Skip to main content

36 posts tagged with "klone"

View All Tags

March 2026 Maintenance Update

· 4 min read
Kristen Finch
Kristen Finch
Director of Research Computing Solutions

Our March maintenance is complete, and Klone and Tillicum are back in operation. The next maintenance is scheduled for Tuesday, April 14, 2026. During this month’s scheduled maintenance window, we completed several system upgrades and routine updates across Klone and Tillicum to improve stability, performance, and security.

Notable Updates​

In addition to routine package and security updates, we completed the following user-relevant changes:

  • Open OnDemand upgraded to 4.1.4 - This update includes improvements for digital accessibility along with other upstream fixes and enhancements.
    • Additionally, we have deprecated the Open OnDemand Job Composer feature in alignment with the Open OnDemand roadmap. 
  • Tillicum PixStor/GPFS code patch - A PixStor code patch was applied to support continued stability and reliability for the GPFS-backed storage environment.
warning

Important Storage Reminder for Hyak Klone​

Hyak Klone does not provide backup, persistent storage, or archival storage. All data on Klone exists as a single copy and is therefore vulnerable to loss due to hardware failure, filesystem issues, facility damage, or natural disasters. Users are solely responsible for transferring important results to external systems (for example, Kopah S3 or Lolo Archive) during the course of their project if persistent or long-term storage is required. Retaining long-term or archival data on Klone is against administrative guidance.

Upcoming Events & Workshops​

  • Quantum Hackathon with IBM Quantum - Join us on Thursday, May 14, from 10:00 AM–5 PM in the UW Tower South Cafeteria for a quantum computing hackathon on Quantum Machine Learning co-organized with IBM Quantum. This hands-on coding event will explore quantum computing through guided challenges and collaborative problem-solving. Participants will work with IBM Quantum tools to experiment with quantum algorithms on real hardware and simulators. This event is open to anyone interested in learning by doing—no previous quantum experience required. Lunch will be provided for participants.
  • AWS Kiro - Getting Started from Build to Operate - Join us on Tuesday, May 19, from 10:00 AM–4 PM in CSE2/Gates Hall Room 371 for a hands-on session where you'll explore the capabilities of Kiro, an AI-powered assistant designed to accelerate software development and cloud operations. Lunch will be provided for participants.

Stay informed by subscribing to our mailing list and the UWIT Research Computing Events Calendar.

Office Hours​

  • Cloud Computing Office Hours - Every other Tuesday at 10am on Zoom. Check our events Calendar.
  • Winter AWS Office hours – AWS solutions architects will be on Zoom to answer your questions and help you troubleshoot.
  • Hyak and Tillicum Office Hours:
    • Wednesdays at 2pm on Zoom. Attendees need only register once and can attend any of the occurrences with the Zoom link that will arrive via email. Click here to Register for Wednesday Zoom Office Hours.
    • Thursdays at 2pm in person in eScience. (address: WRF Data Science Studio, UW Physics/Astronomy Tower, 6th Floor, 3910 15th Ave NE, Seattle, WA 98195).

External Training Opportunities​

Having trouble? Get Research Computing support.

Happy Computing,

Hyak Team

February 2026 Maintenance Update

· 5 min read
Kristen Finch
Kristen Finch
Director of Research Computing Solutions

During this month’s scheduled maintenance window, we worked on a set of planned upgrades and routine updates across Klone and Tillicum aimed at improving system stability, security, and overall performance. As with any maintenance, some items may require additional follow-up work in future windows. The next scheduled maintenance window is Tuesday, March 10, 2026 (the second Tuesday of the month).

Notable Updates​

  • System-wide firmware upgrades to improve stability and security
  • Upgrade of Globus on Klone to the latest stable release
  • Updates to Open OnDemand on both Klone and Tillicum
  • Package updates and node reboots on Tillicum, focused on faster system recovery and improved uptime
warning

Important Storage Reminder for Hyak Klone​

Hyak Klone does not provide backup, persistent storage, or archival storage. All data on Klone exists as a single copy and is therefore vulnerable to loss due to hardware failure, filesystem issues, facility damage, or natural disasters. Users are solely responsible for transferring important results to external systems (for example, Kopah S3 or Lolo Archive) during the course of their project if persistent or long-term storage is required. Retaining long-term or archival data on Klone is against administrative guidance.

Winter 2026 Computing Workshops​

Stay informed by subscribing to our mailing list and the UWIT Research Computing Events Calendar.

Office Hours​

  • NEW Cloud Computing Office Hours:
    • Need support with your research or project using cloud resources? Attend Cloud Office Hours to get help navigating University of Washington cloud services and storage solutions (Amazon Web Services, Google Cloud Platform, and Microsoft Azure).
    • Every other Tuesday at 10am on Zoom - Check our events Calendar
  • Winter AWS Office hours – AWS solutions architects will be on Zoom to answer your questions and help you troubleshoot.
  • Hyak and Tillicum Office Hours:
    • Wednesdays at 2pm on Zoom. Attendees need only register once and can attend any of the occurrences with the Zoom link that will arrive via email. Click here to Register for Wednesday Zoom Office Hours.
    • Thursdays at 2pm in person in eScience. (address: WRF Data Science Studio, UW Physics/Astronomy Tower, 6th Floor, 3910 15th Ave NE, Seattle, WA 98195).
  • See our office hours schedule, subscribe to event updates, and bookmark our UWIT Research Computing Events Calendar.

