Submitting Jobs - Interactive Submission
Without GUI(Graphical User Interface)
When logged on, users can execute the slurm srun command to get an interactive bash terminal with almost all the same commands as the normal login terminal:
srun -c [CoresPerNode] -p [Partition] --pty /bin/bash
The commands can be executed in parallel, provided you use MPI (via mpirun command) or background tasks (via bash job control):
[jspngler@log01 ~]$ srun -c 1 -t 00:10:00 -p icomputeq --pty /bin/bash
srun: job 1378854 queued and waiting for resources
srun: job 1378854 has been allocated resources
cpu-bind=MASK - ic16, task 0 0 [988606]: mask 0x100000000 set
[jspngler@ic16 ~]$ squeue -u jspngler -l
Tue Jun 10 15:10:17 2025
JOBID PARTITION NAME USER STATE TIME TIME_LIMI NODES NODELIST(REASON)
1378854 icomputeq bash jspngler RUNNING 0:14 10:00 1 ic16
[jspngler@ic16 ~]$ module load python/3.12.1/gcc.8.5.0
[jspngler@ic16 ~]$ python3 --version
Python 3.12.1
[jspngler@ic16 ~]$ exit
exit
[jspngler@log01 ~]$ squeue -u jspngler -l
Tue Jun 10 15:10:39 2025
JOBID PARTITION NAME USER STATE TIME TIME_LIMI NODES NODELIST(REASON)
[jspngler@log01 ~]$ sacct -j 1378854
JobID JobName Partition Account AllocCPUS State ExitCode
------------ ---------- ---------- ---------- ---------- ---------- --------
1378854 bash icomputeq mlaradjil+ 1 COMPLETED 0:0
1378854.ext+ extern mlaradjil+ 1 COMPLETED 0:0
1378854.0 bash mlaradjil+ 1 COMPLETED 0:0
With GUI
You can start an interactive job with x11 option/switch to enable graphics:
srun --x11 -c 2 xterm
Starting any application directly is possible too:
srun --x11 -c 1 /usr/bin/xclock
In order to take advantage of the cluster's GUI interactivity, users need an X windows server and a terminal with X windows capability installed. In Linux and MacOS X, the X server is already present. Windows users must install an X Server that works with putty or cygwin. MacOS X and Linux users must use a terminal with X Windows capability. Remember that your uuid is the same as the one you use in myMemphis. Alternatively, BigBlueWeb and X2Go are much better for interactive applications.
Windows
Putty with Xming or CygWin/MobaXTerm will provide an X windows environment for GUI capability.
Putty with Xming
- Install Putty and Xming
- start Xming from the start menu or shortcut
- Open Putty
- Fill in "Hostname" box normally (with uuid@hpclogin.memphis.edu)
- Left click or tab and arrow down to Connection->SSH->X11 via "Category" menu on left
- Check "Enable X11 forwarding" box
- Fill in "X display location" box with localhost:0.0
- 0.0 may be different if you have multiple X windows servers running
- hover mouse over Xming icon on the taskbar notification area to see which one is needed
- Left click or tab to "Open" button to start session
MobaXTerm
- Download stand-alone and extract or installer and install
- Open MobaXTerm
- Left click X server icon (top right) if it isn't started (hover mouse over X server icon to check status of X server)
- Open local terminal
- Type ssh -Y uuid@hpclogin.memphis.edu and press enter on keyboard
CygWin
- Install CygWin with packages
- Xorg-Server
- X11
- OpenSSH
- Open CygWin Terminal
- Type startxwin and press enter on keyboard
- Go to taskbar notification area and left click or tab to CygWin Apps->System Tools->XTerm
- Left click or enter to start XTerm
- Type ssh -Y uuid@hpclogin.memphis.edu and press enter on keyboard
Linux
Almost every version of linux provides an X11 capable terminal emulator. If you can't find one, consult your distribution's documentation or contact us. Open up an X11 terminal (might be called terminal, console, XTerm, konsole, etc...) and type ssh -Y uuid@hpclogin.memphis.edu and press enter on keyboard.
Mac OS X
Although Mac OS X is based on Darwin, a Linux like OS with many similar features and programs, an X windows capable terminal is not installed by default. Install X Quartz to get an X windows capable terminal, but keep in mind that newer versions of X Quartz don't seem to work over remote terminal.
- Install X Quartz 2.7.8
- Open X Quartz Terminal
- Type ssh -Y uuid@hpclogin.memphis.edu and press enter on keyboard
x2go
The x2go client application, which gives a full desktop and better connection compression on a login node, can be installed on Windows, OS X, and linux. It can be downloaded here. Once installed, create a new session with the following settings:
- Host: "hpclogin.memphis.edu" (alternatively, you can use "hpc18login1.memphis.edu" or "hpc18login2.memphis.edu" for persistent sessions)
- Login: Your uuid
- SSH Port: "22"
- Session Type: "XFCE"
Then save the session, and click on the session from the main application screen where you will be prompted for your password to connect. Once on the desktop, you can open a terminal from the bottom bar of the screen. To run srun --x11 ... interactive jobs, you should can try:
srun --x11 -c 2 xterm