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Software environment

The software environment on ARCHER2 is managed using the Lmod software. Selecting which software is available in your environment is primarily controlled through the module command. By loading and switching software modules you control which software and versions are available to you.

Information

A module is a self-contained description of a software package -- it contains the settings required to run a software package and, usually, encodes required dependencies on other software packages.

By default, all users on ARCHER2 start with the default software environment loaded.

Software modules on ARCHER2 are provided by both HPE (usually known as the HPE Cray Programming Environment, CPE) and by EPCC, who provide the Service Provision, and Computational Science and Engineering services.

In this section, we provide:

  • A brief overview of the module command
  • A brief description of how the module command manipulates your environment

Using the module command

We only cover basic usage of the Lmod module command here. For full documentation please see the Lmod documentation

The module command takes a subcommand to indicate what operation you wish to perform. Common subcommands are:

  • module restore - Restore the default module setup (i.e. as if you had logged out and back in again)
  • module list [name] - List modules currently loaded in your environment, optionally filtered by [name]
  • module avail [name] - List modules available, optionally filtered by [name]
  • module spider [name][/version] - Search available modules (including hidden modules) and provide information on modules
  • module load name - Load the module called name into your environment
  • module remove name - Remove the module called name from your environment
  • module help name - Show help information on module name
  • module show name - List what module name actually does to your environment

These are described in more detail below.

Tip

Lmod allows you to use the ml shortcut command. Without any arguments, ml behaves like module list; when a module name is specified to ml, ml behaves like module load.

Note

You will often have to include module commands in any job submission scripts to setup the software to use in your jobs. Generally, if you load modules in interactive sessions, these loaded modules do not carry over into any job submission scripts.

Important

You should not use the module purge command on ARCHER2 as this will cause issues for the HPE Cray programming environment. If you wish to reset your modules, you should use the module restore command instead.

Information on the available modules

The key commands for getting information on modules are covered in more detail below. They are:

  • module list
  • module avail
  • module spider
  • module help
  • module show

module list

The module list command will give the names of the modules and their versions you have presently loaded in your environment:

auser@ln03:~> module list

Currently Loaded Modules:
  1) craype-x86-rome                         6) cce/15.0.0             11) PrgEnv-cray/8.3.3
  2) libfabric/1.12.1.2.2.0.0                7) craype/2.7.19          12) bolt/0.8
  3) craype-network-ofi                      8) cray-dsmml/0.2.2       13) epcc-setup-env
  4) perftools-base/22.12.0                  9) cray-mpich/8.1.23      14) load-epcc-module
  5) xpmem/2.5.2-2.4_3.30__gd0f7936.shasta  10) cray-libsci/22.12.1.1

All users start with a default set of modules loaded corresponding to:

  • The HPE Cray Compiling Environment (CCE): includes the HPE Cray clang and Fortran compilers
  • HPE Cray MPICH: The HPE Cray MPI library
  • HPE Cray LibSci: The HPE Cray numerical libraries (including BLAS/LAPACK and ScaLAPACK)

module avail

Finding out which software modules are currently available to load on the system is performed using the module avail command. To list all software modules currently available to load, use:

auser@uan01:~> module avail

--------------------------- /work/y07/shared/archer2-lmod/utils/compiler/crayclang/10.0 ---------------------------
   darshan/3.3.1

------------------------------------ /work/y07/shared/archer2-lmod/python/core ------------------------------------
   matplotlib/3.4.3    netcdf4/1.5.7    pytorch/1.10.0    scons/4.3.0    seaborn/0.11.2    tensorflow/2.7.0

------------------------------------- /work/y07/shared/archer2-lmod/libs/core -------------------------------------
   aocl/3.1     (D)    gmp/6.2.1            matio/1.5.23        parmetis/4.0.3        slepc/3.14.1
   aocl/4.0            gsl/2.7              metis/5.1.0         petsc/3.14.2          slepc/3.18.3       (D)
   boost/1.72.0        hypre/2.18.0         mkl/2023.0.0        petsc/3.18.5   (D)    superlu-dist/6.4.0
   boost/1.81.0 (D)    hypre/2.25.0  (D)    mumps/5.3.5         scotch/6.1.0          superlu-dist/8.1.2 (D)
   eigen/3.4.0         libxml2/2.9.7        mumps/5.5.1  (D)    scotch/7.0.3   (D)    superlu/5.2.2

