Accessing HPC and Moving Files

In this assignment you will demonstrate that you can access HPC from your computer and move files between your computer and HPC. To complete this assignment you will need to take screenshots of your computer screen. You will also need to upload files to Moodle.

Assignment for Mac Users

  1. Log in to HPC from your computer using the terminal. After you have logged in, take a screenshot of your computer screen. It is important to make sure that your screenshot shows the entire terminal window, including the command prompt. At the prompt you should see your username. For example, if your username is jdoe, you should see something like this: jdoe@hpc001:~$. Upload your screenshot using the submission link for this assignment on Moodle.
  2. Mount your HPC home directory on your computer. There is a file on Moodle called HelloHPC.txt. Download this file to your computer and move it to your mounted HPC home directory in Finder. Take a screenshot of your computer screen showing the mounted directory in Finder. Make sure that your screenshot shows the HellowHPC.txt file in the mounted directory. Upload your screenshot to Moodle.
  3. If you are not already logged into HPC from part 1, log in again. At the HPC command prompt, type the ls command. You should see the HelloHPC.txt file listed. Take a screenshot of your computer screen showing the terminal window with the HelloHPC.txt file listed. Upload your screenshot to Moodle.
  4. When your HPC account was set up, a file named Welcome.txt was placed in your home directory. Using your mounted home directory on your computer open this file from Finder (using RStudio or TextEdit). Edit the file, adding two new lines of text. The first line should say “My name is your name” (replace your name with your name). The second line should say “I am a student at Hope College”. Save the file.
  5. If you are not already logged into HPC from above, log in again. Confirm that your changes to the Welcome.txt file were saved by typing the cat Welcome.txt command at the HPC command prompt. You should see the two lines of text that you added along with the text that was in the original file. Take a screenshot of your computer screen showing the terminal window with the contents of the Welcome.txt file listed. The command prompt showing your HPC username should be clearly visible in your screenshot. Upload your screenshot to Moodle.

Altogether, you should have uploaded 4 screenshots to Moodle for this assignment.

Assignment for Windows Users

  1. Log in to HPC from your computer using MobaXterm. After you have logged in, take a screenshot of your computer screen. It is important to make sure that your screenshot shows the entire MobaXterm window, including the command prompt. At the prompt you should see your username. For example, if your username is jdoe, you should see something like this: jdoe@hpc001:~$. Upload your screenshot using the submission link for this assignment on Moodle.
  2. You should see your HPC home directory listed in the left-hand pane of MobaXterm. There is a file on Moodle called HelloHPC.txt. Download this file to your computer and move it to your HPC home directory in MobaXterm. Take a screenshot of your computer screen showing the MobaXterm window with the HelloHPC.txt file in your home directory. Upload your screenshot to Moodle.
  3. At the HPC command prompt in MobaXterm, type the ls command. You should see the HelloHPC.txt file listed. Take a screenshot of your computer screen showing the terminal window with the HelloHPC.txt file listed. Upload your screenshot to Moodle.
  4. When your HPC account was set up, a file named Welcome.txt was placed in your home directory. Open this on your computer from MobaXterm (use RStudio or something like Notepad++) and edit it, adding two new lines of text. The first line should say “My name is your name” (replace your name with your name). The second line should say “I am a student at Hope College”. Save the file.
  5. Confirm that your changes to the Welcome.txt file were saved by typing the cat Welcome.txt command at the HPC command prompt in MobaXterm. You should see the two lines of text that you added along with the text that was in the original file. Take a screenshot of your computer screen showing the terminal window with the contents of the Welcome.txt file listed. The command prompt showing your HPC username should be clearly visible in your screenshot. Upload your screenshot to Moodle. Note: If you are unable to see the contents of the file using the cat command, then you can try running the command dos2unix Welcome.txt and then running the cat command again.

Altogether, you should have uploaded 4 screenshots to Moodle for this assignment.

But I use Linux

If you are a Linux user, you can follow the log in instructions for Mac users. Talk to an instructor about how you can demonstrate that you can move files between your computer and HPC.