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Frequently Asked Questions

How do I get GPU access?

Currently we have many public GPUs available to the MIT community on Satori and we are working on getting more on Engaging. If you have access to a partition with GPUs (e.g., if your lab has purchased some), you can request GPUs for your job by following this documentation.

If your lab would like to purchase GPUs to be hosted on Engaging, please contact orcd-help-engaging@mit.edu.

How do I check the status of my job?

Instructions for checking job status can be found here.

How can I submit a module request?

We are open to creating new modules for the Engaging cluster. You can submit all module requests to orcd-help-engaging@mit.edu.

I am unable to install a package in R. How can I debug the issue?

We recommend using Conda to manage R packages. Please refer to the R user guide.

Can I use export controlled software on the cluster?

Export controlled software has specific requirements around who is allowed to access the software. Often, our clusters do not meet these requirements, so we generally do not allow such software to be used on our systems. Please refer to the terms of use of the software and direct any questions to orcd-help@mit.edu.

How do I increase the time limit for my job?

Use the -t flag in your job script. If you do not specify, Slurm will give you the maximum time limit for that partition. You can check the maximum time limit by running sinfo -p <partition name>.

For public partitions on Engaging, such as mit_normal, we cannot increase the maximum job time limit, as these resources are shared. For jobs that need to run longer than the time limit, we encourage checkpointing, which is a way of periodically saving progress so that subsequent jobs can pick up where previous jobs left off. The implementation of checkpointing is domain specific and can vary greatly. You can find more information on checkpointing here.

For increasing the maximum time limit on partitions owned by other groups, please email orcd-help-engaging@mit.edu.

How do I get an account?

If you have an MIT Kerberos account, then you can get an account on Engaging. To register, navigate to the Engaging OnDemand Portal and log in.

If you have an MIT Kerberos account, then you can get an account on Satori. To register, navigate to the Satori Portal and log in.

Access to SuperCloud is more restrictive and the account generation process is more involved. For more information, see the SuperCloud documentation.

How do I install a Python package?

See our documentation on Python.

Why won't my application run on a different partition?

On Engaging, the older nodes (such as the sched_mit_hill and newnodes partitions) run on CentOS 7 while the newer nodes (such as mit_normal and mit_preemptable) run on the Rocky 8 operating system (OS). Each set of nodes has a different set of modules, so if you have set up software to run on one OS, it will probably not work on the other OS.

How do I run Jupyter notebooks?

You can run Jupyter a few different ways:

  1. Web portal for the cluster you're using
  2. VS Code
  3. Port forwarding

See our Jupyter documentation.

Xfce desktop has failed to start. How can I fix this?

This issue is often caused by Conda setup commands existing in your ~/.bashrc file. This happens when you run conda init when using Miniforge or another Anaconda install. We recommend not running conda init as it can lead to errors such as this one.

To fix this, remove or comment out all conda setup commands from your ~/.bashrc file.

How do I use Git on the cluster?

Git is highly encouraged for use on the cluster. It is useful for backing up code and version control, especially when collaborating with others.

We recommend setting up an SSH key with GitHub for security and convenience. This allows you to use the "SSH" link rather than the "HTTPS" link when cloning repositories. To set up an SSH key, follow these steps:

  1. SSH to the cluster you're using

  2. Enter the following from the command line:

    ssh-keygen -t ed25519 -C "$USER@mit.edu"

  3. Press "enter" to save your private and public keys to the default ~/.ssh location. When prompted, optionally enter a passphrase for higher security. You will now have two new files in your ~/.ssh directory: id_ed25519 and id_ed25519.pub.

  4. Print the contents of your public key (using cat id_ed25519.pub) and copy the output

  5. Navigate to GitHub.com > click your profile in the top right corner > select "Settings" > "SSH and GPG keys" > "New SSH key"

  6. Add a title (e.g., "engaging"), paste your public key, and click "Add SSH key"

See GitHub's documentation on SSH keys for more information.