Dear Future User of ETROFARM,

To process your access request, please provide the following information:

• Your Last Name
• Your First Name
• A valid email address for communication (preferably your VUB email; using it for the request is ideal)
• Your Principal Investigator’s (PI) name (adding them in CC is ideal)
• Your public SSH key in OpenSSH format (2), which will be used to connect to ETROFARM

Steps to follow:

1. Send your access request to ICT@etrovub.be
2. You will receive an initial email containing your ETROVUB credentials, allowing you to:
3. Install OpenVPN (1) (if not already installed) and connect to the ETRO Bubble
4. Receive a second email confirming your access to ETROFARM
5. Connect to ETROFARM (3)
6. Read the provided documentation (4)

This is our standard procedure. If you’ve already provided some of the requested information, there’s no need to resend it.

Kind regards,
ict@etrovub.be

1.    Install and use OpenVPN

To access machines in the ETROVUB bubble (using an etrovub account), please use an OpenVPN connection.

In order to download the software, surf to https://vpn.etrovub.be and login with your etrovub credentials.

Download the latest software it offers to you and install.

Once done you can open it and connect with the same etrovub credentials (username only, no etrovub before or after), and click ok.

The connection establishes and shows:

2.    Generate RSA 2048-bit OpenSSH keys

When generating SSH keys, the private key should always be stored securely on your local machine,

while the public key is meant to be shared—simply copy it and send it to the other party.

You’ll also be asked whether to use a passphrase: this is optional.

It’s recommended to use a passphrase on laptops or shared systems for extra protection,

but you can skip it if you’re setting up automation or scripts where prompts would get in the way .

Here’s how to generate an RSA 2048 OpenSSH key pair on Windows, macOS, or Linux:

Windows (with PuTTYgen)        

• Open PuTTYgen
• Select:

• Type: RSA
• Bits: 2048

• Click Generate → move mouse
• (Optional) Set a Key passphrase
• Copy public key from ‘Public key for pasting into OpenSSH…’

• send to the other party
• Click Save private key → store as id_rsa.ppk locally

MacOS (Terminal)

ssh-keygen -t rsa -b 2048 -f ~/.ssh/id_rsa

• Hit Enter to skip passphrase for automation
• Show public key:
• cat ~/.ssh/id_rsa.pub → send to the other party
• Private key stored: ~/.ssh/id_rsa

Linux (Terminal)

Same as macOS:

ssh-keygen -t rsa -b 2048 -f ~/.ssh/id_rsa

• Skip passphrase if automating
• Show public key:
• cat ~/.ssh/id_rsa.pub → send to the other party
• Private key stored: ~/.ssh/id_rsa

3.    Connect to ETROFARM

login using ssh or equivalent

on: etroflock.etrovub.be (10.0.5.202)

using your

• credential login (without the @…)
• private key.

4.    Why the GPU Farm at ETRO?

At ETRO, advancing cutting-edge research hinges on the effective use of High-Performance Computing (HPC) resources. We recognize the need to bridge the gap between desktop computing limitations and the extensive power of HPC systems like Hydra. Our new dedicated GPU farm is designed to transform how users engage with computing resources—moving from power-hungry, noisy desktops in overheated rooms to a more flexible, efficient, and scalable solution.

This upgrade is not just about new hardware; it’s about reshaping user behavior and enhancing integration with VUB’s existing HPC platforms. By aligning the GPU farm with VUB’s systems, we ensure smoother project transitions and better compatibility with Hydra, allowing researchers to focus more on innovation rather than infrastructure.

The GPU farm will help ETRO achieve cost-efficiency, reduce our environmental footprint, and support research with greater flexibility and computational power—all without the high costs associated with commercial cloud solutions or the limitations of local desktops.

Available Resources

Hardware

We offer three nodes with the following configurations:

Partition	Node	CPU	GPU
FARM	ETROFARM	AMD EPYC 9124 (F. 25 M.17) 2 sockets 2x16x1= 32 (logical) CPU 377GB	4x Nvidia A100 (Ampere)   Nvidia Driver: 535.183.01   CUDA: 12.2   80GB
COOP	ETROCOOP01 ETROCOOP02	INTEL 13th Gen Intel(R) Core(TM) i9-13900 (F.6 M.183)   1 socket 1x8x2= 16 (logical) CPU   125GB	2x Nvidia GeForce RTX4090 (Ada Lovelace)   Nvidia Driver: 535.183.01   CUDA: 12.2 24GB

Additional Information:

• Data is accessible via OPENVPN.
• Network transfer rate: 30MB/s.
• Diskspace: 1TB workspace provided, with the possibility of creating a group workspace upon request. Diskspace is shared over a 1 Gbps network.

Software

We provide software built with Easybuild and managed with Lmod. While we strive to offer packages similar to those available on Hydra, our node architecture and resources are different. We aim to include the most common packages and provide configurations similar to those found at Hydra via Easybuild

Easyconfigs

Users can supply their own build files if necessary.
Note: Singularity containers (as used in Hydra) are not provided.

Priority

We use SLURM’s job accounting and fairshare system to manage resource allocation and prevent monopolization.
The fairshare score reflects cluster usage and helps prioritize jobs.

Training Resources

For SLURM functionality, see the theoretical guide at SLURM:
https://slurm.schedmd.com/.

Practical documentation closely aligned with our setup can be found at Hydra Documentation:
https://hpc.vub.be/docs/

Hydra also offers regular training sessions.