Additional Training Opportunities​

Computing Training from eScience​

eScience logo.
  • The eScience Institute is holding a Software Carpentry workshop on February 17th-20th from 9:00 a.m. to noon PT each day on Zoom. The workshop focuses on software tools to make researchers more effective, allowing them to automate research tasks, automatically track their research over time, and use programming in Python to accelerate their research and make it more reproducible. Register here.
  • Programming from Zero to Hero! The advent of AI-assisted programming (sometimes called “vibe programming”) enables researchers with little or no programming experience to create running programs. This is often referred to as programming from zero. However, codes that run are often not codes that produce the correct result. This lecture introduces techniques for AI-assisted programming for checking correctness, correcting errors, and adding new features. Some prior programming experience is desirable, but not essential. We will be developing Python programs using Google Colab. You should check that you have access to this free service. Please visit our Google Form to register for the February 23, 2-4pm event at the eScience Institute WRF Data Studio.
  • The A.I. ABCs is an eScience workshop that surveys the many AI/ML tools available for analyzing structured data. The workshop is targeted at researchers with some programming experience. The workshop will take place 9:00 a.m. to noon PT each day from Monday March 2nd through Thursday March 5th. Register here.

External Training Opportunities​

Having trouble? Get Research Computing support.

Happy Computing,

Hyak Team

January 2026 Maintenance Update

· 5 min read
Kristen Finch
Kristen Finch
Director of Research Computing Solutions

During this month’s scheduled maintenance window, we completed several system upgrades and routine updates across Klone and Tillicum to improve stability, performance, and security. The next maintenance is scheduled for Tuesday, February 10, 2026 (the second Tuesday of the month).

Notable Updates​

In addition to routine image updates and security patches, we upgraded:

  • Klone login node process enforcement to Arbiter 3 and paused user notifications and Klone and Tillicum (read more below).
  • Klone has been upgraded from cgroups v1 to cgroups v2. This upgrade shouldn't be a noticeable for most users, but in some cases memory accounting under cgroups v2 is unified and includes all file-backed page cache. This difference may make memory usage appear higher or "inflated" compared to v1 in niche cases and some specific Java-based applications.
  • Slurm version 25.11.1 on both clusters.
  • Duo 2FA on Klone (Tillicum already up to date). This change aligns with ongoing UW security upgrades.
Action Required

All University of Washington technology users must update Duo Mobile to version 4.85.0 or later on all registered devices by February 2, 2026. Users who cannot update their devices must register a platform authenticator, a new phone/tablet, or request a hardware token from UWIT. The Duo phone call authentication method is being phased out by the University and no longer available for logging into Klone or Tillicum. 

Check your device’s Duo Mobile application version.

Login Node Usage & Arbiter Enforcement (Important Reminder)​

Login nodes are shared community resources intended for:

  • Transferring data
  • Navigating the filesystem
  • Editing and developing code
  • Submitting jobs to the scheduler

As part of this maintenance, Klone was upgraded to Arbiter 3, a tool which automates login node monitoring and enforces usage limits to ensure stability and ensure fair access.

Arbiter monitors resource usage on login nodes and will:

  • Slow or halt processes that exceed permitted thresholds.
  • Terminate processes outright if necessary.

Arbitor email notifications halted​

Previously, users received email notifications for each offending process when Arbiter thresholds were exceeded. We have found these notifications are not an effective way to communicate our policies. To avoid notification fatigue, we have stopped sending these emails.

This does not mean enforcement has stopped. Arbiter continues to actively limit, halt, or kill processes on login nodes as needed.

Be a good HPC-citizen - do not connect to a login node

Connecting directly to the login node using tools like VS Code Remote-SSH frequently leads to Arbiter intervention and could cause login node instability since background server processes persist beyond an active session.

Instead, follow our recommended best practices and set up your ProxyJump to connect your local VS Code to Klone or use the streamlined option offered by our Open OnDemand interactive application for VS Code.

Winter 2026 Computing Workshops​

Stay informed by subscribing to our mailing list and the UWIT Research Computing Events Calendar.

Office Hours​

Additional Training Opportunities​

Having trouble? Get Research Computing support.

Happy Computing,

Hyak Team

December 2025 Maintenance Update

· 6 min read
Kristen Finch
Kristen Finch
Director of Research Computing Solutions

During this month’s maintenance window, we conducted routine security updates and performed hardware consolidation in the Data Center. The next maintenance is scheduled for Tuesday, January 13, 2025 (the second Tuesday of the month).

Notable Updates​

  • Node image updates – Routine updates and security patches.
  • We also installed new modules:
    • gcc/15.2.0
    • conda/Miniforge3-25.9.1-0 (read more below)

New Feature: Conda Module Now Available on Hyak Klone​

This month, we’re excited to announce that the Conda module is now available on Hyak Klone. Previously offered only on Tillicum, the module has now passed testing on Klone and is ready for full use. We highly recommend it as the primary way to manage Python environments on Hyak Klone due to its simplicity, reliability, and improved storage efficiency.

Using the Conda module means:

  • No miniconda installation required. Just load the module and start creating environments.
  • More efficient storage usage, leading to fewer issues with home directory quota limits.
  • Cleaner, isolated Python environments, easier debugging, reproducibility, and environment cleanup.

Below is a quick guide to help you get started.

Conda Environments​

Conda allows you to create isolated environments that include specific versions of Python, libraries, and tools.

Load Conda Module​

First, load the Conda module:

# remember on Klone, module commands are only available on compute nodes
module load conda

After loading the module, the conda command becomes available. You can now create and manage your own environments.

