Setup

Author

Marie-Hélène Burle

Let’s start by setting things up for the course.

On your computer

Requirements

First, you need at least one dedicated GPU.

https://docs.rapids.ai/platform-support/

https://github.com/rapidsai https://github.com/ROCm-DS

https://rocm.blogs.amd.com/software-tools-optimization/introducing-rocm-ds-revolutionizing-data-processing-with-amd-instinct-gpus/README.html https://rocm.docs.amd.com/projects/rocm-ds/en/latest/index.html

Installation

This is for your future information only. During the course, we will use a temporary training cluster.

I suggest installing it with uv:

  • If you already have CUDA 13, you can install CuPy with uv with:
uv init --bare                        # Initiate project
uv add

https://rapids.ai/polars-gpu-engine/#get-started https://docs.rapids.ai/install/

Replace xxxxxxx if you have CUDA 12.

On Alliance clusters

Logging in

Step 1: get the info

During the course, we will give you 3 pieces of information:

  • a link to a list of usernames,
  • the hostname for our temporary training cluster,
  • the password to access that cluster.

Step 2: claim a username

Add your first name or a pseudo next to a free username on the list to claim it.

Your username is the name that was already on the list, NOT what you wrote next to it (which doesn’t matter at all and only serves at signalling that this username is now taken).

Your username will look like userxx—xx being 2 digits—with no space and no capital letter.

Step 3: run the ssh command

Linux users:   open the terminal emulator of your choice.
macOS users:   open “Terminal”.

Then type:

ssh userxx@hostname

and press Enter.

  • Replace userxx by your username (e.g. user09).
  • Replace hostname by the hostname we will give you the day of the workshop.

When asked:

Are you sure you want to continue connecting (yes/no/[fingerprint])?

Answer: “yes”.

We suggest using the free version of MobaXterm, a software that comes with a terminal emulator and a GUI interface for SSH sessions.

Here is how to install MobaXterm:

  • download the “Installer edition” to your computer (green button to the right),
  • unzip the file,
  • double-click on the .msi file to launch the installation.

Here is how to log in with MobaXterm:

  • open MobaXterm,
  • click on Session (top left corner),
  • click on SSH (top left corner),
  • fill in the Remote host * box with the cluster hostname we gave you,
  • tick the box Specify username,
  • fill in the box with the username you selected (e.g. user09),
  • press OK,
  • when asked Are you sure you want to continue connecting (yes/no/[fingerprint])?, answer: “yes”.

Here is a live demo.

Step 4: enter the password

When prompted, enter the password we gave you.

You will not see anything happen as you type the password. This is normal and it is working, so keep on typing the password.

This is called blind typing and is a Linux safety feature. It can be unsettling at first not to get any feed-back while typing as it really looks like it is not working. Type slowly and make sure not to make typos.

Then press Enter.

Am I logged in?

To know whether or not you are logged in, look at your prompt: it should look like the following (with your actual username):

[userxx@login1 ~]$

Troubleshooting

Problems logging in are almost always due to typos. If you cannot log in, retry slowly, entering your password carefully.

How do I log out?

You can log out by pressing Ctl+d.

Load module

Check available Python versions:

module spider python

Check requirements to load Python 3.14:

module spider python/3.14.2

Double-check that you already have StdEnv/2023:

module list

Load Python 3.14:

module load python/3.14.2

Virtual environment

For this course, we have already installed cupy in a virtual environment everybody has access to. All you need to do is to activate it:

source /project/def-sponsor00/cupy_env/bin/activate

Create a virtual env:

python -m venv ~/cupy_env

Activate it:

source ~/cupy_env/bin/activate

Update pip from our wheel:

python -m pip install --upgrade --no-index pip

Install cupy from our wheel:

python -m pip install --no-index cupy

Launch interactive job

salloc --time=10