cluster) to elevate your research. 

The series covers everything you need to know to get started. We’ll provide an overview of HPC terminology, architecture, and general workflows, and guide learners through how to set up and use SSH to log in and transfer files, how to install software with miniconda, how to reserve computing time and run programs with SLURM, and execute shell commands that are especially useful for working with servers. As we learn we’ll practice accessing and computing on remote servers using the UC Davis HPC Core Facility’s new “Hive” cluster.

The material builds and thus learners must attend both days. Sessions run from 10 AM - 4 PM each day, with a break for lunch.

After this workshop series, learners should be able to:

• Use SSH to log in to a server;
• Transfer files to and from a server;
• Set up and use conda/mamba to install software on a server;
• Use SLURM to run interactive and non-interactive software on a server;
• Explain etiquette for using a server cluster such as Hive.

Prerequisites: Participants must have taken DataLab’s “Introduction to the Unix Command Line workshop, or have equivalent prior experience using command line. Participants must be comfortable with programming in a language such as R or Python, and with basic Linux shell syntax (i.e., able to navigate and create, modify and move files via command line).

Learners will register for a HPC account during the session. CAS authentication is required.