------------------------------------- /work/y07/shared/archer2-lmod/apps/core -------------------------------------
   castep/22.11                    namd/2.14                 (D)    py-chemshell/21.0.3
   code_saturne/7.0.1-cce15        nektar/5.2.0                     quantum_espresso/6.8  (D)
   code_saturne/7.0.1-gcc11 (D)    nwchem/7.0.2                     quantum_espresso/7.1
   cp2k/cp2k-2023.1                onetep/6.1.9.0-CCE-LibSci (D)    tcl-chemshell/3.7.1
   elk/elk-7.2.42                  onetep/6.1.9.0-GCC-LibSci        vasp/5/5.4.4.pl2-vtst
   fhiaims/210716.3                onetep/6.1.9.0-GCC-MKL           vasp/5/5.4.4.pl2
   gromacs/2022.4+plumed           openfoam/com/v2106               vasp/6/6.3.2-vtst
   gromacs/2022.4           (D)    openfoam/com/v2212        (D)    vasp/6/6.3.2          (D)
   lammps/17Feb2023                openfoam/org/v9.20210903
   namd/2.14-nosmp                 openfoam/org/v10.20230119 (D)

------------------------------------ /work/y07/shared/archer2-lmod/utils/core -------------------------------------
   amd-uprof/3.6.449          darshan-util/3.3.1        imagemagick/7.1.0         reframe/4.1.0
   forge/24.0                 epcc-reframe/0.2          ncl/6.6.2                 tcl/8.6.13
   bolt/0.7                   epcc-setup-env     (L)    nco/5.0.3          (D)    tk/8.6.13
   bolt/0.8          (L,D)    gct/v6.2.20201212         nco/5.0.5                 usage-analysis/1.2
   cdo/1.9.9rc1               genmaskcpu/1.0            ncview/2.1.7              visidata/2.1
   cdo/2.1.1         (D)      gnuplot/5.4.2-simg        other-software/1.0        vmd/1.9.3-gcc10
   cmake/3.18.4               gnuplot/5.4.2      (D)    paraview/5.9.1     (D)    xthi/1.3
   cmake/3.21.3      (D)      gnuplot/5.4.3             paraview/5.10.1

--------------------- /opt/cray/pe/lmod/modulefiles/mpi/crayclang/14.0/ofi/1.0/cray-mpich/8.0 ---------------------
   cray-hdf5-parallel/1.12.2.1    cray-mpixlate/1.0.0.6    cray-parallel-netcdf/1.12.3.1

--------------------------- /opt/cray/pe/lmod/modulefiles/comnet/crayclang/14.0/ofi/1.0 ---------------------------
   cray-mpich-abi/8.1.23    cray-mpich/8.1.23 (L)

...output trimmed...

This will list all the names and versions of the modules that you can currently load. Note that other modules may be defined but not available to you as they depend on modules you do not have loaded. Lmod only shows modules that you can currently load, not all those that are defined. You can search for modules that are not currently visble to you using the module spider command - we cover this in more detail below.

Note also, that not all modules may work in your account though due to, for example, licencing restrictions. You will notice that for many modules we have more than one version, each of which is identified by a version number. One of these versions is the default. As the service develops the default version will change and old versions of software may be deleted.

You can list all the modules of a particular type by providing an argument to the module avail command. For example, to list all available versions of the HPE Cray FFTW library, use:

auser@ln03:~>  module avail cray-fftw

--------------------------------- /opt/cray/pe/lmod/modulefiles/cpu/x86-rome/1.0 ----------------------------------
   cray-fftw/3.3.10.3

Module defaults are chosen based on Find First Rules due to Name/Version/Version modules found in the module tree.
See https://lmod.readthedocs.io/en/latest/060_locating.html for details.

Use "module spider" to find all possible modules and extensions.
Use "module keyword key1 key2 ..." to search for all possible modules matching any of the "keys".

module spider

The module spider command is used to find out which modules are defined on the system. Unlike module avail, this includes modules that are not currently able to be loaded due to the fact you have not yet loaded dependencies to make them directly available.

module spider takes 3 forms:

  • module spider without any arguments lists all modules defined on the system
  • module spider <module> shows information on which versions of <module> are defined on the system
  • module spider <module>/<version> shows information on the specific version of the module defined on the system, including dependencies that must be loaded before this module can be loaded (if any)

If you cannot find a module that you expect to be on the system using module avail then you can use module spider to find out which dependencies you need to load to make the module available.

For example, the module cray-netcdf-hdf5parallel is installed on ARCHER2 but it will not be found by module avail:

auser@ln03:~> module avail cray-netcdf-hdf5parallel
No module(s) or extension(s) found!
Use "module spider" to find all possible modules and extensions.
Use "module keyword key1 key2 ..." to search for all possible modules matching any of the "keys".

We can use module spider without any arguments to verify it exists and list the versions available:

auser@ln03:~> module spider

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The following is a list of the modules and extensions currently available:
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

...output trimmed...

  cray-mpich-abi: cray-mpich-abi/8.1.23

  cray-mpixlate: cray-mpixlate/1.0.0.6

  cray-mrnet: cray-mrnet/5.0.4

  cray-netcdf: cray-netcdf/4.9.0.1

  cray-netcdf-hdf5parallel: cray-netcdf-hdf5parallel/4.9.0.1

  cray-openshmemx: cray-openshmemx/11.5.7

...output trimmed...

