The LinCompute Cluster provides UT Austin students, faculty, and staff access to a set of Linux remote servers and software. Permission does not need to be granted to access the server; anyone with an active UT EID will be able to connect.
The LinCompute Cluster consists of two nodes but is accessed as if it was a single server. The server name to connect to is lincompute.cns.utexas.edu.
Note that the LinCompute Cluster shares the same user profile disk space as the WinCompute cluster. This makes sharing files between LinCompute and WinCompute easy. Note that there is a default quota of 20GB per user.
Prerequisites
You must have a computer with an internet or campus network connection
You must have either a ssh client, or a web browser
Software Included
gfortran and gcc compilers
Julia
JDK (versions 1.8.0 and 21)
MESA SDK (https://www.astro.wisc.edu/~townsend/static.php?ref=mesasdk)
Mathematica
Matlab
R and R Studio
Jupyterhub(not yet implemented)An anaconda3 environment containing (amongst others) numpy, scipy, astropy, matplotlib (pyplot), pandas, H5py and yt.
Guidelines for using the LinCompute Cluster
Do not store critical files on your LinCompute Cluster profile, as they may not be saved long-term and are not backed up or archived. You can download files from UT Box, an e-mail account, or other sources to access on the server.
The LinCompute Cluster does not meet the requirements for storing Category-I (Confidential) data. Do not store Category-I data on your profile on the cluster.
It is a shared resource; please be aware of how your use may impact others. Limit the amount of CPU and RAM you use when possible.
The LinCompute Cluster is intended for short-duration personal projects or for trying out a new software package prior to purchasing or running elsewhere (e.g. TACC). We do not recommend using the LinCompute Cluster for work related to dissertations, theses, publications, or time-sensitive projects. We cannot guarantee that the performance of the LinCompute Cluster at any given time due to its shared nature.
Getting Connected via SSH
Mac
Go to Applications > Utilities, and then open Terminal.
Establish an SSH connection to the server by using following command, where “your-eid” is replaced by your actual UT EID username: ssh -X your-eid@lincompute.cns.utexas.edu
The first time that you connect to the server, a message will ask you if you want to continue connecting. This message appears because the remote server has an ssh key that's not stored in your system registry and as a result, the identity of the key can't be verified. This is normal for your very first connection, and should not appear when you later connect to the same machine. If this happens, simply type yes and press Enter. This action will add the ssh key to the list of known hosts on your machine so that you don't see this warning again when you make future connections from the same machine. You can expect to see that warning again, however, if you connect from a
different computer.You will be prompted for your password. Enter your UT EID password and press Enter. Note that the password does not echo to the screen as you enter it.
You're done! You should now be connected to the LinCompute cluster.
Windows
To connect from Windows, you will need to install an ssh client in Windows. We recommend using a client called PuTTY for this purpose.
If you do not already have a ssh client such as putty installed, then download PuTTY from the PuTTY website. Ensure that you comply with the license requirements. If you need assistance installing PuTTY on your machine, contact the CNS Help Desk at https://cns.utexas.edu/help or help@cns.utexas.edu.
Launch the PuTTY application.
Use the following steps to configure your connection:
In the PuTTY Configuration window, enter the following values:
In the Host Name field, enter the name lincompute.cns.utexas.edu
Ensure that the connection type is set to SSH.
(Optional but recommended) In the Saved Sessions field, assign a name for
this connection (such as LinCompute). Assigning a name saves time the next time that you use Putty.
Click Open.
The first time that you connect to one of the servers, a message will ask you if you want to continue connecting. This message appears because the remote server has an ssh key that's not stored in your system registry and as a result, the identity of the key can't be verified. This is normal for your very first connection, and should not appear when you later connect to the same machine. If this happens, simply type yes and press Enter. This action will add the ssh key to the list of known hosts on your machine so that you don't see this warning again when you make future connections from the same machine. You can expect to see that warning again, however, if you connect from a different computer.
You will be prompted for your username and password. User your UT EID username, and your UT EID password. Note that the password at is not echoed to the screen. Then, press Enter.
If you have entered the correct username and password, it will log you in and respond with
a shell prompt.You're done! You should now be connected to the LinCompute cluster.
Linux
Open a terminal window.
Establish an SSH connection to the server by using following command, where “your-eid” is replaced by your actual UT EID username: ssh -X your-eid@lincompute.cns.utexas.edu
The first time that you connect to one of the servers, a message will ask you if you want to continue connecting. This message appears because the remote server has an ssh key that's not stored in your profile and as a result, the identity of the key can't be verified. This is normal for your very first connection, and should not appear when you later connect to the same machine. If this happens, simply type yes and press Enter. This action will add the ssh key to the list of known hosts on your machine so that you don't see this warning again when you make future connections from the same machine. You can expect to see that warning again, however, if you connect from a
different computer.You will be prompted for your password. Enter your UT EID password and press Enter. Note that the password does not echo to the screen as you enter it.
You're done! You should now be connected to the LinCompute cluster.
Getting Connected via the Web
You can connect to a web interface via any normal web browser. Currently only R Studio is available via the web interface, but we hope to add Jupyterhub notebook soon.
Note: From the R Studio web interface you can get a Linux command line shell and execute command similar to if you used ssh to login (though without any X11 forwarding for graphic applications).
To connect via the web, you must connect to https://lincompute.cns.utexas.edu/ and select the application you want (R Studio for example). The application will ask you to login using your UT EID username and password.