FAQ
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======================================================================================== ======================================================================================== ======================================================================================== A. General Questions
1. Who can use the Student HPC Platform and is it free of charge? 
The Student HPC Platform is available to all current students with free of charge in general. 2. How can I start using Student HPC Platform? First of all, you need to create an account in Student HPC Platform. Please Click here to create your Student HPC account. After you got the account, you can access our platform with Chrome web browser or SSH client. Please refer the Quick Start Guide. 3. What services available in Student HPC Platform? For the services available in the Student HPC Platform, it is recommended to read the Introduction and User Guides here. 4. How can I know the resources limitation for the using Student HPC Platform? In the Student HPC Platform, resources sharing is controlled for students. You can find related limitations in the Resources Limit Section under Introduction.B. About HPC Job Management
1. What type of HPC applications can I run on the Student HPC Platform? Access here for details. 2. Where can I find the resources limitation for the job queue? Access here for details. 3. How can I get the status for my submitted job? To check the status of the submitted job, for the traditional SSH access method, you can enter a command “squeue -l”. For the web environment, you can select the Jobs dropdown and then click the Active Jobs. 4. Why my jobs are queued? The Student HPC Platform often have limited resources such as computing nodes, memory, and storage. The queuing system ensures fairness in allocating resources among multiple users.C. About Operation of Web Portal of Student HPC Platform
1. How can I access the web portal for Student HPC Platform? You can launch Chrome browser with the web link “https://studenthpc.polyu.edu.hk" 2. Where could I find the operation guide for Web Portal? You can access the operation guide here. 3. Why do I get an error after logging into the web portal? If you encounter an error during login to the web portal, please enter “https://studenthpc.polyu.edu.hk” to try logging in again. 4. Is the web portal supported other web browsers like Firefox, Edge and Safari instead of Chrome? To have the best experience using the web portal, use the latest version of Chrome. 5. I can't use "conda activate" to enable my virtual environment in Python. How to I activate the Anaconda virtual environment in the command line on the Student HPC Platform? To activate the Anaconda virtual environment, please use "source activate" instead followed by your virtual environment name. Command: source activate <your virtual environment name> e.g. source activate myenv (where "myenv" is your virtual environment). You can check by using "conda env list" and see if there is an asterisk that appears in your environment name. 6. What are the best practices to follow after using the web portal of the Student HPC Platform? With common practices on using web portal after user login, we strongly recommend users to close ALL opened web browsers right after logged out of the Student HPC Platform. 7. Why am I unable to download the hidden files or folders (File and folder name begins with a dot) from the web portal of the Student HPC Platform? This is a known issue and reported to the related software community. During this period, it is recommended not to use file download features in Files app in Student HPC Platform. However, you could still perform this task with alternative way, one of suggested tools is WinSCP (https://winscp.net/eng/download.php). It could do the file transfer files with hidden files with Student HPC Platform. 8. Why is my job queued/pended shown in the web portal of the Student HPC Platform? Will it be run later? Yes, your job will be run once the requested computing resources are available. The resources for Student HPC Platform are limited, including CPU, Memory and disk space. The system ensures allocating resources among multiple users. Therefore, you could your email address in the email notifications for the job and you will receive an email right after the submitted job is run and completed.D. About bundled Jupyter Notebook/Lab application in Web Portal
1. How can I use the bundled Jupyter Notebook/Lab in Web Portal? Access here for details. 2. Why I can’t use my own Anaconda virtual environment to start the bundled Jupyter Notebook/Lab? To use your own virtual environment in Jupyter Notebook/Lab on the web portal, you must create a virtual environment and install the required packages (notebook and jupyterlab) within it. 3. Why my Jupyter Notebook/Lab application cannot be run and show “Queued”? It means that the system is currently processing a queue of jobs or requests, and your Jupyter Notebook/Lab application is waiting for available resources to become available. You can get more specific information about the queuing status of your Jupyter Notebook/Lab application by selecting the Jobs dropdown and then click the Active Jobs in the web portal dashboard.E. About bundled RStudio application in Web Portal
1. How can I use the bundled RStudio in Web Portal? You can use your connect account to access. Access here for details. 2. Why my RStudio application cannot be run and show “Queued”? You can get more specific information about the queuing status of your RStudio application by selecting the Jobs dropdown and then click the Active Jobs in the web portal dashboard. 3. What is file path for my own installed R packages? The file path is “<>/R/el8-x86_64-singularity-library/4.2”.F. About Desktop application in Web Portal
1. What is the purpose for using Desktop application? It allows you to run GUI-based applications and compile software. 2. How can I use the bundled Desktop application in Web Portal? You can use your connect account to access. Access here for details. 3. Can I run my program permanently via Desktop application? No, the maximum runtime for Desktop application is 36 hours.
