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SciNet Training 2024/2025

September 10, 2024 in for_researchers, for_users, frontpage, news, newsletter, Training

The following training events will be offered by SciNet in 2024/2025. Most events take place online, others are in-person in our teaching room at the SciNet offices on the St. George Campus of the University of Toronto (https://www.scinethpc.ca/contact-us/). Many of the events are recorded and posted afterwards on the sites listed below.
All events listed below are free of charge. With a few exceptions, these training courses can be taken for SciNet certificate credits.

To register for these events, log into https://scinet.courses with your Alliance/CCDB account, go to “Home”, select the course, and click on “Enrol me in this course”.

A number of courses may still be added later for the Winter 2025 term.
For any questions, contact

INTRODUCTION TO NIAGARA AND MIST

Date/time: Any Time | https://scinet.courses/1352

This is new, self-guided course. At your own pace, learn how to use the SciNet systems Niagara and Mist, from securely logging in to running computations on the supercomputer. Highly recommended for new users of Niagara and Mist, but experienced users may still pick up some valuable pointers!

Format: Self-guided

Counts towards the SciNet HPC Certificate.

INTRODUCTION TO COMPUTATIONAL BIOSTATISTICS WITH R

Tue and Thu, 10:00 am – 11:30 am ET starting Sep 10 | https://scinet.courses/1353

The goal of this course is to prepare graduate students to perform scientific data analysis using the R programming language. Successful students will learn how to use statistical inference and machine-learning tools to gain insight into data sets, as well as be introduced to techniques and best practises for storing, managing and analyzing data. Topics will include: R programming, version control, modular programming, coding best practices, data analysis, machine learning and scientific visualization. This is a UofT course restricted to graduate students, but could be audited upon request.

Format: In Person

Counts towards the SciNet Scientific Computing and Data Science Certificates

INTRODUCTION TO LINUX COMMAND LINE

  1. Mon Sep 16, 1:00 pm – 4:00 pm EDT | https://scinet.courses/1354
  2. Mon Nov 25, 1:00 pm – 4:00 pm EST | https://scinet.courses/1355
  3. Mon Mar 3, 1:00 pm – 4:00 pm EST | https://scinet.courses/1356

Working with many of the HPC systems (like those at SciNet) involves using the Linux/UNIX command line. This provides a very powerful interface, but it can be quite daunting for the uninitiated. In this half-day session, you can become initiated with this course which will cover basic commands. It could be a great boon for your productivity.

Format: Virtual

Counts towards the SciNet Scientific Computing Certificate

INTRODUCTION TO SUPERCOMPUTING

Sep 23, 25, 27, 12:30 pm – 2:00 pm EDT | https://scinet.courses/1357

An introduction to basic concepts in High-Performance Computing (HPC). This is intended to be a high-level primer for those largely new to HPC. Topic will include motivation for HPC, available HPC resources, essential issues, problem characteristics as they apply to parallelism and a high-level overview of parallel programming models.

Format: Virtual

Counts towards the SciNet High Performance Computing Certificate

SECURING FILE ACCESS PERMISSIONS ON LINUX

Fri Oct 4, 1:00 – 3:00 pm EDT | https://scinet.courses/1360

Did you know the Linux operating system has built-in tools to control which specific users and groups can access which files and directories? In this session, you will learn what these Linux permissions are, how to use the available tools to control access and sharing, and how to avoid common security pitfalls.

Format: Virtual

Counts towards the SciNet Scientific Computing Certificate

SCALING UP: MASTERING HPC

Mon Oct 28, 1:00 pm – 4:00 pm EDT | https://scinet.courses/1359

Learn how to fully utilize the power of HPC. Discover proven strategies and tools to efficiently scale up from serial jobs to parallel runs across many compute nodes on Niagara.

Format: In Person

Counts towards the SciNet High-Performance Computing Certificate

INTRODUCTION TO PROGRAMMING WITH PYTHON

Tue and Thu from Nov 5 to Dec 5, 1:00 pm – 2:00 pm EDT | https://scinet.courses/1362

New to programming? Learn the basics of programming using the Python programming language in eight one-hour sessions over the course of five weeks. Sessions will consist of a mix of lectures and hands-on exercises.

Format: In Person

Counts towards the SciNet Scientific Computing Certificate

INTRODUCTION TO APPTAINER

Fri Nov 29, 1:00 – 4:00 pm EST | https://scinet.courses/1363

Container computing is gradually changing the way researchers are developing, sharing, and running software applications. Apptainer (formerly called Singularity) is gaining popularity in HPC for its performance, ease of use, portability, and security. In this course, we will explore: what is a container, why use a container, and how to use and create one.

Format: Virtual

Counts towards the SciNet Scientific Computing Certificate

LINUX SHELL SCRIPTING

  1. Fri Oct 25, 1:00 – 4:00 pm EDT | https://scinet.courses/1364
  2. Mon Jan 20, 1:00 – 4:00 pm EST | https://scinet.courses/1365
  3. Mon Apr 8, 1:00 – 4:00 pm EDT | https://scinet.courses/1366

Learn how to write bash scripts, use environment variables, how to control process, and much more. Requires some basic Linux command line experience.

Format: Virtual

Counts towards the SciNet Scientific Computing Certificate

GIT VERSION CONTROL

Wed Nov 6, 1:00 pm – 4:00 pm EST | https://scinet.courses/1367

Using version control for your scripts, codes, documents, papers, and even data, allows you to track changes, keep backups, and facilitate collaboration. In this workshop, you will learn the basics of version control with the popular distributed version control software GIT. This workshop assumes that students have an understanding of basic Linux shell commands.

