This page is intended as a quick introduction for new users submitting their first job to the HPRC Cluster. A few things that new users should be aware of:
- Typically, jobs are not run in an interactive manner, except when:
- users are running small one off jobs
- evaluating the resources required for bigger jobs
- using graphical applications like MATLAB
- Examples of interactive jobs:

- HPRC Cluster software is not run in a window on their desktop, neither is it launched by clicking on it in a network drive (see HPRC Fileshares).
- Users need to log into the cluster and inform the job scheduler about their job and it will run it when it can.

Logging In
The first step in using the HPRC Cluster is to log in to the login node - zodiac.hpc.jcu.edu.au
.
Software Packages
The HPRC Cluster uses environment modules to manage the available software packages. This allows multiple versions of the same software to be installed without interfearing with each other. To enable the environment module
system the following command needs to be executed on the command line:
-bash-4.1$ source /etc/profile.d/modules.sh |
The software that is available on the HPRC clusted is listed here: HPRC User Software. Alternately you can query the software available on the cluster with the following commands:
Command | Result |
---|
module avail
| A list of available software is displayed |
module help <software>
| Version number and brief synopsis is displayed for <software> |
-bash-4.1$ module avail
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- /usr/share/Modules/modulefiles ----------------------------------------------------
MPInside/3.5.1 compiler/gcc-4.4.5 module-cvs modules mpich2-x86_64 null perfcatcher
chkfeature dot module-info mpi/intel-4.0 mpt/2.05 perfboost use.own
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- /etc/modulefiles -----------------------------------------------------------
compat-openmpi-x86_64 openmpi-x86_64
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- /sw/modules -------------------------------------------------------------
4ti2 blast/2.2.23 crimap_Monsanto hdf5 migrate/3.6(default) picard-tools tmap/1.1
BEDTools blast/2.2.29(default) dx hmmer mira proj tmhmm
EMBOSS bowtie elph ima2 modeltest pvm topali
GMT bwa/0.7.4(default) enmtools jags molphy r8s towhee
Macaulay2 caftools fasta java mpich2 rainbowcrack towhee-openmpi
Python/2.7 cap3 fastme jcusmart mrbayes rpfits trans-abyss
R/2.15.1(default) carthagene/1.2.2(default) ffmpeg jmodeltest mrmodeltest ruby/1.9.3 tree-puzzle
R/3.0.0 carthagene/1.3.beta fftw2 lagan msbayes ruby/2.0.0 trinityrnaseq
abyss casacore fftw3 lamarc ncar samtools udunits
ariadne cernlib garli lapack netcdf scalapack udunits2
arlequin cfitsio gdal libyaml/0.1.4 netphos scipy velvet
asap chlorop glimmer matlab/2008b numpy seadas/6.2 wcslib
atlas clipper glpk matlab/2012a oases seg wise2
bayesass clustalw gmp matlab/2012b octave signalp wwatch3
beagle cluster gnu/4.1.2 matlab/2013a(default) openbugs sprng yasm
beast cns gnu/4.4.0 maxent openjdk ssaha2 zonation
beast-1.5.4 coils gnuplot maxima openmpi stacks
bfast colony2 grass merlin pari structure
blacs consel gromacs migrate/3.2.15 paup targetp
blas crimap hdf migrate/3.5.1 phyml tclreadline/2.1.0 |
|
Running Jobs
To run a job on the cluster create a shell script containing the PBS Directives containing the information required by the scheduler to schedule the job, and the job commands.
Example: paup witth the ML_analysis.nex sample file

Other Examples

Job Resources
It is important to match resources requested with the PBS Directives in your script and the resource usage of your job. There can be consequences for incorrectly specifiying these resource requirements
- Walltime: your job can be killed if it exceeds the specified wall time.
- Memory: overusing memory can cause the compute node's memory to be pushed into swap space, slowing down all jobs on that node. This has also killed compute nodes in the past, destroying
- CPUs: using more cpus than requested can slow down all jobs running on that node.
Furthor Reading
- HPRC Cluster Explained
- HPRC Cluster Job Management Explained
- HPRC PBS script files