Pathfinder

Pathfinder, a new ITSD-managed HPC cluster, is now available and replaces both the Baseline cluster and CADES Open condos. It includes an updated operating system, increased storage capacity, and a newly deployed software stack aligned with the Baseline environment. Users migrating from Baseline should recompile their applications on Pathfinder before running jobs

Users who need accounts on Pathfinder should email cades-help@ornl.gov

To connect to Pathfinder, ssh to:

ssh <username>@pflogin.ornl.gov

Operating System

Pathfinder is currently running Rocky Linux version 9.7

NFS Home Area

Upon logging in, users are directed to their personal home area, which is hosted on a Network File System (NFS). Home areas are designed to store actively used application code, scripts, and application input data.

NFS Project Area

The /project directory is a shared project space designed for collaboration among users within the same project. Each project is assigned its own directory under /project, and all users who are members of that project can access and share files within that space.

Project directories are intended for storing shared data, scripts, and intermediate results that need to be accessed by multiple users. Permissions are managed at the project level to ensure that only authorized users can read from and write to their respective project directories.

Users from different projects cannot access each other’s project directories.

Scratch Area

The /scratch directory is a high-performance file system designed for running large scale parallel production jobs. Users have access to their scratch space under /scratch/hpcl-XXXX. To achieve optimal parallel performance, jobs should use the scratch area rather than the home or the nfs project directories.

The /scratch file system is intended for temporary data only and should not be used for long-term storage. Files that are not accessed for 90 days are subject to purging. Users are responsible for copying important data to permanent storage locations before it is removed.

Nodes Types

On Pathfinder, users will interact with two primary node types: login and compute nodes. Despite similar hardware, each serves a distinct role, and users should ensure they are using the appropriate node type for their workload.

Node Type	Description
Login	Users are placed on a login node upon connecting to Pathfinder. This environment is intended for lightweight tasks such as editing files, managing environments, and submitting jobs. Do not run parallel or threaded jobs on login nodes, as they are shared resources and are not intended for compute-intensive tasks. The login nodes are virtual hosts. To compile code, please submit an interactive job and compile on a compute node instead of on the login nodes.
Compute	Most Pathfinder nodes are compute nodes, and these are the only nodeswhere jobs should be executed. Users should access compute resourcesusing commands such as srun.