Format: Virtual

Counts towards the SciNet Scientific Computing Certificate

INTRODUCTION TO PARALLEL PROGRAMMING

Dec 2, 4, 6, 12:30 pm – 2:00 pm EST | https://scinet.courses/1368

An introduction to concepts and techniques in parallel computing with compiled languages, e.g., C, C++ or Fortran. Both OpenMP and MPI will be introduced.

Format: Virtual

Counts towards the SciNet High Performance Computing Certificate

SCIENTIFIC COMPUTING FOR PHYSICISTS

Tue and Thu, 11:00 am – 12:00 pm ET, starting Jan 9 | https://scinet.courses/1369

This course is aimed at reducing your struggle in getting started with computational projects, and make you a more efficient computational scientist. Topics include well-established best practices for developing software as it applies to scientific computations, common numerical techniques and packages, and aspects of high performance computing. While we will introduce the C++ language, in one language or another, students should already have some programming experience. Despite the title, this course is suitable for many physical scientists (chemists, astronomers, …). This is a UofT course restricted to graduate students, but could be audited online upon request.

Format: In Person

Counts towards the SciNet Scientific Computing and High Performance Certificates

QUANTITATIVE APPLICATIONS FOR DATA ANALYSIS

Winter 2025 | TBD

In this course data analysis techniques utilizing the Python and R languages will be introduced, as well as the basics of programming and scientific computing. The goal of this course is to prepare graduate students for performing scientific data analysis. Successful students will learn how to use statistical inference tools to gain insight into large and small data sets, as well as be exposed to cutting-edge techniques and best practises to store, manage and analyze (large) data. Topics include: Python and R programming, version control, automation, modular programming and scientific visualization. This is a UofT course restricted to graduate students, but could be audited online upon request.

Format: In Person

Counts towards the SciNet Scientific Computing and Data Science Certificates

BASH COMMAND LINE WITH COMMON IDIOMS, AWK, AND OTHERS

Mon Feb 3, 1:00 pm – 4:00 pm EDT | https://scinet.courses/1370

This workshop explores various concise and useful constructs for working with bash shell. The goal is to improve your shell skills. Attending this class requires some basic GNU/Linux command line experience.

Format: Virtual

Counts towards the SciNet Scientific Computing Certificate

NEURAL NETWORK PROGRAMMING

Starting in April 2025 | TBD

This six-week class will introduce neural network programming concepts, theory and techniques. The class material will begin at an introductory level, intended for those with no experience with neural networks, eventually covering intermediate-to-advanced concepts.

Format: TBD

Counts towards the SciNet Data Science Certificate

PYTHON AND HIGH PERFORMANCE COMPUTING

Tue Apr 22, 1:00 pm – 4:00 pm EDT | https://scinet.courses/1371

Parallel programming in Python. We will cover subprocess, numexpr, multiprocessing, MPI, and other parallel-enabling python packages.

Format: Virtual

Counts towards the SciNet High Performance Computing Certificate

PARALLEL DEBUGGING WITH DDT

Mon Apr 28, 1:00 pm – 4:00 pm EDT | https://scinet.courses/1373

Debugging is an important step in developing a new code, or porting an old one to a new machine. In this session, we will discuss the debugging of frequently encountered bugs in serial code and debugging of parallel (MPI and threaded) codes using DDT.

Format: Virtual

Counts towards the SciNet High Performance Computing Certificate

RELATIONAL DATABASE BASICS

Mon May 5, 1:00 pm – 4:00 pm EDT | https://scinet.courses/1372

Principles and uses of relational databases with practical examples using Python and Sqlite on the Niagara supercomputer.

Format: Virtual

Counts towards the SciNet Data Science Certificate

2025 COMPUTE ONTARIO SUMMER SCHOOL

June 2025, tentative, dates TBD | https://training.computeontario.ca

The Compute Ontario Summer School, jointly organized by SHARCNET, SciNet, Centre for Advanced Computing, and in collaboration with the RDM Network of Experts, offers a comprehensive curriculum packed with dozens of courses for researchers, students, and staff. These sessions are offered in parallel streams which cover a wide range of topics including Advanced Research Computing (ARC), High Performance Computing (HPC), and Research Data Management (RDM) and are available at introductory to advanced levels. Whether you are interested in a specific topic or wish to explore multiple areas, you have the freedom to register for one, some, or all of the workshops available.

Format: Virtual

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2024 Compute Ontario Summer School

May 16, 2024 in blog, for_researchers, for_users, frontpage, news, Training, Uncategorized

Empower your Research: Expand Your Knowledge

We are excited to announce that registration is now open for the highly anticipated 2024 Compute Ontario Summer School!

Jointly organized by the Centre for Advanced Computing, SciNet, SHARCNET, and in collaboration with the Alliance and RDM experts from across Ontario and Canada, this virtual event promises to be an enriching experience for all participants.

Taking place from June 3 to June 21, the Compute Ontario Summer School offers a comprehensive curriculum packed with 40 courses. Delivered by experts in the field, these sessions cover a wide range of topics including Advanced Research Computing (ARC), High Performance Computing (HPC), Research Data Management (RDM), and Research Software (RS). With presentations and workshops available at introductory to intermediate levels, there is something for everyone.

Highlights of the Summer School:

  • It’s free!
  • All courses delivered online
  • Pick-and-choose the course(s) you want to attend
  • Many courses include a hands-on component
  • Courses range in length from 1.5 hours to three days
  • Course levels range from beginner to intermediate
  • Topics covered include: AI, machine learning, bioinformatics, GPU programming, advanced research computing basics, high-performance computing tools, programming languages, visualization, research data management, and more.

Please note that space is limited, so we encourage you to register for your desired course(s) as soon as possible in order to avoid missing out.

To register and learn more about the Compute Ontario Summer School, please visit our dedicated registration page.

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Niagara at Scale Oct/Nov 2023

October 2, 2023 in for_press, for_researchers, for_users, frontpage, news

What is “Niagara at Scale”?

