Getting Started

To-do Tasks

If you are getting started on the clusters for the first time, carry out the following steps.
Looking for tutorials on how to use Unix or the command line? Check out the  Command Line Guide  for a very basic intro, " The Art of the Command Line " for a quick summary, or the  Software Carpentry  resources for a more involved tutorial.

Local Machine

If you haven't done so already, carry out the following steps on your local machine.
    Install Anaconda on your local machine so you always have it available, as described in  🛠️⁠⁠Python Setup⁠ .
    If you are on Windows:
    Install a terminal emulator as described in  🪟⁠⁠Windows Notes⁠ 
    Install  WinSCP  for easy file transfers.

Princeton Compute Clusters

    Log into Tiger as described in  🔑⁠⁠Cluster Access⁠ .
    If you haven't already done so, follow the instructions in  😴⁠⁠Removing Tedium⁠  to make your life easier
    Get a custom Python environment set up on the remote machine so you always have it available, as described in  🛠️⁠⁠Python Setup⁠ .
    For Tiger or Della, make a dedicated folder in the shared ROSENGROUP scratch directory, swapping out <NetID> for your NetID.
mkdir /scratch/gpfs/ROSENGROUP/<NetID>
    Do the same for TigerData.
mkdir /tigerdata/ROSENGROUP/work/tiger/<NetID>
mkdir /tigerdata/ROSENGROUP/work/della/<NetID>
    Change the permissions on the directories so nobody can write to it except you.
chmod 2750 /scratch/gpfs/ROSENGROUP/<NetID>
chmod 2750 /tigerdata/ROSENGROUP/work/tiger/<NetID>
chmod 2750 /tigerdata/ROSENGROUP/work/della/<NetID>
    Optionally add the following to your ~/.bashrc file. This will define a convenient shortcut for $SCRATCH and $WORK.
# Define environment variables (e.g. $SCRATCH, WORK)
export SCRATCH=/scratch/gpfs/ROSENGROUP/<NetID>
export WORK=/tigerdata/ROSENGROUP/work/<Machine>/<NetID>
    Run source ~/.bashrc (note: anytime you source your ~/.bashrc your Conda environment will be set back to the base one)