CÉCI HPC Training

The CÉCI presents, each year during Fall, a full-fledge offer in training sessions for researchers using, or planning to use, the CÉCI clusters. The whole offer goes from *baby steps into the Linux world* to parallel MPI programming and GPU computing. Training sessions are organised mainly in Louvain-la-Neuve and delivered in English.

The slides of previous sessions are available on the Indico event management system. The videos of previous sessions are also available on the CISM/CECI Youtube channel.

Organisation and Prerequisites

The sessions are organised in classrooms and participants are expected to use their own laptops. The sessions are not organised online to ensure a good training experience for the participants as we work hard to make sessions as interactive as possible with hands on exercices. People who cannot attend are invited to reach out their support team for alternatives.

Every participant will receive a certificate of attendance listing the sessions they followed around mid-December.

Every session has a set of prerequisites listed in the description. They are very important in order to fuitfully follow the session. If you do not meet some of the requirements, make sure to attend the corresponding sessions. For instance, after the SSH session, we will assume everyone is able to connect to the clusters and we will not have time anymore to help with that aspect in subsequent sessions.

Please make sure that

you have a requested a CÉCI account ;
you are able to connect your laptop to Eduroam ;

prior to attending the sessions.

Topics - Schedule - Registration

The sessions cover many concepts related to high-performance computing and scientific computing. Topics include

How to use HPC infrastructure (SSH, lmod, Slurm)
Programming on HPC cluster (Python, Julia, C, Fortran, ...)
Parallel computing (MPI, OpenMP, CUDA, OpenACC, ...)
Data management (filesystems, data versioning, ...)

Registration is free but mandatory. The schedule, the list of topics, and the session details are available in the Indico event management system of the CISM. Click on the current year for the current offering.

Participants are expected to attend full days and to register (via the above link) to every session they plan to attend. If you register but are unable to attend, you are requested to withdraw as soon as possible . The little calendar tool allows exporting an iCal event for all sessions, or subscribing to the calendar.

Venue

The sessions are organised in Louvain-la-Neuve and Namur. The specific room is announced on the page of each session in the Indico event management system.

Pasteur room and MERC rooms LLN

The Pasteur room is located in the BST building (Bibliothèque des sciences et technologies), located on 'Place Louis Pasteur'. Enter the building through its main entrance. You will need to use your UCLouvain badge to enter the library. Participants from other universities will have to request access at the welcome desk. Then, take the stairs to floor number 2 ; you will then find the Paster room on the right.

The MERC rooms (MERC02, MERC12, etc.) are located in the Mercator building, also on 'Place Louis Pasteur'. Follow the signs to the correct room.

The Mercator B336 room is in the same building, on floor number 3. When you exit the elevator or the stairs got to the corridor in front of you ; the B336 room is the first one on the right.

Train

If you come by train, you will arrive in the center of the city. Climb the outside stairs and go left. Turn left, walk alongside the Police building. At the end of the road, cross the perpendicular road and follow in the path that crosses the large parking place. You will end up on the Louis Pasteur place.

If you prefer to follow your phone, here is an alternative route by Google Maps:

Parking

The most convenient parking space available for visitors is the parking Baudouin 1er. That place is free. Beware that most other parking places in the area are restricted, or not free. Exit the parking by the other entrance, the one that does not lead to the main boulevard and walk along the boulevard until you reach a tunnel that will allow you to cross the boulevard. Follow the path on your right, cross the road and go straight. You arrive at Place Sainte-Barbe. Pass by the right the Barbe building, and turn right Voie Minckeleers. At the end of the road, cross the perpendicular road and take the stairs between the two buildings in front of you. The BST building is the one on your left.

If you prefer to follow your phone, here is an alternative route by Google Maps:

FISHER room LLN

The Fisher room is in the De Serres building, place Croix du Sud, 1-2. When you are Place Croix du Sud, go between the two buildings depicted below

and reach the side entrance:

Go straight ; the Fisher room is the second one on the right.

Train

If you come by train, you will arrive in the center of the city. Climb the outside stairs and go through the station straight in front of you. Get out of the station from the opposite entrance. From there, turn left and follow the road until you reach a wooden place ('Place des Sciences'). Get around the place by the right, pass the Museum and aim at the parking slots you will see between the buildings. Cross the parking place to the Place Croix du Sud.

Parking

The most convenient parking space available for visitors is the parking Baudouin 1er. That place is free. Beware that most other parking places in the area are restricted, or not free. Exit the parking by the other entrance, the one that does not lead to the main boulevard and walk along the boulevard until you reach a tunnel that will allow you to cross the boulevard. Follow the path on your right, and cross the road on your left at the crosswalk and walk through to the Place Croix du Sud.

SUD07, SUD05 rooms LLN

The SUD07 and SUD05 rooms are in the Croix du Sud building, place Croix du Sud.

When you enter the building, look up for the signs. The room is on the ground floor.

Train

Parking

The most convenient parking space available for visitors is the parking Baudouin 1er. That place is free. Beware that most other parking places in the area are restricted, or not free. Exit the parking by the other entrance, the one that does not lead to the main boulevard and walk along the boulevard until you reach a tunnel that will allow you to cross the boulevard. Follow the path on your right, and cross the road on your left at the crosswalk and walk through to the Place Croix du Sud.

SCES A.04B room LLN

The SCES A.04B room are in the "Sciences" building, place des Sciences.

When you enter the building, look up for the signs. The room is on the ground floor, to your right, facing you.