Create and Manage Conda Environments​

For example, create an environment named "myenv" with Python 3.12 and the NumPy package:

conda create --name myenv python=3.12 numpy

Activate the environment to use it:

conda activate myenv

List your available Conda environments:

conda env list

Remove an environment:

conda env remove --name myenv

To install additional packages in myenv environment, use conda install. Conda has several default channels that will be used first for package installation. If you want to use another channel beyond the defaults channel, you can, but we suggest that you select your channel carefully.

warning

By default, the system Conda stores environments in your home directory ($HOME/.conda/envs). We recommend installing Conda environments to your project directory under /gscratch/<group>/<myfolder> due to the limited storage space (10 GB) in your home directory. Please apply the steps by following the instructions below carefully.

Customize Environment and Package Locations​

There are two ways to specify where your Conda environments and packages are stored.

Option 1. Use --prefix for explicit paths​

Manually set the path to your Conda environment by --prefix and always activate your Conda environment with full path.

module load conda
conda create --prefix /gscratch/<myproject>/<myfolder>/myenv python=3.12
conda activate /gscratch/<myproject>/<myfolder>/myenv
conda install numpy scipy matplotlib
Option 2. Configure defaults in $HOME/.condarc​

To make this the default behavior, edit (or create) the file $HOME/.condarc:

envs_dirs:
  - /gscratch/<myproject>/<myfolder>/conda/envs
pkgs_dirs:
  - /gscratch/<myproject>/<myfolder>/conda/pkgs

This will place all of your environments and package caches in this directory by default, and you won't have to worry about specifying the full prefix to your environment when installing it or activating it.

Installing Packages with pip​

You can use pip inside a Conda environment to install Python packages. Our suggested use of pip is inside a conda environment. For example:

module load conda
conda activate myenv
pip install seaborn

This ensures that pip installs packages into the active Conda environment — not globally — making it easy to clean up completely when you are done.

See the best practices from Anaconda for using pip with Conda and pip documentation for more information.

New Tutorials Now Available​

This fall, our training sessions focused primarily on Tillicum, our new GPU-accelerated service. However, the core skills and workflows we covered apply equally well to Hyak Klone. With only minor adjustments to file paths or partitions, Klone users can benefit directly from these materials because the overall computing environments are very similar and the tools (modules, Slurm, containers, Python workflows, data management) work the same across both systems. We will offer more Hyak Klone trainings in 2026.

Stay informed by subscribing to our mailing list and the UWIT Research Computing Events Calendar.

Office Hours​

External Training Opportunities​

  • The NSF LEVEL UP AI (Launching an Educational Vision to Expand Leadership, Understanding, and Progress in Artificial Intelligence) project brings together educators, researchers, and professionals across the computing community to build a shared vision for expanding capacity and access to AI education. 01/07/26 - 12:00 AM to 01/08/26 - 11:59 PM EST Learn more and register.
  • 2 Postdoc positions in AI with deadlines arriving soon.
  • The eScience Institute offers the annual Winter School to students and lecturers interested in developing basic skills and knowledge of the tools used in data science. Gaining literacy in topics such as Python, R, Jupyter, and reproducible environments can be beneficial beyond STEM, including areas like global or public health, public policy, social sciences, social work, international relations, and business management. There are no prerequisites to take this course and there is no credit offered. Only UW faculty, staff, students (undergraduates and graduates) from all three campuses are welcome to apply. Deadline to apply: February 4th, 2026.

Having trouble? Get Research Computing support.

Happy Computing,

Hyak Team

November 2025 Maintenance Update

· 3 min read
Kristen Finch
Kristen Finch
Director of Research Computing Solutions

This month’s maintenance window was used for internal testing and system improvement work. We also added Open OnDemand functionality that will enable new users to create and initialize their home directories from the web page. Lastly, we automated the Hyak Klone intracluster SSH key setup process, reducing the manual steps needed for workflows that move between nodes.

Stay informed by subscribing to our mailing list and the UWIT Research Computing Events Calendar. The next maintenance is scheduled for Tuesday, December 9, 2025 (the second Tuesday of the month).

Upcoming Events​

  • Tillicum Containers Workshop November 13 1-3pm – even if you aren’t a Tillicum user, we will review relevant commands and protocols for containers that can be applied to Hyak Klone.
  • AWS Generative AI Unicorn Party GameDay November 20 12:30-7pm – A hands-on competition where you’ll team up to build and deploy real AI solutions using AWS’s latest generative AI tools. Solve fun challenges, create magical applications, and win prizes!
  • Docker Containers Workshop December 2 1-3pm – learn the basics of containerization for research computing using Docker.

Office Hours​

  • AWS Office hours – AWS solutions architects will be on Zoom to answer your questions and help you troubleshoot.
  • Hyak and Tillicum Office Hours:
    • Wednesdays at 2pm on Zoom. Attendees need only register once and can attend any of the occurrences with the Zoom link that will arrive via email. Click here to Register for Wednesday Zoom Office Hours.
    • Thursdays at 2pm in person in eScience. (address: WRF Data Science Studio, UW Physics/Astronomy Tower, 6th Floor, 3910 15th Ave NE, Seattle, WA 98195).
  • See our office hours schedule, subscribe to event updates, and bookmark our UWIT Research Computing Events Calendar.

If you would like to request 1 on 1 help, please send an email to help@uw.edu with "Hyak Office Hour" in the subject line to coordinate a meeting.

