SCS Clusters

Introduction and Access

Lop: 

SCS maintains a computational cluster which is available for use by anyone in the School of Chemical Sciences called lop (DNS lop.scs.illinois.edu.) To get access, fill out the form located here: https://go.scs.illinois.edu/cluster-account 

Lipid:

Lipid.scs.illinois.edu is also a cluster available for use by all in SCS. Using it requires an SCS account, which can be requested by e-mailing scs-help@illinois.edu. This account is a separate account from your UIUC netid account, though it uses the same login name as your netid. It will be going down before the end of 2020, with its compute being moved over to lop.

Accessing software: 

Some of the software installed will just “work” if you try to run it when logging in (eg. Nwchem). Many packages will require you loading a module first. To do so: 

1. Type this command to see the available modules to load
   1. module avail
2. To load a specific module, type the following command (gaussian is used as an example, replace with the one you want)
   1. module load gaussian/g16
3.  To see which modules you currently have loaded
   1. module list
4. To unload a module (to load a different version for example). 
   1. module unload gaussian/g16

If there is any software not currently on the cluster that you would like installed, e-mail scs-help@illinois.edu and inquire if that is possible. 

Queues:

Quotas:

Storage:

Software Tutorials: 

Below, find various links to tutorials for software on the cluster. Many of these are out of date but we are working to make them current: 

Unix/Linux Primer

Intro to Gaussian Part I

Intro to Gaussian Part II

Simulating Vibrationally-resolved Electronic Spectra Using Gaussian

Determining the pKa of Simple Molecules using Gaussian

X-forwarding

A few software packages have a graphical interface so you will need to set up X forwarding. 

Windows Instructions:

1. Download and install Xming-mesa (not normal xming). It can be found here: https://sourceforge.net/projects/xming/files/Xming-mesa/6.9.0.31/Xming-mesa-6-9-0-31-setup.exe/download
2. Run the installer
3. Open NotePad as administrator 
4. Click on file –> Open in notepad. Open the X0.hosts file in the xming install directory as shown in this picture:                                
5. Under localhost on a new line put in 130.126.43.205 (this is the IP for lop). Save the file and close notepad 
6. Download and install putty found here: https://the.earth.li/~sgtatham/putty/latest/w64/putty-64bit-0.74-installer.msi  
7. Launch xming
8. Launch putty
9. Expand the SSH tree under Connection and click on x11. Click on the box for Enable x11 forwarding
10. Click on the top option on the right "Session" 
11. In the Host Name box put lop.scs.illinois.edu then click the Open button
12. A box will pop up prompting you to "togin as" – put in your netID and hit Enter
13. It will then prompt you for a password. Use your netID password. Nothing will show as you type, this is standard Unix behavior. 
14. You will get a prompt. You are now connected to Lop.

Mac Instructions:

1. Download and install xQuartz 2.7.7 (do not get the latest version) https://dl.bintray.com/xquartz/legacy-downloads/SL/XQuartz-2.7.7.dmg 
2. Install the downloaded dmg
3. Run xquartz to start it 
4. Open up a terminal, located under Applications –> Utilities –> Terminal
5. In the opened terminal type: ssh -YC netid@lop.scs.illinois.edu 
6. Put in your netID password when prompted
7. You are now connected to Lop