HPC TiU: Overview

HPC TiU Computing is a service by Tilburg University’s Library and IT Services (LIS).

The environment consists of powerful servers on which researchers can interactively work on data and run statistical computations. This is a Windows-based environment, which looks and feels like a regular Windows desktop. It’s accessible through this web portal.

How to Access HPC TiU?

You can request access to HPC TiU via the IT Service Desk and filling in a form. Access for external researchers is possible. The guest researcher needs to have a Tilburg University username, and a so-called PNIL-account (staff-not-on-payroll). These accounts can be requested at the HRM department.

Once your request is approved, you can access HPC TiU:

• On a Windows, macOS, ChromeOS or Linux computer enter the following URL in a recent version of your web browser and sign in with your TiU credentials.

If this doesn’t work, proceed with the following:

• On a Windows computer use the following URL in web browser and sign in with your TiU credentials (campus\TiU username)

• On a macOS computer use Microsoft Remote Desktop Client for Mac (install from App Store), use this web feed URL and sign in with your TiU credentials (campus\TiU username)

Warning

Scheduled maintenance

Every Friday after the 2nd Tuesday of the month the TiU HPC servers will be put offline for maintenance. You will receive an email reminder each month.

Do NOT run your analyses when maintenance is performed, because unsaved work will be lost.

Moreover, each month during the maintenance period, all personal data stored locally on HPC TiU on scratch drives (D:) will be erased! Therefore, you should back up your files before.

Where to Save your Files?

M / S / T drive

• Use M / S / T disc for storing data that must be retained.

D drive (Scratch)

• Use only the D-disk (Scratch) for temporary data storage. During standard (monthly) maintenance, the D drive is deleted.

C drive

• The C drive is only intended for the Operating System and Applications.

E drive

• The E-disk has been used since 12-10-2018 to store the local user profiles. (This is because of possible filling up of the C-drive and thus undermining the entire server).
• The E-disk contains the user profiles (with, for example, python packages). This E-disk is automatically deleted on restart.

Tip

Here are some additional cloud computing solutions you might want to check out to level up your research infrastructure: SURFsara’s LISA Cluster and SURFsara’s Cartesius Cluster