Now we know which versions are available, we can use module spider cray-netcdf-hdf5parallel/4.9.0.1 to find out how we can make it available:

auser@ln03:~> module spider module spider cray-netcdf-hdf5parallel/4.9.0.1

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
  cray-netcdf-hdf5parallel: cray-netcdf-hdf5parallel/4.9.0.1
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    You will need to load all module(s) on any one of the lines below before the "cray-netcdf-hdf5parallel/4.9.0.1" module is available to load.

      aocc/3.2.0  cray-mpich/8.1.23  cray-hdf5-parallel/1.12.2.1
      cce/15.0.0  cray-mpich/8.1.23  cray-hdf5-parallel/1.12.2.1
      craype-network-none  cray-mpich/8.1.23  cray-hdf5-parallel/1.12.2.1
      craype-network-ofi  cray-mpich/8.1.23  cray-hdf5-parallel/1.12.2.1
      craype-network-ucx  cray-mpich/8.1.23  cray-hdf5-parallel/1.12.2.1
      gcc/10.3.0  cray-mpich/8.1.23  cray-hdf5-parallel/1.12.2.1
      gcc/11.2.0  cray-mpich/8.1.23  cray-hdf5-parallel/1.12.2.1

    Help:
      Release info:  /opt/cray/pe/netcdf-hdf5parallel/4.9.0.1/release_info

There is a lot of information here, but what the output is essentailly telling us is that in order to have cray-netcdf-hdf5parallel/4.9.0.1 available to load we need to have loaded a compiler (any version of CCE, GCC or AOCC), an MPI library (any version of cray-mpich) and cray-hdf5-parallel loaded. As we always have a compiler and MPI library loaded, we can satisfy all of the dependencies by loading cray-hdf5-parallel, and then we can use module avail cray-netcdf-hdf5parallel again to show that the module is now available to load:

auser@ln03:~> module load cray-hdf5-parallel
auser@ln03:~> module avail cray-netcdf-hdf5parallel

--- /opt/cray/pe/lmod/modulefiles/hdf5-parallel/crayclang/14.0/ofi/1.0/cray-mpich/8.0/cray-hdf5-parallel/1.12.2 ---
   cray-netcdf-hdf5parallel/4.9.0.1

Module defaults are chosen based on Find First Rules due to Name/Version/Version modules found in the module tree.
See https://lmod.readthedocs.io/en/latest/060_locating.html for details.

Use "module spider" to find all possible modules and extensions.
Use "module keyword key1 key2 ..." to search for all possible modules matching any of the "keys".

module help

If you want more info on any of the modules, you can use the module help command:

auser@ln03:~> module help gromacs

module show

The module show command reveals what operations the module actually performs to change your environment when it is loaded. For example, for the default FFTW module:

auser@ln03:~> module show gromacs

  [...]

Loading, removing and swapping modules

To change your environment and make different software available you use the following commands which we cover in more detail below.

  • module load
  • module remove
  • module swap

module load

To load a module to use the module load command. For example, to load the default version of GROMACS into your environment, use:

auser@ln03:~> module load gromacs

Once you have done this, your environment will be setup to use GROMACS. The above command will load the default version of GROMACS. If you need a specific version of the software, you can add more information:

auser@uan01:~> module load gromacs/2022.4

will load GROMACS version 2022.4 into your environment, regardless of the default.

module remove

If you want to remove software from your environment, module remove will remove a loaded module:

auser@uan01:~> module remove gromacs

will unload what ever version of gromacs you might have loaded (even if it is not the default).

module swap

There are many situations in which you might want to change the presently loaded version to a different one, such as trying the latest version which is not yet the default or using a legacy version to keep compatibility with old data. This can be achieved most easily by using module swap oldmodule newmodule.

For example, to swap from the default CCE (cray) compiler environment to the GCC (gnu) compiler environment, you would use:

auser@ln03:~> module swap PrgEnv-cray PrgEnv-gnu

You did not need to specify the version of the loaded module in your current environment as this can be inferred as it will be the only one you have loaded.

Shell environment overview

When you log in to ARCHER2, you are using the bash shell by default. As with any software, the bash shell has loaded a set of environment variables that can be listed by executing printenv or export.

The environment variables listed before are useful to define the behaviour of the software you run. For instance, OMP_NUM_THREADS define the number of threads.

To define an environment variable, you need to execute:

export OMP_NUM_THREADS=4

Please note there are no blanks between the variable name, the assignation symbol, and the value. If the value is a string, enclose the string in double quotation marks.

You can show the value of a specific environment variable if you print it:

echo $OMP_NUM_THREADS

Do not forget the dollar symbol. To remove an environment variable, just execute:

unset OMP_NUM_THREADS

Note that the dollar symbol is not included when you use the unset command.

cgroup control of login resources

Note that it not possible for a single user to monopolise the resources on a login node as this is controlled by cgroups. This means that a user cannot slow down the response time for other users.