Intern Playbook

Welcome to the HPC System Adminstration Learning Hub. Whether you’re part of our internship program or simply curious about high performance computing, this guide is for you. Our goal is to give students and early-career professionals a window into the day-to-day responsibilities of HPC system administrators, and help you build the skills to get started yourself.

What You’ll Find Here

This resource is designed to help you:

• Understand Linux fundamentals and terminal workflows

• Learn the tools HPC system administrators rely on

• Practice with mini-projects inspired by real-world sysadmin tasks

• Discover best practices in system administration and security

You don’t need to have prior experience with HPC or system administration, just a curiosity and a willingness to try things out.

Structure of the Playbook

This site is organized into different sections that introduce HPC concepts step by step. Each page includes a Resources section at the bottom, with links to documentation, tutorials, and additional reading. Under Projects & How-Tos, you’ll find hands-on intern tasks that tie back to the topics covered through out the playbook.

Contents

Introduction

• What is High Performance Computing?
• What Do System Administrators Do in an HPC Environment?
• HPC Architecture

Getting Started

• Installing the System
• Intro to Linux
• Learning Vi/Vim
• Learn Bash Scripting
• Superuser Privileges

Core Tools & Concepts

• Getting Started with Git
• Using Screen and Tmux
• Learning Markdown
• Overview of SSH
• Generating SSH Keys
• Learn Python

Applications

• Setting Up a KVM Virtual Machine
• Setting Up NFS/AutoFS
• Setting Up an Apache Web Server
• Intro to Wazuh
• Using Salt
• Using Ansible
• Using Thunderbird
• Configure Postfix
• Using Checkmk
• Using Veracrypt

Projects & How-Tos

• Intern Tasks
• Create Your Own Documentation Pages using Sphinx & Read the Docs

HPC Environment

• A Beginner’s Guide to High Performance Computing
• Create Your Own Virtual HPC Cluster
• Running Python on the Cluster

Miscellaneous

• Intern Learning Resources