External Training Opportunities​

  • Cloud Clinic - AI Access in the Cloud 11/18/25 - 2:00 PM - 2:30 PM EST Learn more and register.
  • ACES: Python for Data Scientists 11/25/25 - 11:00 AM - 5:00 PM EST Learn more and register.
  • COMPLECS: Batch Computing (Part III) High-Throughput and Many-Task Computing - Slurm Edition 12/04/25 - 2:00 PM - 3:30 PM EST Learn more and register.
  • Globus and ACCESS: Automating Data and Compute Management Tasks with Globus and ACCESS Resources 12/05/25 - 2:00 PM - 3:00 PM EST Learn more and register.
  • R for HPC 12/09/25 - 2:00 PM - 3:30 PM EST Learn more and register.
  • SpinUp Workshop - December 10 - 18, 2025 SpinUp Workshops are designed to help NERSC users learn how to build their own services on NERSC’s Spin platform. Learn more and register.
  • NERSC, in collaboration with NVIDIA and the OpenACC organization, will host an End-to-End AI for Science bootcamp on December 10 - 11, 2025.
  • The NSF LEVEL UP AI (Launching an Educational Vision to Expand Leadership, Understanding, and Progress in Artificial Intelligence) project brings together educators, researchers, and professionals across the computing community to build a shared vision for expanding capacity and access to AI education. 01/07/26 - 12:00 AM to 01/08/26 - 11:59 PM EST Learn more and register.

Having trouble? Get Research Computing support.

Happy Computing,

Hyak Team

October 2025 Maintenance Update

· 3 min read
Kristen Finch
Kristen Finch
Director of Research Computing Solutions

During October’s maintenance, we refreshed the operating system images for both login and compute nodes and made improvements to our monitoring stack.

Stay informed by subscribing to our mailing list and the UWIT Research Computing Events Calendar. The next maintenance is scheduled for Tuesday, November 11, 2025 (the second Tuesday of the month).

Notable Updates​

  • Node image updates – Routine updates and security patches.
  • Improvements to our monitoring stack.

Tillicum GPU Cluster​

General availability for Tillicum GPU Cluster begins tomorrow October 15, 2025.

Office Hours​

  • Wednesdays at 2pm on Zoom. Attendees need only register once and can attend any of the occurrences with the Zoom link that will arrive via email. Click here to Register for Wednesday Zoom Office Hours.
  • Thursdays at 2pm in person in eScience. (address: WRF Data Science Studio, UW Physics/Astronomy Tower, 6th Floor, 3910 15th Ave NE, Seattle, WA 98195).
  • See our office hours schedule, subscribe to event updates, and bookmark our UWIT Research Computing Events Calendar.

If you would like to request 1 on 1 help, please send an email to help@uw.edu with "Hyak Office Hour" in the subject line to coordinate a meeting.

Upcoming Events​

Featured - AWS GameDay Series​

Join the AWS Generative AI Challenge Series! 🦄 Power up your cloud skills and get ready for the AWS Generative AI Unicorn Party GameDay on November 20 (12:30–7pm)!

Start your journey with our Warm-Up Workshops — designed to build your AWS knowledge and confidence before the big day:

Then drop into Office Hours (on Zoom) on Nov 12 or Nov 19 at 11am to get answers and fine-tune your strategy.

External Training Opportunities​

Questions about Hyak Klone, Tillicum, or any other UWIT Research Computing Service? Fill out our Research Computing Consulting intake form. We are here to help!

Happy Computing,

Hyak Team

September 2025 Maintenance Update

· 6 min read
Kristen Finch
Kristen Finch
Director of Research Computing Solutions

During September’s maintenance, we refreshed the operating system images for both login and compute nodes, upgraded our NVIDIA driver, and performed network configuration steps to support Tillicum GPU cluster.

Stay informed by subscribing to our mailing list and the UWIT Research Computing Events Calendar. The next maintenance is scheduled for Tuesday, October 14, 2025 (the second Tuesday of the month).

Notable Updates​

  • Node image updates – Routine updates and security patches.
  • NVIDIA Driver upgrade to 580.82.07 – this upgrade enables CUDA 13.
  • Network configuration changes to support Tillicum.

A New Look!​

We continue to make updates to our documentation website to make sure you have access to everything you need from UWIT Research Computing. Check out these pages and features and let us know what you think by emailing help@uw.edu with "hyak.uw.edu" in the subject line:

  • Home page content cards - find content cards that serve as quick links to documentation, learning resources, and support.
  • Learn page - the new home for our training and video library either linking directly to videos or tutorial pages.
  • Pricing menu - our pricing menu now leads to our knowledge base articles for each of our services. Learn more about your compute and storage options from these resources.
  • UWIT Research Computing Landing Page - this documentation website (hyak.uw.edu) is shifting to a focus on documentation alone, to learn more about our services, use the Pricing menu mentioned above or visit our Research Computing Landing Page on the UWIT website.

Office Hours​

If you would like to request 1 on 1 help, please send an email to help@uw.edu with "Hyak Office Hour" in the subject line to coordinate a meeting.

AWS GameDay​

Save the date! Research Computing Club along with UWIT Research Computing and eScience will be hosting a AWS GameDay on Thursday November 20, 2025. Registration link coming soon!

What is it? An epic hands-on competition where you'll build and deploy real AI solutions using AWS's latest generative AI services. Work in teams to solve fun challenges and create magical applications!

Why Should You Join?