Organized since 2021, “Niagara at Scale” are events where the Niagara supercomputer is reserved for several days for large parallel computations on the order of the size of the cluster.

The fourth installment of “Niagara at Scale” event will be held from October 31st, 2023 at noon EDT until November 3rd, 2023, noon EDT.

Purpose of “Niagara at Scale”

These events enable pre-approved projects that require all or nearly all of the capacity of the Niagara supercomputer at once. Such heroic computations are Niagara’s mandate, as it is the “Large Parallel” cluster within the national systems of the Digital Research Alliance of Canada, and one of the fastest machines of its kind in Canada according to the TOP500 List. But computations of this size — think massively parallel codes running on tens of thousands of cores — are hard or impossible to run within the regular batch scheduler.

How to apply

All Niagara users that have computations which are not trivially parallel, and can only run at such scales, are encouraged to apply to take part in this event.

Announcements of this event went out to Niagara users on September 22, 2023, with an application deadline of October 9, 2023.

Applications should include the intended computation, as well as the number, size (in nodes), and duration of the jobs to be run at scale, as well as the total required /scratch storage space, and are to be emailed to: support AT scinet DOT utoronto DOT ca. Successful proposals will need to show evidence that their codes can run efficiently on at least 10,000 cores on Niagara and include strong and/or weak scaling data and plots, In addition, the codes must be able to checkpoint and restart, especially since jobs will be restricted to a shorter wall time.

Furthermore, if you have a code that does not scale to 10,000 cores yet, but otherwise would qualify, please contact us too, as we may be able set aside some time for scaling and performance analyses in the event as well.

Future events

Niagara at Scales events are held once or twice a year. If you are a Niagara user that has massively parallel jobs or workflows that could take advantage of this opportunity, keep an eye out for future announcements.

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SciNet Training 2023/2024

September 1, 2023 in for_researchers, for_users, frontpage, news, newsletter, Training

The following training events will be offered by SciNet in 2023/2024. Most events take place online, others are in-person in our teaching room at the SciNet offices on the St. George Campus of the University of Toronto (https://www.scinethpc.ca/contact-us/). Many of the events are recorded and posted afterwards on the sites listed below.
All events listed below are free of charge. With a few exceptions, these training courses can be taken for SciNet certificate credits.

To register for these events, log into https://scinet.courses with your Alliance/CCDB account, go to “Home”, select the course, and click on “Enrol me in this course”.

A number of courses may still be added later for the Winter 2024 term.
For any questions, contact

INTRODUCTION TO NIAGARA AND MIST

  1. Wed Sep 13, 1:00 pm – 2:30 pm EDT | https://scinet.courses/1302
  2. Wed Oct 11, 1:00 pm – 2:30 pm EDT | https://scinet.courses/1306
  3. Wed Nov 8, 1:00 pm – 2:30 pm EST | https://scinet.courses/1311
  4. Wed Dec 13, 1:00 pm – 2:30 pm EST | https://scinet.courses/1315
  5. Wed Jan 10, 1:00 pm – 2:30 pm EST | https://scinet.courses/1316
  6. Wed Feb 14, 1:00 pm – 2:30 pm EST | https://scinet.courses/1319
  7. Wed Mar 13, 1:00 pm – 2:30 pm EDT | https://scinet.courses/1323
  8. Wed Apr 10, 1:00 pm – 2:30 pm EDT | https://scinet.courses/1326
  9. Wed May 8, 1:00 pm – 2:30 pm EDT | https://scinet.courses/1328
  10. Wed Jun 12, 1:00 pm – 2:30 pm EDT | https://scinet.courses/1331

This is a class of approximately 90 minutes to introduce SciNet and the Niagara and Mist supercomputers and teach you how to use them.

Format: Virtual

Counts towards the SciNet HPC Certificate.

INTRODUCTION TO COMPUTATIONAL BIOSTATISTICS WITH R

Tue and Thu, 9:00 am – 10:30 am ET starting Sep 12 | https://scinet.courses/1301

The goal of this course is to prepare graduate students to perform scientific data analysis using the R programming language. Successful students will learn how to use statistical inference and machine-learning tools to gain insight into data sets, as well as be introduced to techniques and best practises for storing, managing and analyzing data. Topics will include: R programming, version control, modular programming, coding best practices, data analysis, machine learning and scientific visualization. This is a UofT course restricted to graduate students, but could be audited upon request.

Format: In Person

Counts towards the SciNet Scientific Computing and Data Science Certificates

INTRODUCTION TO LINUX COMMAND LINE

  1. Mon Sep 18, 1:00 pm – 4:00 pm EDT | https://scinet.courses/1303
  2. Fri Dec 1, 1:00 pm – 4:00 pm EST | https://scinet.courses/1313
  3. Fri Feb 23, 1:00 pm – 4:00 pm EST | https://scinet.courses/1320

Working with many of the HPC systems (like those at SciNet) involves using the Linux/UNIX command line. This provides a very powerful interface, but it can be quite daunting for the uninitiated. In this half-day session, you can become initiated with this course which will cover basic commands. It could be a great boon for your productivity.

Format: Virtual

Counts towards the SciNet Scientific Computing Certificate

INTRODUCTION TO SUPERCOMPUTING

Sep 25, 27, 29, 12:30 pm – 2:00 pm EDT | https://scinet.courses/1304

An introduction to basic concepts in High-Performance Computing (HPC). This is intended to be a high-level primer for those largely new to HPC. Topic will include motivation for HPC, available HPC resources, essential issues, problem characteristics as they apply to parallelism and a high-level overview of parallel programming models.

