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Access and user instructions

In general, members of the University of Cologne as well as external research groups can use our HPC cluster. For this you need an account of the university and a HPC access authorization.

Access for members of the university

Members of the University of Cologne need an active student or personal account. This account gets the authorization to calculate on the HPC-system after an application and approval.

Access for external research groups

The use of the HPC cluster is reserved for non-commercial research. Thus, working groups that are predominantly funded by the universities of North Rhine-Westphalia, the EU or the federal government can apply for a guest account and HPC access. This option is also available for third-party funded research projects that are predominantly funded by the DFG or a foundation.

Guest account application
(PDF, 1.32 mb)

HPC authorization

With the HPC authorization your account gets access to the HPC systems. There are two variants: one option gives you simplified access for a manageable shorter computing time. The other one serves the extensive use for an entire project period. For both options, please fill out the "Application for HPC authorization setup".

If you need little computing time (for example, because your project is still in an early phase and you want to test your applications), apply for a trial account. A trial account does not require a detailed project description.

If you need more computing time for your research, apply for full HPC access to your account. In this case, a detailed project description will be required with your application.

Please send a scan of the completed form via email to hpc-accounts@uni-koeln.de first!
HPC application
(PDF, 256 kb)

If the computing power on site is not sufficient for you or if you have special requirements that cannot be met by the RRZK, further national HPC facilities are available to you. As an associated member, the RRZK can establish contact with the Gaussian Alliance. The RRZK coordinates and bundles the complementary competences of the HPC facilities at national level. The Gauss Centre for Supercomuting (GCS), one of the largest and most powerful supercomputers in the world, is also available for your project.

If you have any questions, the RRZK HPC team will be happy to help you and support you in your application process.

Instructions for using HPC

We have compiled all important information on working on the clusters for interested, beginners and advanced students.

CHEOPS

Access requirements, server addresses, first login, archiving of data, batch system, development environment:

CHEOPS Brief Instructions (PDF, 0.5 MB)

Application software, its settings and examples of job scripts:

CHEOPS Application Software (PDF, 1.3 MB)

Acknowledgement in publications

Your research is our driving force - the results of your research are in most cases also published in peer-reviewed journals or conference proceedings. It would be very helpful for us, and thus for all our users, if we were mentioned in the acknowledgement of your publication. This helps us to underpin and demonstrate the need to use public funds provided for research purposes.

Please inform us about your publications so that we can refer to them if necessary. Thank you very much!

Additional information

If you need more information about using a HPC-System or basic information about high performance computing we recommend the following wiki project page: https://hpc-wiki.info

Contact
If you have any questions or problems, please contact the RRZK-Helpdesk