  • Get practical experience with cutting-edge AI technology
  • Build your AWS cloud resume
  • Network with tech industry professionals
  • Win awesome prizes and swag
  • Free food and energy drinks

UW Community Opportunities​

  • The Data Science and AI Accelerator pairs eScience Institute data scientists with researchers from any field of study to work on focused, collaborative projects. Collaborations may center on analysis of an existing dataset to answer a specific research question, an implementation of software for processing or analyzing data, data visualization tools, or tools for data interpretation. Accelerator Projects may be submitted at any time. Projects for Winter 2026 must be received by October 26th, 2025. LEARN MORE HERE.
  • The eScience Institute invites applications for the title of “UW Data Science Postdoctoral Fellow”. As a former Data Science Fellow, I can say this is a great program with opportunities for funding for travel and more! Applications will be accepted and evaluated twice per year with due dates of 12pm midnight PT on September 15th and March 15th. LEARN MORE HERE..
  • DubHacks - October 18 - October 19, 2025 - DubHacks 2025 takes you back to where it all began—the childhood bedroom. A space for imagination, curiosity, and bold ideas. Now, with code instead of crayons, you get to build what makes your younger self proud. No limits, just pure creativity. What will you create when you let yourself play?

External Training Opportunities​

  • Intro to R: Tidyverse, ggplot2, dplyr 09/12/25 - 1:00 PM - 2:00 PM EDT Learn more and register.
  • CU-RMACC Webinars: Introduction to AI for All 09/15/25 - 12:00 PM - 1:30 PM EDT Learn more and register.
  • ACES: Python for New Programmers 09/16/25 - 10:00AM-4:00PM CT Learn more and register.
  • COMPLECS: Data Transfer 09/18/25 - 2:00 PM - 3:30 PM EDT Learn more and register.
  • ACES: AI TechLab in Jupyter Notebooks 09/23/25 - 1:30PM-4:00PM CT Learn more and register.
  • ALCF Hands-on HPC Workshop – Sep 23 – Sep 25, 2025 The workshop is designed to advance users’ skills in high-performance computing and artificial intelligence on ALCF systems (Polaris and Aurora). The virtual week (Sept 23-25) covers the fundamentals of building, compiling, and running applications. Learn more and register.
  • Globus Office Hours 09/24/25 - 4:00 PM - 5:00 PM EDT Learn more and register.
  • ACES: Python for Programmers New to Python 09/30/25 - 10:00AM-4:00PM CT Learn more and register.
  • Applied Parallel Programming with TACC 10/01/25 - 10:00 AM to 10/08/25 - 5:00 PM EDT Learn more and register.
  • ParaView - Scientific Data Analysis and Visualization Training – Oct 2, 2025, 10 am – 2 pm PDT ParaView is an open-source, multi-platform scientific data analysis and visualization tool that enables the analysis and visualization of extremely large datasets. This course provides an overview of ParaView, including how to visualize and process data. Learn more and register.
  • COMPLECS: Interactive Computing 10/09/25 - 2:00 PM - 3:30 PM EDT Learn more and register.
  • COMPLECS: Linux Shell Scripting 10/23/25 - 2:00 PM - 3:30 PM EDT Learn more and register.
  • COMPLECS: Using Regular Expressions with Linux Tools 11/06/25 - 2:00 PM - 3:30 PM EST Learn more and register.
  • COMPLECS: Batch Computing (Part III) High-Throughput and Many-Task Computing - Slurm Edition 12/04/25 - 2:00 PM - 3:30 PM EST Learn more and register.
  • R for HPC 12/04/25 - 2:00 PM - 3:30 PM EST Learn more and register.

Questions about Hyak Klone, Tillicum, or any other UWIT Research Computing Service? Fill out our Research Computing Consulting intake form. We are here to help!

Happy Computing,

Hyak Team

August 2025 Maintenance Update

· 6 min read
Kristen Finch
Kristen Finch
Director of Research Computing Solutions

During August’s maintenance, we refreshed the operating system images for both login and compute nodes, upgraded Slurm to version 25.5.2, and upgraded Klone's filesystem (GPFS) for increased stability. We also introduced a new Globus OneDrive connector, making it easier than ever to transfer files between OneDrive and Hyak Klone or Kopah Storage.

Stay informed by subscribing to our mailing list and the UWIT Research Computing Events Calendar. The next maintenance is scheduled for Tuesday, September 9, 2025 (the second Tuesday of the month).

Notable Updates​

  • Node image updates – Routine updates plus installation of new Slurm utilities that we will test for job efficiency monitoring.
  • Slurm upgrade to 25.5.2 – Resolves a bugs the --gres flag allowed resources to be allocated to more than one job in version 25.05.0 and fixes X11 forwarding. Read more about this version.
  • GPFS upgrade to 5.1.9.11 – Improves stability and includes several bug fixes. Read more about this version.

New Features​

Globus OneDrive Connector – UWIT Research Computing has added OneDrive as a connector to Globus, making transfers between OneDrive and Hyak Klone or OneDrive and Kopah Storage easier than ever before!

Search Uw OneDrive to utilize the connector.

