This step-by-step guide will get you started to perform your first dummy computation. You will need an RWTH Account, an HPC Account and a recommended VPN Account.

1. Learn about Linux in HPC
2. Get an RWTH Account with IDM:
   • RWTH members already have an RWTH Account
   • Externals can also get access:
     • Apply for a Computation project. You will eventually receive an RWTH Account
     • Get Partnered by an RWTH Member to get an Account
3. Get an HPC Account with RegApp:
   • Generate an HPC Account
   • Set HPC Account Password
   • Mandatory: Set 2FA
     • Safely store a backup 2FA TAN Code list (not meant for daily login)
     • Setup a 2FA Token Generator used for daily login.
   • Recommended: Set an SSH KEY
4. Get a VPN Account:
   • The VPN Account might already exist
   • Add a VPN Account
   • Set a password (and 2FA for the VPN Account if required)
   • Download Cisco AnyConnect Windows, Mac, Linux
5. Login to the HPC System:
   • Connect to the RWTH Network
     • Confirm if your institution can already reach the RWTH Network.
       • Connect to your institutions VPN if necessary.
       • Type on a console  ping login18-1.hpc.itc.rwth-aachen.de 
         • See if there was a  Reply ... 
     • Connect to the RWTH VPN if necessary. 
       • Server: vpn.rwth-aachen.de
       • Tunnel: Full tunnel (all traffic via RWTH network) or split tunnel (only RWTH internal addresses are accessed via VPN)
       • VPN-Username: ab123456 as seen on your VPN Account
       • VPN-Password: XXXXXXX as chosen for your VPN Account
   • Connect to any login node:
     • Open a console or the SSH client:
       • Type:  ssh -l   ab123456 login18-1.hpc.itc.rwth-aachen.de  
       • SSH-Username: ab123456 as seen on your HPC Account
       • SSH-Password: XXXXXXX as chosen for your HPC Account
     • Or connect with a Graphical Interface using FastX to any X node:
       • Download FastX3
       • Connect to login18-x-1.hpc.itc.rwth-aachen.de
       • Username: ab123456 as seen on your HPC Account
       • Password: XXXXXXX as chosen for your HPC Account
6. Start a short interactive test job:
   • Open a terminal | command prompt if using FastX:
     • Right click: Terminal Hier öffnen | Open Here
   • Start a 25 minute job with 2 cpus on the devel partition:
     • Type:  salloc -p devel -n 2 -t 25  
   • Wait for the job to start. You will be redirected to a compute node
   • Type command hostname 
     • See Output  ncm0001.hpc.itc.rwth-aachen.de or similar
   • NOTE! We use ZSH instead of bash by default!
   • Use the module system to load pre-installed efficient software
   • Run a small test computation
   • Exit the node and relinquish the allocated job:
     • Type:   exit 
7. Create batch jobs to run computations on the HPC system.
   • Learn more about Slurm
   • Learn about available hardware
   • Learn about our resource quotas

Please send us some feedback on how to improve this quick start Guide!