Texas A&M High Performance Research Computing

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New User Information

The computer systems managed by HPRC are available for use free of charge to university faculty, staff, and students who require large-scale computing capabilities. Access to and use of such systems is permitted only for academic research and instructional activity. All other use is strictly prohibited without the approval of the High Performance Research Computing Resource Allocation Committee.

All HPRC users are responsible for knowing and following our policies.

Resources

HPRC provides users access to several HPC clusters at Texas A&M University. Consult the resource comparison page for the hardware differences between the HPRC clusters.

Jointly funded by the University of Texas System, Texas A&M University, Texas Tech University, and the University of North Texas Lonestar 6 at TACC provides additional resources to TAMU researchers.

Getting An Account

Please visit our account applications page to begin applying for an account on our resources. Users working on medium or high intensity projects should also have their principal investigator request a research allocation.

HPRC provides users access to several HPC clusters at Texas A&M University. Consult the resource comparison page for the hardware differences between the HPRC clusters.

Consult our account allocation policy for more information.

For External Users

HPRC resources are available for use to external users who are actively collaborating with TAMU faculty or staff. HPRC supports TAMU researchers to stimulate the formation of collaborations with outside entities.

Accounts for users at not-for-profit external entities are not charged for usage, but may be added as sub-accounts under a TAMU faculty or staff Principal Investigator (PI).

Accounts for users at commercial for-profit entities are offered at commercial cost recovery rates (Five cents per CPU core hour). TAMU faculty or staff who are collaborating with and supported by external for-profit entities are NOT subject to the commercial rate schedule, however, charges are made for usage by their external collaborators. Industry users will have to sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with HPRC to use HPRC resources. Users must apply for and receive their own accounts and may NOT be added as sub-accounts under a TAMU faculty or staff PI.

Determination of active collaboration with external entities and persons will be made annually, and when the TAMU collaborating PI asserts that a collaboration has ended. External users are expected to follow HPRC guidelines with respect to acknowledgement of support for their work.

NOTE: External users must provide their own licenses to use any licensed software on HPRC resources.

For Visiting Scholars, Affiliates, and Collaborators

At a bare minimum, you will need a TAMU assigned NetID which can provide login access to the TAMU campus resources and the HPRC clusters. The issuance of NetIDs is controlled by the TAMU Identity Management Office. A full-time TAMU System faculty or staff employee must sponsor the NetID account request. In addition to a sponsor (PI), the Division of Research requires that collaborators using HPRC resources file a visiting scholars report. Users will need to apply for a Basic account to get started on (using) HPRC resources. From there, their sponsoring PI can provide them "Service Units" (SUs=CPUs x hours) for use.

Getting Started

After your accounts are activated, consult our knowledgebase user guides for accessing our resources. See also Understanding SSH from LinkedIn Learning if you are new to using SSH.

If you are new to HPRC resources, the following resources are recommended:

You should also become familiar with the AMS accounting system.

There is a variety of pre-installed software available. See the Software page for more information. NOTE: We are unable to provide support for software that is not installed on our clusters. Furthermore, our ability to provide advanced support for the installed software is limited. If you have a problem, please ask our helpdesk - we will try to find a solution or support contact for you.

If you are new to working in a Unix or Linux environment, consult the following: Introduction to Linux Short Course

Training, Knowledge Base, Consulting

New users are strongly encouraged to attend our shortcourses, which are typically offered every semester.

Short course and primer recordings are available on the HPRC YouTube channel. The channel also provides several short instructional videos in navigating HPRC resources.

If you run into any trouble, we also have a FAQ page with some of the most common issues we see and their solutions. If you need assistance with using our systems, our helpdesk is available during normal business hours.