Things to note​

  • Did you know that the UW Community are eligible for 5TB of storage on OneDrive as part of the Office 365 Suite? Click here to learn more.
  • While OneDrive is HIPAA and FERPA compatible, encryption is not enforced for Globus transfers on any of our connectors (OneDrive, Kopah, Klone). As a reminder, Klone and Kopah are NOT aligned with HIPPA, please keep this in mind now that OneDrive can transfer to either cluster.
  • Sharing with external partners is not enabled for our OneDrive or Klone connectors via Globus. Sharing is permitted for Kopah.
  • Read more

Office Hours​

  • Wednesdays at 2pm on Zoom. Attendees need only register once and can attend any of the occurrences with the Zoom link that will arrive via email. Click here to Register for Zoom Office Hours.
  • Thursdays at 2pm in person in eScience. (address: WRF Data Science Studio, UW Physics/Astronomy Tower, 6th Floor, 3910 15th Ave NE, Seattle, WA 98195).
  • See our office hours schedule, subscribe to event updates, and bookmark our UWIT Research Computing Events Calendar.

If you would like to request 1 on 1 help, please send an email to help@uw.edu with "Hyak Office Hour" in the subject line to coordinate a meeting.

UW Community Opportunities​

  • The Data Science and AI Accelerator pairs eScience Institute data scientists with researchers from any field of study to work on focused, collaborative projects. Collaborations may center on analysis of an existing dataset to answer a specific research question, an implementation of software for processing or analyzing data, data visualization tools, or tools for data interpretation. Accelerator Projects may be submitted at any time. Projects for Fall 2025 must be received by August 14th, 2025. LEARN MORE HERE.
  • Applications for the CSDE Data Science and Demography Training program are due Friday, August 22nd by 5pm. An information session will take place Wednesday, August 13th at 10:00 a.m. DETAILS HERE.
  • Cloud Clinic August 14 10-11am - guest presenter Niris Okram from AWS presenting on “The Utility of Capacity Blocks: Optimizing computing horsepower per budget dollar.” This will be followed by a short presentation on building small-scale (“Littlest”) JupyterHubs. LEARN MORE HERE.
  • DubHacks - October 18 - October 19, 2025 - DubHacks 2025 takes you back to where it all began—the childhood bedroom. A space for imagination, curiosity, and bold ideas. Now, with code instead of crayons, you get to build what makes your younger self proud. No limits, just pure creativity. What will you create when you let yourself play?

External Training Opportunities​

  • Automating Research with Globus: The Modern Research IT Platform - Aug. 18, 2025, 9 a.m. – 12 p.m. (Pacific Time) This workshop introduces Globus Flows and its role in automating research workflows. Participants will explore data portals, science gateways, and commons, enabling seamless data discovery and access. Enroll here.
  • CU-RMACC Webinars: Should I be Scared of AI? Aug. 18, 2025 - 3:00 PM - 4:00 PM EDT Throughout history, new technologies have sparked both excitement and fear—AI is no different. In this talk, Dr. Shelley Knuth, Assistant Vice Chancellor for Research Computing at the University of Colorado explores the common fears surrounding artificial intelligence, why we feel them, and how we can shift our perspective to focus on positive outcomes. We’ll look at practical ways to address risks, embrace innovation, and move forward with AI as a powerful tool rather than something to fear. Learn more and register.
  • COMPLECS: Batch Computing (Part II): Getting Started with Batch Job Scheduling 08/21/25 - 2:00 PM - 3:30 PM EDT Learn more and register.
  • NUG Community Call: A Birds-Eye View of Using Cuda with C/C++ on Perlmutter (Part 2) August 27, 2025, 11 a.m. - 12:30 p.m. PDT - In this two-part training series, users will be introduced to the basics of using CUDA on Perlmutter at NERSC. The training will focus on the basics of the Perlmutter architecture and NVIDIA GPUs, programming concepts with CUDA using C/C++. Event 2 focuses on advance kernel and custom cuda kernels in C/C++. Learn more and register.
  • COMPLECS: Linux Tools for Text Processing 09/04/25 - 2:00 PM - 3:30 PM EDT Learn more and register.
  • Python for HPC 09/09/25 - 2:00 PM - 3:30 PM EDT Learn more and register.
  • COMPLECS: Data Transfer 09/18/25 - 2:00 PM - 3:30 PM EDT Learn more and register.
  • COMPLECS: Interactive Computing 10/09/25 - 2:00 PM - 3:30 PM EDT Learn more and register.
  • COMPLECS: Linux Shell Scripting 10/23/25 - 2:00 PM - 3:30 PM EDT Learn more and register.
  • COMPLECS: Using Regular Expressions with Linux Tools 11/06/25 - 2:00 PM - 3:30 PM EST Learn more and register.
  • COMPLECS: Batch Computing (Part III) High-Throughput and Many-Task Computing - Slurm Edition 12/04/25 - 2:00 PM - 3:30 PM EST Learn more and register.
  • R for HPC 12/04/25 - 2:00 PM - 3:30 PM EST Learn more and register.

Positions​

  • Two PhD positions in Artificial Intelligence - in collaboration with German Aerospace Center and TU Dresden, Germany. Deadline to apply: 27 August 2025. Apply Now!

Questions about Hyak Klone, Tillicum, or any other UWIT Research Computing Service? Fill out our Research Computing Consulting intake form. We are here to help!

Happy Computing,

Hyak Team

July 2025 Maintenance Update

· 6 min read
Kristen Finch
Kristen Finch
Director of Research Computing Solutions

During June's maintenance, we've refreshed the operating system images for both login and compute nodes including the newest version of Slurm, and we have implemented some changes critical to provisioning our new GPU system, Tillicum (launching in Fall 2025). Stay informed by subscribing to our mailing list and the UWIT Research Computing Events Calendar. The next maintenance is scheduled for Tuesday August 12, 2025 (AKA the 2nd Tuesday of the month).

