Quick Start

Quick Start#

This guide walks you through accessing the SMU M3 Cluster and running your first job using either SSH or the OnDemand Portal.

Accessing the M3 Cluster via SSH#

Remember to replace example terms (like username and slurm_account_name) with your own credentials.

1. Open a Terminal#

  • macOS/Linux: Open Terminal

  • Windows 11+: Open PowerShell

2. Connect to M3#

ssh username@m3.smu.edu

Enter your SMU password (input will not show on screen)

Authenticate with DUO by pressing 1 for your associated device

3. Create a Job Script#

Create a new job file using nano:

nano my_first_job.sbatch

Paste the following contents into the editor:

#!/bin/bash
#SBATCH -A slurm_account_name
#SBATCH -J my_first_job
#SBATCH -o my_first_job_%j.out
#SBATCH -e my_first_job_%j.err
#SBATCH -p dev
#SBATCH -t 0-00:30:00
#SBATCH --mem=4G
#SBATCH -c 1

# Wait for 100 seconds so you can check the queue using 'squeue --me'
sleep 100
 
# Print a simple message
echo "Hello, World!"

Save and exit nano:

Ctrl + X  →  Y  →  Enter

4. Submit and Monitor Your Job#

Submit your job:

sbatch my_first_job.sbatch

Check the job status:

squeue --me

Check the outputs:

cat my_first_job_<jobid>.out
cat my_first_job_<jobid>.err

Accessing the M3 Cluster via OnDemand#

Connect to PerunaNet or the SMU campus network.

  1. Open a browser and visit: https://hpc.smu.edu

  2. Log in using your SMU credentials.

  3. From the top menu, select My Interactive Sessions.

  4. On the left sidebar, choose an interactive app (e.g., RStudio, Jupyter, etc.).

  5. Select your SLURM account and job settings (defaults are fine for testing).

  6. Click Launch and wait for the job to start in the queue.

  7. Once ready, click Launch again to open the session in your browser.

When finished, delete the job from My Interactive Sessions to free resources.

Contents