The LinuX Cluster

This document is part of the Local Guide for the LinuX based computer LAN of the Theoretical Physics Department at the University of Innsbruck.

User Guidelines

Ganglia Cluster Report  (ITP only)

Contents

• System Features
• Operating System (OS)
• Software Equipment
• User Accounts
  • Back Up of Home Directories
  • User Quota
• Contact

System Features

Basic hardware and OS related information about the machines currently available on the LinuX cluster.

Name IP-Address Processor Cache RAM Comment

Operating System (OS)

The operating system (OS) of the LinuX cluster computers is CentOS LinuX versions 4.9, 5.11, 6.10 and 7.9. For details about the operating system, see the online documentation at the RedHat and CentOS Web sites.

Software Equipment

This is a listing of software you might need for your work. For a list of further accessible software on the LinuX Cluster, visit Software at the UNIX Cluster.

Matlab & Mathematica: In order to use Matlab and Mathematica (with all fonts displayed properly) do the following:

1. Add /net/apps64/bin to your PATH environment variable in one of the files .bashrc, .profile, .bash_profile etc. (depending on your shell).
2. Source the respective file on the commandline by: ". 'filename'"
   or use the module environment, e.g. for mathematica 10.4.1

   $ module load mathematica/10.4.1

3. Simply use the commands matlab or mathematica to invoke the program.

Older versions: Matlab 9.8 (R2020a) & 9.7 (R2019b) & 9.6 (R2019a) & Matlab 9.3 (R2017b) & Matlab 8.6 (R2015b)  are running via the commands  matlab98 or matlab97 or matlab96 or matlab93 or matlab86 at CentOS 6 LinuX computers only! Matlab 6.5 (R13) is available at all CentOS LinuX computers via the command matlab6. Matlab 7.10 (R2010a) is available at all CentOS LinuX computers via the command matlab710.

In order to use Matlab 6, Matlab 7, Matlab 8 or Matlab 9 use the command:

$ matlab6 -nojvm
or
$ matlab[7,8,9] -nodesktop

The option -nojvm is used to start matlab without Java Virtual Machine which may not work bugfree or slows computing, the option -nodesktop is used to start matlab without Java desktop (see Changes to -nojvm Startup Option).

Maple: In order to use Maple 18 use the following command on x64_86 computers:

$ maple -x

The command

$ maple -cw

is working on x86 computers only. The -cw (Classic Worksheet interface) option causes Maple to run with an X Window Classic Worksheet interface. The Classic Worksheet interface is an alternative to the Standard Worksheet interface. Classic Worksheet Maple is designed for machines with limited memory. This interface provides a basic worksheet environment with access to the complete mathematical engine.

Older versions: Maple 11 & 9 are still available at x86 CentOS LinuX computers via the commands maple11 or maple9.

User accounts

The user accounts on the cluster are managed via the Network Information Service (NIS). Ordinary users can run the command yppasswd to change their NIS password. It will prompt them for their old NIS password and then ask them for their new password twice, to ensure that the new password was typed correctly.

$ yppasswd
Changing NIS account information for "user ID" on mungo.uibk.ac.at.
Please enter old password: <type old value here>
Changing NIS password for "user ID" on mungo.uibk.ac.at.
Please enter new password: <type new value>
Please retype new password: <re-type new value>

Changing NIS password has been changed on mungo.uibk.ac.at.

If the old value does not match the current value stored for that user, or the two new values do not match each other, the password will not be changed.

All the LinuX home directories are mounted via the automount program, so that any user on the LinuX cluster can reach his/her home directory from any LinuX station within the cluster.

If you need more disk space to store some big files for a few days, you can do it on one of our automounted scratch directories:

 

Note: Data on scratch directories have no back up service!

Back Up of Home Directories

The files in the "home" directories of the LinuX stations mungo and jerrie are automatically backupped daily by centrally-scheduled ADSM/TSM tasks. Thus, if you have deleted files or directories on LinuX sites by mistake you can restore them yourself by running the command /usr/bin/dsm at the command line on that LinuX box where your home directory is located physically  (see Restore deleted files/directories).

Note: Files in directories named tmp or cache will NOT be backupped!

Note: If you dont't know the location of your home, just type pwd at the prompt of your home directory, and you'll get something like

$ pwd
/net/<sitename>[#]/<username>

where [#] is a number out of {0, 1, 2, 3, 4}, the <sitename> will be mungo or jerrie.

For more information about ADSM/TSM, see Tivoli Storage Manager.

User Quota

We have activated quotas on the central file servers mungo and jerrie. To check your disk quota login to a file server and type quota at the command line. The quota(1) command displays the current disk usage along with your personal limits for disk space (blocks) and number of inodes (files). The soft limit (quota) can be temporarily exceeded (for a grace period of 7 days) whereas the hard limit (limit) is an absolute upper bound.

If you run out of quota you might first choose to tar and gzip directories. This is convenient as the kfm-window manager allows you to view and manipulate tgz files just like ordinary directories. Other simple strategies are:

• remove unused dvi, aux, log files;
• clear your browser's cache;
• avoid keeping many huge matlab data files if possible;
• compress your mail folders.

Note: If your quota is exceeded and you don't have any grace time you may not be able to login at your LinuX desktop any longer. If this happens you have to login remotely to the file server (e.g. with ssh from a Laptop) or login with a different acount name (e.g. guest) and make an su. Then you can do the obove strategies to shrink your home.

Contact

If you need additional information on the LinuX cluster, your account or software applications, please contact your system administrators.