Accounts

Important

Account management for our HPC platforms is migrating to ColdFront. See the frequently asked questions

Accounts#

Creating Accounts#

Accounts on SMU HPC clusters can be created via the processes detailed below.

Important

As of November 1, 2024 running HPC jobs requires using a slurm account from an active allocation in ColdFront. See the frequently asked questions

Most benefits eligible faculty and staff can use the self-service ColdFront platform to create an account for themselves, students, and external collaborators with SMU credentials. In order for an HPC account to be created or reactivated for an user, the following conditions must be satisfied:

  1. The user must create or be added to a project in ColdFront. See how to create a project. Note that students cannot create their own projects.

  2. The user must be on an active compute and/or storage allocation managed by ColdFront. See how to create an allocation

Postdocs are eligible to use the self-service ColdFront platform to create an account for themselves, students, and external collaborators with SMU credentials. However, we recommend that your advisor be the one to create any ColdFront projects for continuity of research.

  1. The user must create or be added to a project in ColdFront. See how to create a project. Note that students cannot create their own projects.

  2. The user must be on an active compute and/or storage allocation managed by ColdFront. See how to create an allocation

Students are not eligible to create their own account. A faculty/staff advisor can use the self-service ColdFront platform to create an account for students with SMU credentials. In order for an HPC account to be created or reactivated for a student, the following conditions must be satisfied:

  1. The student must be added to a project in ColdFront. See how to create a project. Note that students cannot create their own projects.

  2. The student must be on an active compute and/or storage allocation managed by ColdFront. See how to create an allocation

  3. The student must login to ColdFront and agree to the policies and guidelines before their account is provisioned.

Accounts for classes are required to use ColdFront. Instructors of record will be able to see their courses around the time registration opens.

  1. Once a Class Project is created, ColdFront will automatically add and remove students enrolled in the course shortly before the start of the term and periodically update during the term based on official enrollment data.

  2. TA’s have to be added manually to a project AND its associated allocations by the instructor of record.

  3. Both students and TA’s will need to agree to the policies and guidelines for each allocation before their account is provisioned.

See the ColdFront quick start guide for instructors and the ColdFront quick start guide for students.

If you need help setting up a class, please contact the Help Desk.

Step 1: Request a Sponsored SMU NetID

To use SMU’s High-Performance Computing (HPC) systems, a benefits-eligible faculty sponsor must first request and activate a Sponsored SMU NetID for the desired sponsored individual.

To submit a request:

  1. Go to the SMU STABLE Online Service Center.

  2. Select Sponsored Account Request.

  3. Under Type of Account, choose Contractor with SMU email.

  4. In the Comments field, describe the sponsored individual’s relationship to the faculty sponsor.

Note

The Sponsored SMU NetID must be fully created and activated before HPC access can be requested. Exceptions to this process must be approved by the SMU Office of Information Technology.

Step 2: Add the Sponsored User to HPC Resources

Once the Sponsored SMU NetID has been created and activated:

  • The faculty sponsor may add the sponsored individual to ColdFront projects and allocations, enabling HPC system access.

Checking Account Status#

Access#

All access to HPC Resources, including ColdFront, requires connection to PerunaNet or the VPN.

HPC OnDemand Web Portal#

M3 can be accessed directly from a browser via the HPC OnDemand Web Portal, which provides access to files, remote desktops, JupyterLab, and RStudio.

The SuperPOD is only accessible via SSH, please see the next section for instructions.

SSH#

Secure shell access via SSH is available for SMU HPC systems. There are many SSH clients available for different operating systems. The following instructions are for standard OpenSSH installations such as those found in Linux, macOS, and Windows (>=10) including WSL.

  1. Open a terminal (Terminal on macOS, PowerShell on Windows)

  2. Type ssh <your_username>@m3.smu.edu where <your_username> is your username, which is usually the first part of your SMU NetID.

  3. Type a Duo passcode or 1 for a Duo push. The passcode can come from an OIT procured hardware token (faculty and staff only). Passcodes from the Duo app do not work.

  1. Open a terminal (Terminal on macOS, PowerShell on Windows)

  2. Type ssh <your_username>@superpod.smu.edu where <your_username> is your username, which is usually the first part of your SMU NetID.

  3. Type a Duo passcode or 1 for a Duo push. The passcode can come from an OIT procured hardware token (faculty and staff only). Passcodes from the Duo app do not work.

Advanced#

For more advanced access methods, such as x11 forwarding, jumphosts, and SSH keys, please see more information on the Access page.

Reset Account Password#

SMU HPC clusters use SMU’s authentication system, which means that your username and password are based on your SMU credentials. Your username is the first part of your SMU NetID, i.e. janeuser for janeuser@smu.edu, and your password is your SMU password. SMU’s password tool can be used to change or reset your password (https://pwreset.smu.edu). However, note that this changes your password for all SMU services such as email as well.

What happens when I leave SMU?#

Faculty and Staff should follow guidance given by SMU Human Resources and the SMU Office of Research and Innovation for data ownership policies specific to their contract. In general:

  1. All ColdFront projects and allocation will be disabled automatically on termination of employment. If you wish to transfer ownership to another SMU faculty/staff member, please open a help ticket with the SMU HPC Admins prior to termination with information about which projects and associated allocation should be transferred and to whom.

  2. In accordance with applicable policies, data that you need to retain should be moved off of SMU systems.

Postdoctoral students should follow guidance given by SMU Human Resources and the SMU Office of Research and Innovation for data ownership policies specific to their contract. In general:

  1. All ColdFront projects and allocation will be disabled automatically on termination of employment. We highly recommend that you transfer ownership of any projects to an appropriate faculty member. To do this, please open a help ticket with the SMU HPC Admins prior to termination with information about which projects and associated allocation should be transferred and to whom.

  2. In accordance with applicable policies, data that you need to retain should be moved off of SMU systems.

  1. Student researchers will be disabled on any ColdFront projects and allocations once they are no longer enrolled as a student.

  2. Please make sure that your any data or code that your advisor needs is in a storage allocation owned by your advisor. Your advisor will not be able to access your personal $HOME or $SCRATCH directory once you are no longer enrolled as a student.

  3. With the permission of your advisor, any data or code you want to keep should be copied off of SMU systems prior to your graduation date.

  1. Class projects and allocations are tied to enrollment data and automatically expire shortly after the end of each term. Students in classes will lose access to class allocations, both compute and storage, 21 days after the last day of class, or on the day of graduation.

  2. Instructors that need to re-use files in a storage allocation the following semester should create a new class project for the following semester and copy any files needed to the new storage allocation.

  3. Instructors that need to keep files, but are not using HPC for a class the following semester should back up files off of the HPC systems.

  1. An active SMU sponsored account with appropriate credentials is required for external collaborators using HPC resources. The HPC support teams are not involved with the process of creating or modifying sponsored accounts. SMU sponsored accounts are required to be renewed yearly by the sponsoring faculty member. When a sponsored account expires or is revoked, the user will lose all HPC access and a sponsored account must be re-established before HPC accounts can be re-enabled.

  2. If you are disaffiliating with SMU, please make sure your faculty/staff sponsor has access to any files in a ColdFront storage allocation. Sponsors will not be given access to your $HOME or $SCRATCH directory once your account is terminated.

Terminate an Existing Account#

Please send a request to the Help Desk with a short explanation of reason for the termination.

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