Requesting access to the SC Student Cluster

Requests for access to the SC Student Cluster (sc.rc.usf.edu) are made directly from faculty/instructors conducting the class. To request access to the SC student cluster, please email rc-help@usf.edu with the following information:

1. Full course ID number (ex: ABC1234.001F19)
2. Faculty Member full name
3. A list for each class section only containing the USF NetIDs (not U-Numbers) of the users who need access
4. Whether a shared directory is needed for this class.

If roster updates (ie: late class adds) are made, please email rc-help@usf.edu with an updated roster.

Connecting & Accessing

To connect to SC, you will need to use an SSH client or utilize the CIRCE/SC Desktop Environment. The following information will be needed to connect:

• Your USF NetID (all lower-case), and your USF NetID Password
• Hostname: sc.rc.usf.edu
• SSH Port: 22 (This is the default)

If you wish to use shell access via SSH, here are some popular SSH clients for Windows:

• PuTTY: http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~sgtatham/putty/
  • Note: PuTTY is the recommended client to use when connecting to SC. IT staff will provide full support for users utilizing this connection method, however, graphical (X11) connections are not provided.
• Cygwin (Includes OpenSSH): http://www.cygwin.com/
  • Note: Cygwin is for advanced users who are familiar with using a UNIX/Linux environment! We can only provide limited support for this method… So be warned!

Most other platforms such as Linux or Mac OSX include a version of OpenSSH by default. Documentation for OpenSSH is here: http://www.openssh.com/

Both Mac and Linux user can take advantage of X2Go as well. Clients for both operating systems can be found here: http://wiki.x2go.org/doku.php/doc:installation:x2goclient

' Note': Please read and understand all instructions related to your OS before getting started.

You will probably be interested in transferring files to and from SC. Please see our guide to accessing data on SC for more information

Linux Tutorials

If you are new to Linux or UNIX, you may wish to review some online tutorials. We’ve compiled a collection of tutorials here that we think new users will find helpful. We highly recommend that if you are new to Linux/UNIX-based environments that you take the time to go through at least one of the tutorials. You can safely skip any sections related to installing Linux, unless you wish to do this on your own.

Getting Work Done

To start using SC for productive work, see the following documents:

1. Guide to SLURM - This guide will provide all of the information you need to successfully use the SLURM job submission system on CIRCE.
2. Locate the documentation for your application on this list: Available Applications. If its not there, then we haven’t worked with it before. You can either compile and install it yourself, or contact us to have it done for you.
3. Available Hardware - This page provides a breakdown of all the HPC hardware that is part of SC. This is useful for referencing our resources or determining how best to compile or prepare your application.
4. Environment Modules - Environment Modules give you access to applications and features on CIRCE. Taking the time to learn their use is essential for making the most of CIRCE.

Running Graphical Applications

In order to run graphical applications such as Comsol, Matlab, Mathematica, HFSS, etc., please see the documentation for the CIRCE-SC Desktop Environment environments.