Format: Virtual

Counts towards the SciNet High Performance Computing Certificate

INTRODUCTION TO PROGRAMMING WITH PYTHON

Tue and Thu from Oct 3 to Oct 26, 1:00 pm – 2:00 pm EDT | https://scinet.courses/1305

New to programming? Learn the basics of programming using python in eight one-hour sessions over the course of four weeks. Sessions will consist of a mix of lectures and hands-on exercises.

Format: In Person

Counts towards the SciNet Scientific Computing Certificate

INTRODUCTION TO APPTAINER

Mon Oct 16, 1:00 – 4:00 pm EDT | https://scinet.courses/1307

Container computing is gradually changing the way researchers are developing, sharing, and running software applications. Apptainer (formerly called Singularity) is gaining popularity in HPC for its performance, ease of use, portability, and security. In this course, we will explore: what is a container, why use a container, and how to use and create one.

Format: Virtual

Counts towards the SciNet Scientific Computing Certificate

FROM PYTHON TO C++

Oct 31 and Nov 2 and 4, 12:30 pm – 2:00 pm EDT | https://scinet.courses/1309

C++ is a high level programming language that is extremely useful for scientific applications. The language has historically had a bad reputation, but modern C++ is much improved so that your code can be relatively short and elegant. In this workshop we will teach the basics of C++ for people who are familiar with the basics of programming, and we will especially compare and contrast C++ with Python (only the material covered in SCMP142 “Intro to Programming with Python” is required). Knowing multiple programming languages may be a useful skill: while Python is a wonderful programming language, execution speed is often a practical issue for pure Python applications. For applications where this is an issue, coding in C++ can significantly improve performance. As C++ can relatively easily be integrated in a Python project, it is also possible (and common) to code just the bottleneck in that language.

Format: Virtual

Counts towards the SciNet Scientific Computing Certificate

LINUX SHELL SCRIPTING

  1. Mon Nov 6, 1:00 – 4:00 pm EDT | https://scinet.courses/1310
  2. Mon Apr 8, 1:00 – 4:00 pm EDT | https://scinet.courses/1325

Learn how to write bash scripts, use environment variables, how to control process, and much more. Requires some Linux basic command line experience.

Format: Virtual

Counts towards the SciNet Scientific Computing Certificate

GIT VERSION CONTROL

Mon Nov 20, 1:00 pm – 4:00 pm EST | https://scinet.courses/1312

Using version control for your scripts, codes, documents, papers, and even data, allows you to track changes, keep backups, and facilitate collaboration. In this workshop, you will learn the basics of version control with the popular distributed version control software GIT. This workshop assumes that students have an understanding of basic Linux shell commands.

Format: Virtual

Counts towards the SciNet Scientific Computing Certificate

INTRODUCTION TO MPI

Dec 4, 6, 8, 12:30 pm – 2:00 pm EST | https://scinet.courses/1314

Learn the basics of Message Passing Interface (MPI) programming. Examples and exercises will be based on parallelization of common scientific computing problems.

Format: Virtual

Counts towards the SciNet High Performance Computing Certificate

SCIENTIFIC COMPUTING FOR PHYSICISTS

Tue and Thu, 11:00 am – 12:00 pm ET, starting Jan 9 | https://scinet.courses/1296

This course is aimed at reducing your struggle in getting started with computational projects, and make you a more efficient computational scientist. Topics include well-established best practices for developing software as it applies to scientific computations, common numerical techniques and packages, and aspects of high performance computing. While we will introduce the C++ language, in one language or another, students should already have some programming experience. Despite the title, this course is suitable for many physical scientists (chemists, astronomers, …). This is a UofT course restricted to graduate students, but could be audited online upon request.

Format: In Person

Counts towards the SciNet Scientific Computing and High Performance Certificates

EES1137 QUANTITATIVE APPLICATIONS FOR DATA ANALYSIS

Tue 10 am – 12 pm ET and Thu 11 am – 12 pm, starting Jan 9 | https://scinet.courses/1346

In this course data analysis techniques utilizing the Python and R languages will be introduced, as well as the basics of programming and scientific computing. The goal of this course is to prepare graduate students for performing scientific data analysis. Successful students will learn how to use statistical inference tools to gain insight into large and small data sets, as well as be exposed to cutting-edge techniques and best practises to store, manage and analyze (large) data. Topics include: Python and R programming, version control, automation, modular programming and scientific visualization. This is a UofT course restricted to graduate students, but could be audited online upon request.

Format: In Person

Counts towards the SciNet Scientific Computing and Data Science Certificates

FILE MANAGEMENT – PACKING SMALL FILES

Mon Jan 15, 1:00 pm – 4:00 pm EST | https://scinet.courses/1317

Managing large amounts of data can be a challenging task. Processing large numbers of files incur heavy overhead of IO communications. This course explores several options such as using Apptainer Overlay and SQLite to pack and reduce a large number of files to few files, and hence, improving IO performance. Python scripts are used throughout the course

Format: Virtual

Counts towards the SciNet Data Science Certificate

PYTHON AND HIGH PERFORMANCE COMPUTING

Mon Jan 22, 1:00 pm – 4:00 pm EST | https://scinet.courses/1318

Parallel programming in Python. We will cover subprocess, numexpr, multiprocessing, MPI, and other parallel-enabling python packages.

Format: Virtual

Counts towards the SciNet High Performance Computing Certificate

INTRO TO GPU PROGRAMMING

Feb 26 and 28 and March 1, 12:30 pm – 2:00 pm EST | https://scinet.courses/1321

An overview of GPUs and their use in supercomputers. This workshop will explain what GPUs are, and cover the basic ideas of GPU use in scientific computing. We will introduce several GPU programming frameworks, and demonstrate how to accelerate a solution of a science problem using a GPU. Python or C++ could be used for the assignment.

