HTC User guide

System Overview

The HTC system comprises of various kind of computing resource: physical machines with Windows which runs jobs at night; virtual machine with Windows which runs job in 24-hours. It is particularly suitable for running jobs which does not requires inter-communication such as Monte-Carlo methods and global optimization.

System Access

To ensure a secure login session, user must connect to the HTC system by secure shell SSH program through the HKU campus network. SSH is not bundled by MS Windows that you may require to download SSH client like PuTTY. Data transfer must be done using the secure commands scp/sftp or SCP client like WinSCP/CoreFTP. Please visit SSH and Secure File Transfer for procedure on how to make SSH/SFTP connection.

Logging in the system

To log in the HTC system, use the frontend node: htclogin.hku.hk
If you connect to the HTC from a UNIX or Linux system with SSH:
ssh <username>@htclogin.hku.hkor ssh -l <username> htclogin.hku.hk
When you log on to the login node, you should be in your home directory ($HOME) which is also accessible by compute nodes. Do not use the frontend nodes for computationally intensive processes. These nodes are meant for compilation, program editing, simple data analysis and file management. All computational intensive jobs should be submitted and run though the job scheduling system.

Changing Your Password

You can reset the account password by changing your HKU Portal PIN (Go to HKU Portal > Campus Information Services > Central IT Services > Change HKU Portal PIN). Whenever your HKU Portal PIN is changed, the HTC account password will be updated correspondingly.