Notable Updates​

  • Routine package updates – images for both the login and compute nodes have been refreshed to incorporate the latest Linux OS security updates and system patches.
  • Slurm Upgrade to version 25.05 – Slurm 25.05 introduces encrypted job communication, improved support for complex network topologies, and new features like optional TLS, job start events in Kafka, and better license request handling. While you won’t notice major changes in your day-to-day workflow, this upgrade improves security, enables more flexible job scheduling, and lays the groundwork for new features in the future. Learn more from Slurm's release notes.
  • SSHD changes – We’ve updated some behind-the-scenes SSH settings to improve login handling. These changes help ensure account access stays consistent across Klone and Tillicum, but you won’t need to do anything differently when connecting.

New Training Videos​

This month we uploaded several training videos to our YouTube Playlist that may be of interest:

Summer Office Hours​

  • Wednesdays at 2pm on Zoom. Attendees need only register once and can attend any of the occurrences with the Zoom link that will arrive via email. Click here to Register for Zoom Office Hours.
  • Thursdays at 2pm in person in eScience. (address: WRF Data Science Studio, UW Physics/Astronomy Tower, 6th Floor, 3910 15th Ave NE, Seattle, WA 98195).
  • See our office hours schedule, subscribe to event updates, and bookmark our UWIT Research Computing Events Calendar.

If you would like to request 1 on 1 help, please send an email to help@uw.edu with "Hyak Office Hour" in the subject line to coordinate a meeting.

External Training Opportunities​

  • NVIDIA Workshop: Building Transformer-Based Natural Language Processing Applications - 07/09/25 - 10:00 AM - 6:00 PM EDT Learn how to apply and fine-tune a Transformer-based Deep Learning model to Natural Language Processing (NLP) tasks. In this course, you'll: · Construct a Transformer neural network in PyTorch · Build a named-entity recognition (NER) application with BERT · Deploy the NER application with ONNX and TensorRT to a Triton inference server Upon completion, you’ll be proficient in task-agnostic applications of Transformer-based models. Learn More and Register.

  • COMPLECS: Intermediate Linux - 07/10/25 - 2:00 PM - 3:30 PM EDT Knowledge of Linux is indispensable for using advanced CI. While GUIs are becoming more prevalent, being able to work at the command line interface (CLI) provides the greatest power and flexibility. In this session, we assume that participants are already comfortable with basic Linux operations such as creating, deleting and renaming files, and navigating between directories. Topics covered include the filesystem hierarchy, file permissions, symbolic and hard links, wildcards and file globbing, finding commands and files, environment variables and modules, configuration files, aliases, and history. Learn More and Register.

  • Codee for Beginners: Automatic Code Optimization with Codee - July 29, 2025, 9 - 10:30 a.m. PDT This is an introductory webinar showing how Codee’s AutoFix feature can automatically accelerate computational kernels, representing performance hotspots, on both CPUs and GPUs. With AutoFix, developers can simply instruct Codee to insert OpenMP, OpenACC, and compiler-specific directives, as well as language-specific constructs (e.g., Fortran’s “do concurrent”) to vectorize, parallelize, and offload compute-intensive loops. AutoFix can even combine optimization techniques, such as multithreading and vectorization for nested loops, or OpenACC alongside OpenMP to maximize compatibility, allowing even novice programmers to write expert-level parallel code.

  • NUG Community Call: A Birds-Eye View of Using Cuda with C/C++ on Perlmutter (Part 1) - July 30, 2025, 11 a.m. - 12:30 p.m. PDT NERSC will be hosting a 2-part event series that focuses on using learning introductory GPU Programming concepts with CUDA on Perlmutter at NERSC. In this two-part training series, users will be introduced to the basics of using CUDA on Perlmutter at NERSC. The training will focus on the basics of the Perlmutter architecture and NVIDIA GPUs, programming concepts with CUDA using C/C++. This training is also open to non-NERSC users. Learn More and Register.

  • Accelerating and Scaling Python for HPC - August 8, 2025, 9 a.m. - 5 p.m. PDT In this interactive tutorial you’ll learn how to write, debug, profile, and optimize high-performance, multi-node GPU applications in Python. You'll learn and master: CuPy for drop-in GPU acceleration of NumPy workflows; Nvmath-python for high level API for integrating Python with NVIDIA math libraries; Numba for writing custom kernels that match the performance of C++ and Fortran; and mpi4py for scaling across thousands of nodes. Along the way we’ll learn how to profile our code, debug tricky kernels, and leverage foundational and domain-specific accelerated libraries. Learn More and Register.

  • Automating Research with Globus: The Modern Research IT Platform - Aug. 18, 2025, 9 a.m. – 12 p.m. (Pacific Time) This workshop introduces Globus Flows and its role in automating research workflows. Participants will explore data portals, science gateways, and commons, enabling seamless data discovery and access. Enroll here.

Questions about Hyak Klone, Tillicum, or any other UWIT Research Computing Service? Fill out our Research Computing Consulting intake form. We are here to help!

Happy Computing,

Hyak Team

June 2025 Maintenance Update

· 6 min read
Kristen Finch
Kristen Finch
Director of Research Computing Solutions

During June's maintenance, we've refreshed the operating system images for both login and compute nodes, and we've responded to user feedback with a solution to make Cron jobs persistent. Good news: we are holding office hours all summer to support your research grind. Stay informed by subscribing to our mailing list and the UWIT Research Computing Events Calendar. The next maintenance is scheduled for Tuesday July 8, 2025 (AKA the 2nd Tuesday of the month).

