High-Performance Computing (HPC) plays a pivotal role in numerous scientific and engineering domains. From analyzing vast datasets to executing intricate simulations and visualizing complex models, HPC clusters are essential. Traditionally, HPC resources are accessed by connecting to a login node using SSH and then using a job scheduler such as Slurm to schedule a job on the compute cluster. For someone with extensive Linux knowledge, this way of working is relatively straightforward. However – a large proportion of those who can benefit from HPC do not have the necessary Linux fundamentals in place. This means that HPC becomes more approachable and usable in more science disciplines, resulting in a wider range of datasets and even more brilliant minds making use of them.
The ability to run responsive graphical workloads on your HPC cluster empowers both novice and seasoned users.
Complementing SSH with ThinLinc on the login nodes solves many of the accessibility issues associated with HPC. By giving the users a remote desktop environment instead of a bash shell, users can interact with the HPC system without command line experience and run compute-heavy visual tools with high graphical fidelity and performance. Besides making life easier for inexperienced Linux users, ThinLinc in HPC also opens up for an entirely new paradigm of working with scientific computations. With ThinLinc, login nodes can not only serve as the entry point for scheduling jobs, but also as a workspace for scientific computing containing all necessary programs and tooling for both developing and scheduling scientific workloads interactively. This eliminates both the need to transfer data back and forth between your workstation and the HPC cluster and the need to configure an HPC-like runtime environment on your workstation.
Regardless if you choose to use ThinLinc as a workspace for everything scientific or just as a graphical and more user-friendly alternative to SSH on the login nodes, ThinLinc will drastically improve the usability and accessibility of your HPC resources.
ThinLinc powered remote desktop login nodes alongside your SSH login nodes will drastically improve the user experience for a large portion of the people using your HPC cluster.
ThinLinc also brings several benefits to the heroes keeping the world's HPC clusters operational day in and day out.
There are also many benefits to running ThinLinc on your HPC cluster for the organization hosting the HPC cluster.
Do you believe ThinLinc has a place in your organization? Do not hesitate to get in touch. We are always happy to give advice and answer any questions you may have:
Curious about how ThinLinc performs in an HPC environment? We offer personalized demo environments tailored for the HPC sector. Whether you would like a firsthand experience on our cluster located in Sweden or prefer an external cloud provider setup, we have you covered. It’s not just about watching; it’s about experiencing the capabilities of ThinLinc in a high-performance computing setting.
ThinLinc has partnered with the authors of Amsterdam Modeling Suite (AMS), SCM. This gives them the means to provide a cloud-based demonstration environment for AMS for prospective customers.
If you’re a Linux application provider looking to elevate the remote graphical access experience for your users, let's join forces.
