Launch Quick Start Guide

Launch Usage Policies

Access to Launch requires that you adhere to all Texas A&M HPRC and Launch-specific policies.

General policies can be found on the HPRC Policies page.

Launch User Guide

Please visit the Launch User Guide for additional documentation.

Early Access

Launch is in early user access mode.

Getting Started

Researcher accounts on Launch are managed through NSF ACCESS. Note that ACCESS is a national program--not specific to Texas A&M University.

Getting an Account on ACCESS

To get started with ACCESS and set up your ACCESS ID, follow our instructions at Helpful Pages: Getting Started with ACCESS.

Getting an Account on Launch

Once you have set up your ACCESS ID, please fill out the Launch registration form to request access to the Launch cluster.

Authorized ACCESS users can log in using the Web Portal:

https://portal-launch.hprc.tamu.edu

To learn more about the Web Portal, please visit the Portal kb page for additional information.

(Note: the above video talks about the ACES cluster, which is not part of Launch, but the process described is the same for both.) Launch-specific videos will be available soon.

Direct ssh login is currently not available for Launch. Please log in through the portal.

Navigating Launch & Storage Quotas

Launch is in early user mode and currently does not have quotas. Quotas will be turned on soon.

When you first access Launch, you will be within your home directory. This directory will have smaller storage quotas and should not be used for general purposes.

You can navigate to your home directory with the following command:

[username@launch-login2 ~]$ cd /home/username

Your scratch directory will have more storage space than your home directory and is recommended for general-purpose use. You can navigate to your scratch directory with the following command:

[username@launch-login2 ~]$ cd /scratch/user/username

You can navigate to scratch or home easily by using their respective environment variables.

Navigate to scratch with the following command:

[username@launch-login2 ~]$ cd $SCRATCH

Navigate to home with the following command:

[username@launch-login2 ~]$ cd $HOME

Resource Usage Accounting

Launch is in early user mode and currently does not have project accounts. These will be added at a later time. Once they are implemented, they will behave as described below:

The batch system will charge SUs from either the account specified in the job parameters, or from your default account (if this parameter is omitted). To avoid errors in SU billing, you can view your active accounts, and set your default account using the myproject command.

Finding Software

Software on Launch is loaded using hierarchical modules.

A list of the most popular software on our systems is available on the HPRC Available Software page.

To list all software installed as a module on Launch, use the mla utility:

[username@launch-login2 ~]$ mla

To search for a specific piece of software installed as a module on Launch using the mla utility:

[username@launch-login2 ~]$ mla keyword

To search for particular software by keyword, use:

[username@launch-login2 ~]$ module spider keyword

To see how to load a module, use the full module name:

[username@launch-login2 ~]$ module spider R/4.2.2

You will see a message like the following

You will need to load all module(s) on any one of the lines below before the "R/4.2.2" module is available to load.

      GCC/12.2.0  OpenMPI/4.1.4

Load the base dependency module(s) first, then the full module name

[username@launch-login2 ~]$ module load GCC/12.2.0 OpenMPI/4.1.4 R/4.2.2

To list all currently-loaded modules, use:

[username@launch-login2 ~]$ module list

To see what other modules can be loaded with the base dependency module (for example when GCCcore/10.2.0 is loaded)

[username@launch-login2 ~]$ module avail

To remove all currently-loaded modules, use:

[username@launch-login2 ~]$ module purge

(Note: the above video talks about the ACES cluster, which is not part of Launch, but the process described is the same for both.) A launch-specific video will be available soon.

If you need new software or an update, please submit a request using the TAMU Dashboard.

There are restrictions on what software we can install and regularly a queue for requested software installations.

Please account for delays in your installation request timeline.