A 2.5-hour hands-on workshop on GW4 Isambard 3 covering logging in, submitting batch jobs, installing software, parallelising Python workflows, and debugging failed jobs.
- Date: Tuesday 21 April 2026, 10:00am–12:30pm
- Location: Artificial Intelligence (AI) Arena, SWIoT, Exeter
- Audience: New, beginner, and intermediate HPC users
This workshop follows the HPC Showcase on 20 April. See MAINTAINER.md for presenter and maintainer notes.
| # | Section | Type | Duration | Time |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| – | Doors open: tea, coffee, optional account-setup support | – | 30 min | 09:30–10:00 |
| 1 | BriCS Intro (by BriCS) + Welcome + Login + System Overview | Passive | 15 min | 10:00–10:15 |
| 2 | Login Checkpoint + First Commands | Active | 5 min | 10:15–10:20 |
| 3 | First Batch Job (Slurm) | Active | 25 min | 10:20–10:45 |
| 4 | Installing Software | Active | 30 min | 10:45–11:15 |
| Break | – | 10 min | 11:15–11:25 | |
| 5 | Python Example + Array Jobs + Parallelism Strategies | Active | 35 min | 11:25–12:00 |
| 6 | Debugging Failed Jobs | Active | 15 min | 12:00–12:15 |
| 7 | Tips, Help, Wrap-Up, Q&A & Feedback | Passive | 15 min | 12:15–12:30 |
- BriCS Isambard 3 Introduction (PDF) — slides presented by BriCS staff in Section 1
Complete these three steps before arriving:
- Follow the initial setup tutorial: https://docs.isambard.ac.uk/user-documentation/tutorials/setup/
- Set up Clifton for SSH access: https://docs.isambard.ac.uk/user-documentation/guides/login/
- Install the VS Code CLI — “Install VS Code CLI” subsection only: https://docs.isambard.ac.uk/user-documentation/guides/vscode/#install-vs-code-cli
Bring a laptop that can open a terminal and a web browser. Advanced users may use desktop VS Code, vim, or another editor instead of the browser-based VS Code path, but should bring it set up in advance.
Doors open at 09:30 for tea, coffee, and optional account-setup support. Workshop teaching starts at 10:00. If you have completed setup, you do not need to arrive before 10:00; otherwise come from 09:30.
If your project invitation has not arrived, reply to the pre-workshop email ahead of time so organisers can help before the day.
src/
section_01_welcome_login_overview/ # System overview, login
section_02_login_checkpoint_first_commands/ # First commands, storage areas
section_03_first_batch_job_slurm/ # Batch job exercises
section_04_installing_software/ # Software installation
section_05_python_array_jobs_parallelism_strategies/ # Python, arrays, parallelism
section_06_debugging_failed_jobs/ # Debugging exercises (7 scenarios)
section_07_tips/ # Tips and wrap-up
bootstrap/ # Software bootstrap scripts
bin/ # Repo tooling
Each section directory contains a README.md with presenter notes, exercise walkthroughs, example scripts, and slide
source (*.markdown).
- BriCS helpdesk: https://support.isambard.ac.uk/
- UoE RSE follow-up:
isambard-support@exeter.ac.uk