Unity v2026.04.09

Unity HPC Skill

This skill provides practical guidance for using the Ohio State University (OSU) Arts and Sciences (ASC) Unity computing cluster.

Quick Start

• Login: ssh name.#@unity.asc.ohio-state.edu
• Module Help: Use ml avail or module avail to see software, and ml load <name> to use it.
• Interactive Jobs: Use sinteractive for a quick compute node session.
• Batch Jobs: Use sbatch <script.sh> to submit jobs.
• Monitor Jobs: Use squeue -u $USER to check queue status.

Workflow: Submitting a Job

1. Identify resources: CPUs, memory, walltime, GPU count, and whether you need a specific GPU type.
2. Check live cluster state: Prefer sinfo/scontrol over memory or stale docs when choosing a partition or GPU type. See REFERENCE.md.
3. Create a script: Use a template from TEMPLATES.md or generate one using #SBATCH directives.
4. Submit from a login node: sbatch my_script.sh.
5. Monitor and inspect: squeue -u $USER, scontrol show job <jobid>, and log files.

Environment Management (Lmod)

• ml avail: List available modules.
• ml spider <term>: Search for modules.
• ml load <module>: Load a module (for example ml mamba).
• ml list: See currently loaded modules.

Unity-Specific Guidance

• Never run heavy computations or package installs on login nodes unless the docs explicitly say it is safe.
• Prefer compute-node installs for GPU-dependent Python packages.
• On Unity, shared module-managed conda/mamba roots can be read-only. User-owned prefix environments are safer than relying on named envs under the shared module prefix.
• If an environment was created with mamba create --prefix /path/to/env, activate it by full path: mamba activate /path/to/env.
• If sbatch accepts a script and returns a job ID, the request syntax is valid. Queue time is a scheduling issue, not necessarily a configuration failure.
• If a GPU job fails with CUDA OOM, that usually means the requested GPU is too small for the model or batch size. More GPUs do not help if the model is loaded onto a single card; you need a larger GPU or quantization.

GPU Job Triage

When helping with GPU jobs on Unity:

1. Check whether the user needs any GPU or a specific GPU type.
2. Verify the current pool live with sinfo before assuming hardware availability.
3. Prefer typed GPU requests such as --gres=gpu:h200:1 when the partition supports them.
4. Distinguish between:
   • scheduler problems: invalid partition, invalid GRES, pending queue, account access
   • runtime problems: CUDA unavailable, missing deps, OOM, incompatible drivers/libraries
5. For model-loading/OCR work, consider a two-lane plan:
   • large-GPU lane for the full model
   • quantized lane for smaller public GPUs

Connection & Access

• ASC Network: Direct SSH access.
• Off-campus: Use ASCTech Jump Host or ASC VPN.
• OnDemand: https://ondemand.asc.ohio-state.edu/
• Unity Cluster Guide: http://go.osu.edu/unitycompute
• Support Ticket: http://go.osu.edu/unitysupportticket
• Support Email: mailto:[email protected]

Guidelines

• Estimate walltime generously but reasonably.
• Prefer exclusive partitions if your group has access and queue time matters.
• For GPU-intensive workflows, verify the hardware live before finalizing the #SBATCH lines.
• If the docs and sinfo disagree, trust sinfo for current availability and use the docs as background context.

For detailed node specs and partition info, see REFERENCE.md. For Slurm script templates, see TEMPLATES.md.