Getting Started on the zCSF

Requesting an Account

Please see the user accounts page for how to request an account, vistor/collaborator access, extensions to accounts and policies applicable to all users.

The zCSF is used Remotely from your Desktop or Laptop Machine

The zCSF is accessed, remotely, from the comfort of your office (or home). Full details are provided in the Connecting to the zCSF documentation, for access from Linux, MacOS and MS Windows.

Running Computational Work on the Emerging Tech Nodes

We have installed the SGE scheduler (as used on the CSF). This will be used to control access to the backend nodes via qrsh to ensure exclusive access to individual accelerators (GPUs, MICs, FPGAs etc). It is also possible to submit batch jobs as you would on the CSF for example. Please see connecting to backend nodes for more details.

MS Windows Users

All nodes in the zCSF cluster run the Linux operating system. If you are a MS Windows user there are some common pitfalls you may encounter when starting to use the zCSF. Please read our guide on Using the CSF from Windows to understand how best to use the zCSF from your MS Windows desktop/laptop.

Training Courses

Users who are completely new to this kind of computational environment, and research computing in general, may also wish to consider attending IT Services’ training courses and reading the course background materials.

Getting Help

The information given here is specific to the zCSF and assumes some familiarity with Linux and/or working on HPC systems. The documentation is intended to be comprehensive but please do contact us at its-ri-team@manchester.ac.uk if you have any questions about using the system.