Format: Virtual

Counts towards the SciNet High Performance Computing Certificate

INTRO TO OPENMP

Mon Mar 4, 1:00 pm – 4:00 pm EST | https://scinet.courses/1322

Learn the basics of shared memory programming with OpenMP. In particular, we will discuss the OpenMP execution and memory model, performance, reductions and load balancing.

Format: Virtual

Counts towards the SciNet High Performance Computing Certificate

PARALLEL DEBUGGING WITH DDT

Mon Mar 25, 1:00 pm – 4:00 pm EDT | https://scinet.courses/1324

Debugging is an important step in developing a new code, or porting an old one to a new machine. In this session, we will discuss the debugging of frequently encountered bugs in serial code and debugging of parallel (MPI and threaded) codes using DDT.

Format: Virtual

Counts towards the SciNet High Performance Computing Certificate

NEURAL NETWORK PROGRAMMING

Starting Tue Apr 23 onwards | https://scinet.courses/1327

This six-week class will introduce neural network programming concepts, theory and techniques. The class material will begin at an introductory level, intended for those with no experience with neural networks, eventually covering intermediate-to-advanced concepts.

Format: TBA

Counts towards the SciNet Data Science Certificate

RELATIONAL DATABASE BASICS

Mon May 13, 1:00 pm – 4:00 pm EDT | https://scinet.courses/1329

Principles and uses of relational databases with practical examples using python and sqlite on the Niagara supercomputer.

Format: Virtual

Counts towards the SciNet Data Science Certificate

BASH COMMAND LINE WITH COMMON IDIOMS, AWK, AND OTHERS

Mon May 27, 1:00 pm – 2:30 pm EDT | https://scinet.courses/1330

This workshop explores various concise and useful constructs for working with bash shell. The goal is to improve your shell skills. Attending this class requires some basic GNU/Linux command line experience.

Format: Virtual

Counts towards the SciNet Scientific Computing Certificate

INTRO TO QUANTUM COMPUTING

June 2024, dates TBD | https://scinet.courses/1332

This course will provide an introduction to the theory, formalisms and algorithms of quantum computing. The programming language will be Python; experience with Python will be assumed. Experience with quantum mechanics is not necessary; an introductory-level understanding of linear algebra will be assumed.

Format: In Person

Counts towards the SciNet Certificate

2024 COMPUTE ONTARIO SUMMER SCHOOL

June 2024, tentative, dated TDB | https://training.computeontario.ca

The Compute Ontario Summer School, jointly organized by SHARCNET, SciNet, Centre for Advanced Computing, and in collaboration with the RDM Network of Experts, offers a comprehensive curriculum packed with nearly 30 courses for researchers, students, and staff. These sessions are offered in two parallel streams which cover a wide range of topics including Advanced Research Computing (ARC), High Performance Computing (HPC), and Research Data Management (RDM) and are available at introductory to advanced levels. Whether you are interested in a specific topic or wish to explore multiple areas, you have the freedom to register for one, some, or all of the workshops available.

Format: Virtual

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2023 Compute Ontario Summer School

May 29, 2023 in for_researchers, for_users, frontpage, news

Empower your Research: Expand Your Knowledge

We are excited to announce that registration is now open for the highly anticipated 2023 Compute Ontario Summer School! Jointly organized by the Centre for Advanced Computing, SciNet, SHARCNET, and in collaboration with the RDM Network of Experts, this virtual event promises to be an enriching experience for all participants.

Taking place from June 12 to June 29, the Compute Ontario Summer School offers a comprehensive curriculum packed with 30 courses. Delivered by experts in the field, these sessions cover a wide range of topics including Advanced Research Computing (ARC), High Performance Computing (HPC), and Research Data Management (RDM). With presentations and workshops available at introductory to advanced levels, there is something for everyone.

Highlights of the Summer School include:

  • Online workshops conducted five days a week, providing ample opportunities to enhance your knowledge and skills.
  • Six hours of immersive learning each day, allowing for a deep dive into the subject matter.
  • Two parallel streams, ensuring flexibility and tailored learning experiences.
  • Workshops and presentations on advanced research computing basics, high-performance computing tools, programming languages, machine learning, visualization, programming GPUs, bioinformatics, research data management, and more.
  • Workshop difficulty levels ranging from beginner to intermediate to advanced, with prerequisites clearly outlined in each workshop description.

Whether you are interested in a specific topic or wish to explore multiple areas, you have the freedom to register for one, some, or all of the workshops available. However, please note that registration is limited, so we encourage you to secure your spot early to avoid missing out.

To register and learn more about the Compute Ontario Summer School, please visit our dedicated registration page. Be sure to act swiftly, as spaces are filling up quickly.

Further information and registration:

https://training.computeontario.ca/coss2023.php

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International HPC Summer School 2023, July 9-14, Atlanta, GA

December 14, 2022 in for_educators, for_press, for_researchers, for_users, frontpage, news

Atlanta, Georgia, USA downtown skyline over Interstate 85.

Graduate students and postdoctoral scholars from institutions in Canada, Europe, Japan, Australia and the United States are being invited to apply for the 13th International HPC Summer School, to be held on July 9-14 in Atlanta, Georgia, USA, hosted by the Extreme Science and Engineering Discovery Environment (XSEDE).

In a nutshell, the summer school will familiarize the best students in computational sciences with major state-of-the-art aspects of HPC and Big Data Analytics for a variety of scientific disciplines, catalyze the formation of networks, provide advanced mentoring, facilitate international exchange and open up further career options, and will offer instruction in parallel sessions on a variety of topics such as:

  • HPC and Big Data challenges in major scientific disciplines
  • Shared-memory programming
  • Distributed-memory programming
  • GPU programming
  • Software engineering
  • Big Data analytics
  • Deep learning
  • Scientific visualization

To apply and for more information, visit the event’s website at https://ss23.ihpcss.org.