Notable Updates​

  • Routine package updates - images for both the login and compute nodes have been refreshed to incorporate the latest Linux OS security updates and system patches.
  • Slurm database lock timeout settings adjusted to match documentation best practices.
  • Cron job system improvements – our users provided feedback that their Cron jobs were being lost after monthly maintenance. We resolve this:
    • User crontabs moved to GPFS (/gscratch) for persistence across maintenance
    • Only one login node will now run user cron jobs (preventing duplication)
    • Users will need to re-create their crontabs one more time after this maintenance
    • This is intended to be a permanent fix—no more resets in future maintenance
    • FYI - Cron jobs are recurring scheduled tasks run by the system using each user's crontab.
    • We recommend scrontab for routine operations. Learn more from Slurm. Learn more from NERSC.

Action Required: Research Computing Club (stf account) Members​

To keep your access to RCC-supported Hyak accounts, please fill out the following form by Friday, June 13, 2025:

2025 RCC Usage Check-In Form

This short form is required for Student Technology Fee reporting and ensures the RCC can continue offering free computing resources to UW students. It only takes a few minutes, just tell us how you’ve used RCC resources this past year. Thanks for helping us keep RCC resources funded and accessible!

Spotlight: Kopah Object Storage​

Our Kopah S3-compatible storage service is available to all campus researchers and staff. It’s a flexible, scalable storage solution to complement your research computing portfolio.

If you missed our recent Data Storage Day on May 5, we’ve published the full set of demonstration videos on our YouTube Playlist. Topics covered and relevant links:

Whether you're just getting started or looking to expand your use of campus storage resources, this is a great place to learn more.

Summer Office Hours​

  • Wednesdays at 2pm on Zoom. Attendees need only register once and can attend any of the occurrences with the Zoom link that will arrive via email. Click here to Register for Zoom Office Hours.
  • Thursdays at 2pm in person in eScience. (address: WRF Data Science Studio, UW Physics/Astronomy Tower, 6th Floor, 3910 15th Ave NE, Seattle, WA 98195).
  • See our office hours schedule, subscribe to event updates, and bookmark our UWIT Research Computing Events Calendar.

If you would like to request 1 on 1 help, please send an email to help@uw.edu with "Hyak Office Hour" in the subject line to coordinate a meeting.

Opportunities​

Computing Training from eScience and more​

eScience logo.

Introduction to Text Mining - Friday, June 27, 2025, 2 – 3 p.m. Open Scholarship Commons Presentation Space, Discover the power of text mining in this interactive workshop, where you will learn techniques for collecting, cleaning, and analyzing textual data through hands-on exercises using Python and Jupyter Notebooks. In this session, you will: Learn methods for scraping and extracting text from web sources.

  • Gain skills in preprocessing textual data, such as removing HTML tags, tokenization, and handling stop words.
  • Explore techniques for visualizing and analyzing word frequencies to uncover hidden themes and trends.
  • Use deep learning models to identify relevant text by analyzing semantic similarity.
  • Register here

External Training Opportunities​

  • COMPLECS: Code Migration - Thursday, June 12, 2025 - 11:00 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. (Pacific Time) We will cover typical approaches to moving your computations to HPC resources: using applications/software packages already available on the system through Linux environment modules; compiling code from source with information on compilers, libraries, and optimization flags to use; setting up Python and R environments; using conda-based environments; managing workflows; and using containerized solutions via Singularity. Register here!
  • Automating Research with Globus: The Modern Research IT Platform - Aug. 18, 2025, 9 a.m. – 12 p.m. (Pacific Time) This workshop introduces Globus Flows and its role in automating research workflows. Participants will explore data portals, science gateways, and commons, enabling seamless data discovery and access. Enroll here.
  • HPC Fundamentals: June 11, 9 am – 4 pm PDT & June 12, 9 am – 12 pm PDT - This 1.5-day hybrid training, provided in collaboration with HPC Carpentries, is for novice HPC users to learn the basic skills they will need to start using an HPC resource. Capacity is limited to 40 learners; application and registration are required. Register here.
  • OLCF Julia for Science: June 19, 10 am – 1 pm PDT; also June 26, 10 am – 1 pm PDT - The Oak Ridge Leadership Computing Facility (OLCF), in conjunction with the Oak Ridge National Laboratory Computer Science and Mathematics Division (CSMD), will host Julia for Science, a 3-hour tutorial focused on introductory aspects of the Julia programming language, and ecosystem for computation and data analysis. This training provides a hands-on way to learn more about using Julia and parallel code in scientific computing. Register here.
  • Crash Course in Supercomputing: June 23, 9 am – 4 pm PDT - In this course, students will learn to write parallel programs that can be run on a supercomputer. We begin by discussing the concepts of parallelization before introducing MPI and OpenMP, the two leading parallel programming libraries. Finally, the students will put together all the concepts from the class by programming, compiling, and running a parallel code on one of the NERSC supercomputers. Training accounts will be provided for students who have not yet set up a NERSC account. This hybrid training, as part of the 2025 Berkeley Lab Computational Sciences Summer Student Program, is also open to NERSC, ALCF, LANL, OLCF, and TACC users. This training is geared towards novice parallel programmers. Register here.

If you have any questions about using Hyak, please start a help request by emailing help@uw.edu with "Hyak" in the subject line.

Happy Computing,

Hyak Team