In order to obtain access to any of our systems you need to follow two steps (described further below):
To register for HPC access, fill out the appropriate form:
On some of our systems, you will be asked to estimate how many resources you expect to require. If you are inexperienced with this, do not be put off by that field. Your estimate does not have to be highly accurate.
The address of the cluster will be e-mailed to you upon registering your account.
Your login credentials differ between our clusters:
Access to all of our systems is only possible from within the network (or VPN) of the University of Bonn.
Connecting to our clusters is usually done using the SSH protocol and specifically the OpenSSH software. Linux, macOS, and Windows 10 (since Update 1709) support SSH natively. OpenSSH by itself will let you open a Linux console on the cluster. The SCP protocol, which is based on SSH, supports securely copying files between your machine and the cluster. Additionally, there are various front-end programs for SSH connections and/or SCP file transfer available to simplify this, especially the free software MobaXTerm for Windows.
By default you can only run console-based programs with OpenSSH. However, it is also possible to run GUI applications as long as an X server is available on your computer and the SSH connection is configured properly. X forwarding with OpenSSH is currently only supported on Bonna.
With OpenSSH installed on your system you can log in on a cluster by providing your username and the address of the cluster to the ssh command:
ssh <user>@<address>
where the address is:
bender.hpc.uni-bonn.debonna.hpc.uni-bonn.deAfter you successfully logged in for the first time, you can generate a public/private key pair with which a connection from your computer to the cluster would be possible without having to enter a password at all anymore.
The following steps need to be executed on your machine, not on the cluster.
ssh-keygen -t ed25519 -a 100 -C "<your_uni-id@uni-bonn.de>" ( with " )/home/uni-id/.ssh/id_ed25519.Enter passphrase (empty for no passphrase):Enter same passphrase again:$HOME/.ssh The public key is id_ed25519.pub(if not renamed) , which is the one to be shared.To authorize yourself using your SSH key it initially needs to be added to the machine you want to connect to. This can be done using ssh-copy-id @bender.hpc.uni-bonn.de` and your password. Now you can log in using your SSH key.
On modern Linux/Unix systems an SSH agent is started by default in X-Sessions. When trying to connect via SSH you will be prompted to unlock your SSH key with your password. If not, you can add it manually using ssh-add.
The automatic solution only works with the default naming scheme. Renaming your SSH key will make managing multiple keys easier, but the automatic prompt won't work anymore.
You can configure the behaviour of your SSH client using the file $HOME/.ssh/config e.g.
# a rule for all hosts
Host *
# forward the ssh agent to everywhere
ForwardAgent=yes
allowing you to use your locally added SSH key on the server as well.
Find out more detailed information on how to set up OpenSSH on the HPC-Wiki or read further on this website about running jobs, storing and transfering data, or using and installing software.