Getting Started

Everything you need to access and begin using TAU HPC resources.

Access & Setup

How to connect to the HPC cluster and set up your environment.

Access & Setup

Accessing the System

Requirements

Login Node

All access to the cluster is via SSH through the login node:

slurmlogin.tau.ac.il

Your connection is automatically load-balanced across powerslurm-login, powerslurm-login2, and powerslurm-login3.

Connecting via SSH

ssh your_username@slurmlogin.tau.ac.il

With an SSH key:

ssh -i /path/to/your/private_key your_username@slurmlogin.tau.ac.il

Important

Access & Setup

Palo Alto VPN

TAU uses Palo Alto GlobalProtect VPN with two-factor authentication (Google Authenticator).

Required if connecting to the cluster from outside the TAU network.

Enrollment

  1. Go to https://mytau.tau.ac.il/GetResource.php and register your mobile phone
  2. Install Google Authenticator on your mobile device
  3. Scan the QR code provided during enrollment

Download

Download the appropriate version for your system:

Install

RHEL/Rocky/CentOS:

tar -xzf PanGPLinux-6.x.x-cx.tgz
yum localinstall GlobalProtect_UI_rpm-*.rpm

Debian/Ubuntu:

tar -xzf PanGPLinux-6.x.x-cx.tgz
dpkg -i GlobalProtect_UI_deb-*.deb

Configure

  1. Open the GlobalProtect client
  2. Enter gateway address: vpn.tau.ac.il
  3. Log in with your TAU credentials
  4. Enter the code from Google Authenticator when prompted

Troubleshooting: SSL Error on Ubuntu 22.04+

If you see an SSL error after connecting, apply this fix:

Open /usr/lib/ssl/openssl.cnf and add:

[openssl_init]
ssl_conf = ssl_sect

[ssl_sect]
system_default = system_default_sect

[system_default_sect]
Options = UnsafeLegacyRenegotiation

Restart the GlobalProtect app.

Environment

Managing software modules and storage on the cluster.

Environment

Environment Modules

Environment Modules let you dynamically load and unload software packages without conflicts between versions. Always load the modules your job needs before running it.

Common Commands

Finding Modules

# List all available modules
module avail

# Search for a specific module
module avail gcc

# Get detailed info including dependencies
module spider gcc/gcc-12.1.0

Loading and Unloading

# Load a module
module load gcc/gcc-12.1.0

# List currently loaded modules
module list

# Unload a specific module
module unload gcc/gcc-12.1.0

# Unload all modules
module purge

Inspecting a Module

# See what environment variables a module will set
module show gcc/gcc-12.1.0

In Job Scripts

Load modules inside your job script, after the #SBATCH directives:

#!/bin/bash
#SBATCH --job-name=my_job
#SBATCH ...

module purge
module load gcc/gcc-12.1.0

./my_program

Starting with module purge ensures your job is not affected by any modules loaded in your shell session.

Environment

Storage and Scratch

Home Directory

Every user has a personal home directory at /home/your_username. This is your default working directory when you log in.

Scratch Partitions

Scratch partitions are shared, high-speed temporary storage available across the cluster:

Use scratch for intermediate files during a job run — not for long-term storage.

Local Scratch

Some compute nodes and workstations have a local /localscratch partition. This is node-local storage — faster than shared scratch but only accessible from that specific node.

If your job uses /localscratch, you must clean up after yourself. Add this to your job script:

export CACHEDIR=/localscratch/${USER}_${SLURM_JOB_ID}
mkdir -p $CACHEDIR

cleanup() {
  rm -rf -- "$CACHEDIR" || true
}
trap cleanup EXIT INT TERM HUP

Important

First Steps

Your first steps on the cluster — finding your resources and submitting your first job.

First Steps

Finding Your Account and Partition

Before submitting jobs, you need to know which account and partition you have access to. These are required parameters for every job submission.

Check Your Partitions

Run this command on the login node:

check_my_partitions

This lists all partitions and accounts you are authorized to use.

Key Concepts

Useful Commands

# View all partitions and their status
sinfo

# View partition details including limits
scontrol show partition power-general-shared-pool

# View your running and pending jobs
squeue -u your_username

Need Access?

If check_my_partitions returns nothing or you are missing a partition, contact the HPC team at hpc@tauex.tau.ac.il.

First Steps

Submitting Your First Job

Once you have your account and partition from check_my_partitions, you are ready to submit your first job.

A Minimal Job Script

Create a file called first_job.sh:

#!/bin/bash
#SBATCH --job-name=first_job
#SBATCH --account=public-users_v2
#SBATCH --partition=power-general-shared-pool
#SBATCH --qos=public
#SBATCH --time=00:10:00
#SBATCH --ntasks=1
#SBATCH --cpus-per-task=1
#SBATCH --mem-per-cpu=2G
#SBATCH --output=first_job_%j.out
#SBATCH --error=first_job_%j.err

echo "Hello from $(hostname)"
echo "Job ID: $SLURM_JOB_ID"

Submit It

sbatch first_job.sh

Slurm will return a job ID:

Submitted batch job 12345

Monitor It

# Check job status
squeue -u your_username

# View output once the job completes
cat first_job_12345.out

Job States

Next Steps

Once your first job runs successfully, see Running Jobs for arrays, GPU jobs, interactive sessions, and more.

See Also

First Steps

Useful Tools

External tools and resources to help with TAU HPC usage.

HPC Helper Toolkit

An AI-powered toolkit to help with common HPC tasks including QOS configuration, job submission, and more.

HPC Helper Toolkit for TAU