The deadline for application is 23:59 Anywhere-On-Earth on January 31st, 2023.

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SciNet Training 2022/2023

September 9, 2022 in for_researchers, for_users, frontpage, news, newsletter, Training

The following training events will be offered by SciNet in 2022/2023. Some events take place online, others are in-person in out teaching room at the SciNet offices on the St. George Campus of the University of Toronto (https://www.scinethpc.ca/contact-us/). The in-person events are usually also broadcasted and recorded.
All times below are in Eastern Time. All events listed below are free of charge. With a few execptions, these training courses can be taken for SciNet certificate credits.

To register for these events, log into https://scinet.courses with your Alliance/CCDB account, go to “Home”, select the course, and click on “Enrol me in this course”.

A number of courses may still be added later for the Winter 2023 term.
For any questions, contact

INTRO TO NIAGARA AND MIST

  1. Wed Sep 14, 10 am – 11:30 am | https://scinet.courses/1232 (online)
  2. Wed Oct 12, 10 am – 11:30 am | https://scinet.courses/1235
  3. Wed Nov 9, 10 am – 11:30 am | https://scinet.courses/1236
  4. Wed Dec 14, 10 am – 11:30 am | https://scinet.courses/1237
  5. Wed Jan 11, 10 am – 11:30 am | https://scinet.courses/1238
  6. Wed Feb 8, 10 am – 11:30 am | https://scinet.courses/1239
  7. Wed Mar 8, 10 am – 11:30 am | https://scinet.courses/1240
  8. Wed Apr 12, 10 am – 11:30 am | https://scinet.courses/1241
  9. Wed May 10, 10 am – 11:30 am | https://scinet.courses/1242
  10. Wed Jun 14, 10 am – 11:30 am | https://scinet.courses/1243

This is a class of approximately 90 minutes to introduce SciNet and the Niagara and Mist supercomputers and teach you how to use them.

Except for the September instance, these events take place in-person in the SciNet Teaching Room.

Participation counts towards the SciNet HPC Certificate.

INTRODUCTION TO APPTAINER

Mon Sep 26, 1 pm – 4 pm | https://scinet.courses/1247

Container computing is gradually changing the way researchers are developing, sharing, and running software applications. Apptainer (formerly called Singularity) is gaining popularity in HPC for its performance, ease of use, portability, and security. In this course, we will explore: what is a container, why use a container, and how to use and create one.

Format: On-line

Participation counts towards the SciNet Scientific Computing Certificate.

SCINET USER GROUP MEETING

  1. Wed Oct 12, 12 noon – 2:00 pm | https://scinet.courses/1253
  2. Wed Nov 9, 12 noon – 2:00 pm | https://scinet.courses/1254
  3. Wed Dec 14, 12 noon – 2:00 pm | https://scinet.courses/1255
  4. Wed Jan 11, 12 noon – 2:00 pm | https://scinet.courses/1256
  5. Wed Feb 8, 12 noon – 2:00 pm | https://scinet.courses/1257
  6. Wed Mar 8, 12 noon – 2:00 pm | https://scinet.courses/1258
  7. Wed Apr 12, 12 noon – 2:00 pm | https://scinet.courses/1259
  8. Wed May 10, 12 noon – 2:00 pm | https://scinet.courses/1260
  9. Wed Jun 14, 12 noon – 2:00 pm | https://scinet.courses/1261

The SciNet Users Group (SNUG) meetings happen every month on the second Wednesday and involve a techtalk (a hybrid in-person/online webinar) on topics or technologies of interest to the SciNet community, followed by an in-person session at the SciNet headquarters in Toronto where users can bring questions and issues.

These events take place in-person in the SciNet Teaching Room.

Topics of the TechTalks are TBA.

INTRODUCTION TO PROGRAMMING

Oct 3, 5, 10, 12, 17, 19, 24, 26 | https://scinet.courses/1233

New to programming? Learn the basics of programming using python in eight one-hour sessions over the course of four weeks. Sessions will consist of a mix of lectures and hands-on exercises.

Format: In-person in the SciNet Teaching Room.

Participation counts towards the SciNet Scientific Computing Certificate.

INTRODUCTION TO THE LINUX COMMAND LINE

  1. Fri Oct 14, 1 pm – 4 pm | https://scinet.courses/1244
  2. Mon Jan 16, 1 pm – 4 pm | https://scinet.courses/1262

Working with many of the HPC systems (like those at SciNet) involves using the Linux/UNIX command line. This provides a very powerful interface, but it can be quite daunting for the uninitiated. In this half-day session, you can become initiated with this course which will cover basic commands. It could be a great boon for your productivity.

Format: In-person in the SciNet Teaching Room.

Participation counts towards the SciNet Scientific Computing Certificate.

ENABLE YOUR RESEARCH WITH CYBERSECURITY!

Oct 24, 26, 29, 12:30 pm – 2:00 pm | https://scinet.courses/1245

In three sessions over the course of one week, we will cover different aspects of cybersecurity to help you enable your research! We will explore cybersecurity concepts, cyberattack models, as well as best practices to protect your research. We will talk about cryptography and apply the concept to a real life scenario via SSH keys. Finally, we will approach cybersecurity in the context of the Research Ethics Board. This session will be a mix of theory and practical exercises. We hope you will learn something new and, most importantly, enjoy the sessions!

The format is virtual, but for the second session there is the option to attend in person in the SciNet Boardroom to get in-person help with setting up ssh key authentication.

Participation counts towards the SciNet Scientific Computing Certificate.

PARALLEL PROGRAMMING AT SCALE WITH MPI

Nov 21, 23, 25, 12:30 pm – 2:00 pm | https://scinet.courses/1251

Learn the basics of Message Passing Interface (MPI) programming. Examples and exercises will be based on parallelization of common scientific computing problems.