Train

Parking

The most convenient parking space available for visitors is the parking Baudouin 1er. That place is free. Beware that most other parking places in the area are restricted, or not free. Exit the parking by the other entrance, the one that does not lead to the main boulevard and walk along the boulevard until you reach a tunnel that will allow you to cross the boulevard. Follow the path on your right, and cross the road in front of you until you reach Place Saint Barbe. Then turn left until you reach the wooden Place des Sciences.

CYCL E349, CYCL01, CYCL02 and CYCL09b LLN

The CYCL rooms are located in the Marc de Hemptine building, also known as Cyclotron : Chemin du Cyclotron 2, 1348 Ottignies-Louvain-la-Neuve.

The CYCL E349 room is located on floor number 3 in the E tower of building. When you enter the building through the main door, go straight, pass the door in front of you, and take the stairs to floor number 3. There, turn left, then left, and the room is in front of you.

The CYCL01 room is on the ground floor of the building. When you enter the building through the main door, turn left, follow the corridor and then immediately turn right. The room is on your left.

The CYCL02 room is on the ground floor of the building. When you enter the building through the main door, turn left, follow the corridor until you face a door, open the door and turn right. The room is on your left at the end of the corridor (before the door in front of you).

The CYCL09b room is the ground floor of the building. When you enter the building through the main door, turn left, follow the corridor until you face a door, open the door and turn left. At the end of that corridor, turn right and then immediately right again. The room is the first one on your right.

Train

Go past the "Salmigondis" or "Pythagore" building. After this octogonal building turn to the right. You will arrive on a parking lot. Then you take slightly to the left and aim at a gray chimney. Go through the pedestrian tunnel going under the Boulevard Baudouin Premier. You then arrive in front of the Cyclotron building.

Parking

055 - BN02 Namur

The room is named "Banque Nationale / 055 - BN02" and is located rue de Bruxelles 83, 5000 Namur. Entrance is located Rempart de la Vierge.

Train

When you get out of the station ('centre ville exit'), cross the street and go right, follow the road to the main intersection, with 'Rue de Bruxelles'. Cross the 'Rue de Bruxelles' to reach the 'Rempart de la Vierge' that will be right in front of you (street that runs along the park). Continue for a few meters, the entrance will be on your left.

Parking

Coming by car to Namur is strongly discouraged.

Shannon room

The Shannon meeting room is in the Maxwell building. The address is: Place du Levant 3 1348 Louvain-la-Neuve. When you enter the building, take the stairs (in front of the elevators, which you will see from the entrance) to floor number 1 and go through the door on your left. The Shannon room is on the left.

Train

From there, follow the signs ; turn left and follow the road until you reach a wooden place ('Place des Sciences'). Get around the place by the right, pass the Museum and aim for the Barbe building that stands just behind the Musem. Bypass the Barbe building (by either side, or even through it) and you will reach the Place Sainte-Barbe. From there, cross the place diagonally and go to the path that rises ; the Maxwell building will be in front of you.

Parking

The closest parking space available for visitors is the parking Baudouin 1er. That place is free. Beware that most other parking places in the area are restricted, or not free. Exit the parking by the other entrance, the one that does not lead to the the main boulevard and walk along the boulevard until you reach a tunnel that will allow you to cross the boulevard. Follow the path on your right, cross the road and go straight. You arrive at Place Sainte-Barbe. From there, cross the place diagonally and go to the path that rises ; the Maxwell building will be in front of you.

DAO room, CANDIX room LLN

Those rooms are located in the Vinci building, located on 'Place Sainte-Barbe'. Enter the building through its east-side gate entrance (located on Place Sainte Barbe, not through the main doors) and then turn right in the inner courtyard. Enter the building through the door in front of you and go towards the right corridor.

Train

If you come by train, you will arrive in the center of the city. Climb the outside stairs and go through the station straight in front of you. Get out of the station from the opposite entrance. From there, turn left and follow the road until you reach a wooden place ('Place des Sciences'). Get around the place by the right, pass the Museum and aim for the Barbe building that stands just behind the Musem. Bypass the Barbe building (by either side, or even through it) and you will reach the Place Sainte-Barbe.

Parking

L11 room, Namur

The room is named "Séminaire L11" and is located UNamur - Faculté de Philosophie et Lettres, Rue Joseph Grafé 1, 5000 Namur (first floor).

Train

When you get out of the station ('centre ville exit'), cross the street and go right, follow the road to the main intersection, with 'Rue de Bruxelles'. Cross the 'Rue de Bruxelles' and go to left. The second road at the right is 'Rue Joseph Grafé'. Continue for a few meters, the entrance will be on your left.

Parking

Coming by car to Namur is strongly discouraged.

S08 room, Namur

The room is name "Séminaire S08" and is located UNamur - Faculté des Sciences, Rue Joseph Grafé 2, 5000 Namur (ground floor).

Train

When you get out of the station ('centre ville exit'), cross the street and go right, follow the road to the main intersection, with 'Rue de Bruxelles'. Cross the 'Rue de Bruxelles' and go to left. The second road at the right is 'Rue Joseph Grafé'. Continue for a few meters, the entrance will be on your right.

Parking

Coming by car to Namur is strongly discouraged.

Contact

You can direct all your questions to egs-cism@listes.uclouvain.be. Be sure to include '[Training]' in the subject of your email for faster processing.

The training sessions are and organised in collaboration with the CISM, ELIC, BIUL, CP3, MODL, PTCI (UNamur), ACE (ULiège) and SISC (ULB).