Programming Environments

Software

  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) 8.4

  • Linux Kernel 4.18.0

  • Software is installed using Spack

    • OpenMPI

    • FFTW

    • Python (and TensorFlow)

    • GCC 11.3.0

    • R

    • GDAL

    • AWS CLI

    • Run module avail on the Hydro login node for a complete list of installed software.

Shells and Modules

The default shell is /bin/bash. To request it be changed, email help+hydro@ncsa.illinois.edu.

The user environment is controlled using the modules environment management system. Modules may be loaded, unloaded, or swapped either on a command line or in your $HOME/.bashrc (.cshrc for csh ) shell startup file.

The module command is a user interface to the Lmod package. The Lmod package provides for the dynamic modification of the user’s environment via modulefiles (a modulefile contains the information needed to configure the shell for an application). Modules are independent of the user’s shell, so both tcsh and bash users can use the same commands to change the environment.

Useful Module Commands

Command

Description

module avail

lists all available modules

module list

lists currently loaded modules

module avail | more

display the available modules on the system one page at a time

module spider foo

search for modules named foo

module help modulefile

help on module modulefile

module display modulefile

display information about modulefile

module load modulefile

load modulefile into current shell environment

module unload modulefile

remove modulefile from current shell environment

module swap modulefile1 modulefile2

unload modulefile1 and load modulefile2

To include a particular software stack in your default environment for Hydro login and compute nodes:

  1. Log into a Hydro login node.

  2. Manipulate your modulefile stack until satisfied.

  3. Run module save; this will create a .lmod.d/default file that will be loaded on the Hydro login or compute nodes on your next login or job execution.

Useful User Defined Module Collections

Command

Description

module save

save current modulefile stack to ~/.lmod.d/default

module save collection_name

save current modulefile stack to ~/.lmod.d/collection_name

module restore

load ~/.lmod.d/default if it exists or System default

module restore collection_name

load your ~/.lmod.d/collection_name

module reset

reset your modulefiles to System default

module disable collection_name

disable collection_name by adding collection_name~

module savelist

list all your ~/.lmod.d/collections

module describe collection_name

list collection_name modulefiles

Programming Environments

The GNU Compiler Collection (GCC) version 11.3.0 is in the default user environment.

Compiling

To compile MPI code, use the mpicc, mpiCC, or mpif90 compiler wrappers to automatically include the OpenMPI libraries.

For example:

mpicc -o mpi_hello mpi_hello.c

If the code also uses OpenMP, include the -fopenmp flag:

mpicc -o omp_mpi_hello omp_mpi_hello.c -fopenmp

Other Programming Environments

Python

If you want a basic, recent Python setup, use the python installation under the gcc module. You can add modules via pip3 install --user <modulename>, setup virtual environments, and customize as needed for your workflow but starting from a smaller installed base of Python than Anaconda.

$ module load gcc python
$ which python
/sw/spack/hydrogpu-2022-06/apps/python/3.9.13-gcc-11.3.0-jkmnqio/bin/python
$ module list

Currently Loaded Modules:
  1) modtree/gpu            3) user/license_file   5) gcc/11.3.0    7) openmpi/4.1.4
  2) scripts/script_paths   4) StdEnv              6) cuda/11.7.0   8) python/3.9.13

View the python packages installed in this environment using pip3 list

Anaconda

The Anaconda Python distribution is also available on Hydro by loading either the anaconda3_cpu or anaconda3_gpu module. Anaconda comes with many included Python packages and uses the Conda package manager for viewing and installing packages.

anaconda3_cpu

Use Python from the anaconda3_cpu module if you need some of the modules provided by Anaconda in your Python workflow. For GPU nodes, use anaconda3_gpu.

$ module load modtree/cpu

Due to MODULEPATH changes, the following have been reloaded:
  1) gcc/11.3.0     2) openmpi/4.1.4

The following have been reloaded with a version change:
  1) modtree/gpu => modtree/cpu

$ module load gcc anaconda3_cpu
$ which conda
/sw/external/python/anaconda3_cpu/bin/conda
$ module list

Currently Loaded Modules:
  1) scripts/script_paths   3) StdEnv        5) gcc/11.3.0      7) anaconda3_cpu/4.13.0
  2) user/license_file      4) modtree/cpu   6) openmpi/4.1.4

Use the conda list command to view the list of modules available in anaconda3_cpu.

anaconda3_gpu (for CUDA)

Like the setup for anaconda_cpu, Hydro has GPU versions of anaconda3 (module load anaconda3_gpu) and there are PyTorch and TensorFlow CUDA-aware Python modules installed into these versions. You may use these modules when working with the GPU nodes. See conda list after loading the module to review what is already installed. As with anaconda3_cpu, let Hydro staff know if there are modules you would like installed for the broader community by submitting a support request.

Installing packages

On Hydro, you can install your own Python software stacks, as needed. There are a couple of choices when customizing your Python setup. You may use any of these methods with any of the Python versions or instances described below (or you may install your own Python versions):

  • pip3 (Python module or Anaconda): pip3 install --user <python_package>

    Useful when you need just one Python environment per Python version or instance.

  • venv python virtual environment (Python module or Anaconda):

    Can name environments (metadata) and have multiple environments per Python version or instance.

  • conda environments (Anaconda only)

    Like venv but with more flexibility. See the Managing Environments section of the Conda getting started guide to learn how to customize Conda for your workflow and add extra python modules to your environment.