Format: On-line

Participation counts towards the SciNet HPC Certificate.

INTRO TO GIT VERSION CONTROL

Mon Nov 21, 1:00 pm – 4:00 pm | https://scinet.courses/1249

Using version control for your scripts, codes, documents, papers, and even data, allows you to track changes, keep backups, and facilitate collaboration. In this workshop, you will learn the basics of version control with the popular distributed version control software GIT. This workshop assumes that students have an understanding of basic Linux shell commands.

Format: In-person in the SciNet Teaching Room.

Participation counts towards the SciNet Scientific Computing Certificate.

FILE MANAGEMENT – PACKING SMALL FILES

Mon Nov 28, 1:00 pm – 4:00 pm | https://scinet.courses/1248

Managing large amount of files can be a challenging task. This course explores options such as using Apptainer Overlay and SQLite to pack and reduce large number of files to few files.

Format: Online.

Participation counts towards the SciNet Data Science Certificate.

ADVANCED LINUX COMMAND LINE

Mon Dec 19 17, 1 pm – 4 pm | https://scinet.courses/1250

Working with Advanced Research Computing and High Performance Computing systems involves using the Linux command line. This workshop will cover Linux commands to improve your productivity on the command line.

Participation counts towards the SciNet Scientific Computing Certificate.

FROM PYTHON TO C++

Jan 23, 25, 27, 12:30 noon – 2:00 pm | https://scinet.courses/1263

Python is a wonderful programming language, but it is not the fastest. If execution speed is an issue for your project, it can be worthwhile moving to a so-called compiled language such as C++. This three-session workshop is intended to get Python programmers started with the basics of C++.

Format: TBD, but hopefully in-person. In any case, sessions are broadcast and recorded as well.

Participation counts towards the SciNet Scientific Computing Certificate.

MICROSOFT WINDOWS SUBSYSTEM FOR LINUX

Mon Feb 13, 1:00 pm – 4:00 pm | https://scinet.courses/1264

Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL) is Microsoft’s implementation of Linux container on Windows. WSL allows users to run various Linux distributions inside Windows and provides fully functional Linux environments for routine tasks. This course explores the use of WSL and Docker Desktop on Windows.

Format: TBD

Participation counts towards the SciNet Scientific Computing Certificate.

INTRODUCTION TO GPU PROGRAMMING

Feb 21, 22, 24, 12:30 noon – 2:00 pm | https://scinet.courses/1266

An overview of GPUs and their use in supercomputers. This workshop will cover the basic ideas of GPU use in scientific computing and introduce several GPU programming frameworks. Prior knowledge of programming (any language) is recommended.

Format: TBD, but hopefully in-person. Sessions will be broadcast and recorded.

Participation counts towards the SciNet HPC Certificate.

LINUX SHELL SCRIPTING

Mon Mar 13, 1:00 pm – 4:00 pm | https://scinet.courses/1267

Learn how to write bash scripts, use environment variables, how to control process, and much more. Requires some linux basic command line experience.

Format: In-person in the SciNet Teaching Room.

Participation counts towards the SciNet Scientific Computing Certificate.

HIGH PERFORMANCE PYTHON

Mon Mar 27, 1:00 pm – 4:00 pm | https://scinet.courses/1268

Parallel programming in Python. We will cover subprocess, numexpr, multiprocessing, MPI, and other parallel-enabling python packages.

Format: In-person in the SciNet Teaching Room.

Participation counts towards the SciNet HPC Certificate.

ADVANCED LINUX II

Mon Apr 17, 1:00 pm – 4:00 pm | https://scinet.courses/1265

GNU tools provide powerful commands that facilitate the usage of HPC systems. This course explores some efficient ways of working with bash shell for routine tasks. It is complementary to the “Advanced Linux Command Line I”. Attending this class requires basic knowledge of GNU/Linux shell.

Format: TBD

Participation counts towards the SciNet Scientific Computing Certificate.

NEURAL NETWORK PROGRAMMING

Apr 25 – Jun 1, 11:00 am – 12:00 noon | https://scinet.courses/1271

This six-week class will introduce neural network programming concepts, theory and techniques. The class material will begin at an introductory level, intended for those with no experience with neural networks, eventually covering intermediate-to-advanced concepts. The programming language will be Python 3.9; experience with Python programming will be assumed. The Keras neural network framework will be used for neural network programming; no experience with Keras will be expected.

Format: In-person in the SciNet Teaching Room.

Participation counts towards the SciNet Data Science Certificate.

RELATIONAL DATABASES BASICS

Mon May 29, 1:00 pm – 4:00 pm | https://scinet.courses/1270

Principles and uses of relational databases with practical examples using python and sqlite on the Niagara supercomputer.

Format: In-person in the SciNet Teaching Room.

Participation counts towards the SciNet Data Science Certificate.

INTRODUCTION TO QUANTUM COMPUTING

Jun 5, 6, 7, 8, 1:00 pm – 4:00 pm EDT | https://scinet.courses/1290

An introduction to the theory, formalisms and algorithms of quantum computing. The programming language will be Python; experience with Python will be assumed. Experience with quantum mechanics is not necessary; an introductory-level understanding of linear algebra will be assumed. The PennyLane quantum-computing programming framework (installation instructions here), provided by Xanadu, will be used. No experience with quantum computing will be expected.

Format: In-person in the SciNet Teaching Room.

Participation counts towards the SciNet Scientific Computing Certificate.

