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):

Skip Example

[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
1. 0.0 may be different if you have multiple X windows servers running
2. 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
1. Xorg-Server
2. X11
3. 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