2023 COMPUTE ONTARIO SUMMER SCHOOL

June 12-29, 2023 | https://training.computeontario.ca/coss2023.php

Compute Ontario Summer School, jointly organized by SHARCNET, SciNet, Centre for Advanced Computing, and in collaboration with the RDM Network of Experts, offers a comprehensive curriculum packed with nearly 30 courses for researchers, students, and staff. These sessions are offered in two parallel streams which cover a wide range of topics including Advanced Research Computing (ARC), High Performance Computing (HPC), and Research Data Management (RDM) and are available at introductory to advanced levels. Whether you are interested in a specific topic or wish to explore multiple areas, you have the freedom to register for one, some, or all of the workshops available.

Format: Virtual

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2022 Compute Ontario Summer School

May 13, 2022 in for_researchers, for_users, news


This Summer School, jointly organized by SHARCNET, SciNet and Centre for Advanced Computing, will start on May 30th, 2022.

We are pleased to announce the 2022 Compute Ontario Summer School jointly organized by the three consortia, Centre for Advanced Computing, SciNet and SHARCNET. The Summer School is a free series of workshops on skills and technologies for compute and data intensive research delivered by advanced research computing (ARC) specialists.. 

The Summer School will begin on May 30th, 2022 and will run until August 5th, 2022 offering virtual workshops on a variety of topics, including introductory ARC basics, High Performance Computing tools, programming languages, machine learning, visualization, bioinformatics, and more. The Summer School is intended for beginner-to-intermediate participants. Prerequisites are listed in each workshop description. 

Sign up now to receive notifications to register for your favourite workshops. Registration will open two weeks prior to each workshop. Sign up for one, some, or all of the workshops in the Summer School. We look forward to hosting you this summer!


Participants are encouraged to have a user account with the Digital Research Alliance of Canada (formerly Compute Canada), both to facilitate using the digital research infrastructure in the hands-on components of the workshops, and for continued access after the summer school. Apply for an account today.

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Niagara at Scale – June 2022

April 27, 2022 in frontpage, news

What is “Niagara at Scale”?

“Niagara at Scale” are events where the Niagara supercomputer is reserved for two days for large parallel computations on the order of the size of the cluster.

In 2021, SciNet held two successful “Niagara at Scale” events. Because of further demand for such large computations, another “Niagara at Scale” event will be held at the beginning of June 2022.

Purpose of “Niagara at Scale”

These events enable pre-approved projects that require all or nearly all of the capacity of the Niagara supercomputer at once. Such heroic computations are Niagara’s mandate, as it is the “Large Parallel” cluster within the national systems of the Digital Research Alliance of Canada, and one of the fastest machines of its kind in Canada according to the TOP500 List. But computations of this size — think massively parallel codes running on tens of thousands of cores — are hard or impossible to run within the regular batch scheduler.

How to apply

All Niagara users that have computations which are not trivially parallel, and can only run at such scales, are encouraged to apply to take part in this event.

Announcements of this event went out to Niagara users on April 25th, 2022, with an application deadline of May 9, 2022.

Applications should include the intended computation, as well as the number, size (in nodes), and duration of the jobs to be run at scale. Successful proposals will need to show evidence that their codes can run efficiently on at least 10,000 cores on Niagara and include strong and/or weak scaling data and plots, In addition, the codes must be able to checkpoint and restart, especially since jobs will be restricted to a shorter wall time.

Future events

There will be more Niagara at Scales events in the future. If you are a Niagara user that has massively parallel jobs or workflows that could take advantage of this opportunity, keep an eye out for future announcements.

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International HPC Summer School, Greece, June 19-24, 2022

December 8, 2021 in for_researchers, for_users, frontpage, news

Graduate students and postdoctoral scholars from institutions in Canada, Europe, Japan and the United States, are being invited to apply to participate in the 12th International HPC Summer School, to be held June 19-24 in Athens, Greece, hosted by the Partnership for Advanced Computing in Europe (PRACE). To apply, visit the event’s website at https://ss22.ihpcss.org. The deadline for application is 23:59 AOE on February 14, 2022.

The summer school is sponsored by PRACE, the Extreme Science and Engineering Discovery Environment (XSEDE), the RIKEN Center for Computational Science (R-CCS) and the SciNet HPC Consortium.

The summer school will familiarize the best students in computational sciences with major state-of-the-art aspects of HPC and Big Data Analytics for a variety of scientific disciplines, catalyze the formation of networks, provide advanced mentoring, facilitate international exchange and open up further career options.

Leading Canadian, European, Japanese and American computational scientists and HPC technologists will offer instruction in parallel sessions on a variety of topics such as:

  • HPC and Big Data challenges in major scientific disciplines
  • HPC programming proficiencies
  • Performance analysis and profiling
  • Software engineering
  • Numerical libraries
  • Big data analysis and analytics
  • Deep learning
  • Scientific visualization
  • Canadian, European, Japanese and U.S. HPC-infrastructures

The expense-paid program will benefit scholars from Canadian, European, Japanese and U.S. institutions who use advanced computing in their research. The ideal candidate will have many of the following qualities, however this list is not meant to be a “checklist” for applicants to meet all criteria:

  • A graduate student in computational sciences with a strong research plan or a postdoctoral fellow in the early stages of their research efforts
  • Familiar with HPC, not necessarily an HPC expert, but rather a scholar who could benefit from including advanced computing tools and methods into their existing computational work
  • Regular practice with parallel programming
  • Science or engineering background, however, applicants from other disciplines are welcome provided their research activities include computational work

Students from under-represented groups in computing are highly encouraged to apply (i.e. women, racial/ethnic minorities, persons with disabilities, etc.). If you have any questions regarding your eligibility or how this program may benefit you or your research group, please do not hesitate to contact the individual(s) associated with your region.

The school is currently being organised as an in-person event (no remote participation) in order to create the best experience for all attendees. Everyone from participants to staff on-site is expected to be fully vaccinated. Please refer to the COVID-19 Rules & Measures section of the School’s website for further information.

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