Important note: ZIH systems are based on the Linux system. Thus for the effective work, you should
have to know how to work with Linux based systems and Linux Shell. Beginners can find a lot of
different tutorials on the internet, for example.
Important note: ZIH systems run Linux. Thus for effective work, you should know your way around Linux based systems and the Bash Shell. Beginners can find a lot of tutorials on the internet.
## Determine the Required CPU and GPU Hours
ZIH systems are focused on data-intensive computing. The cluster is oriented on the work with the
high parallel code. Please keep it in mind for the transfer sequential code from a local machine.
So far you will have execution time for the sequential program it is reasonable to use
[Amdahl's law][1] to roughly predict execution time in parallel. Think in advance about the
parallelization strategy for your project.
ZIH systems are focused on data-intensive computing. They are meant to be used for highly parallelized code. Please take that into account when transferring sequential code from a local machine. To estimate your execution time when executing your previously sequential program parallely, you can use [Amdahl's law][1]. Think in advance about the parallelization strategy for your project.
## Available Software
The good practice for the HPC clusters is to use software and packages where parallelization is
possible. The open-source software is more preferable than proprietary. However, the majority of
popular programming languages, scientific applications, software, packages available or could be
installed on the HPC cluster in different ways. First of all, check the [Software module list][2].
There are [two different software environments](../software/modules.md): `scs5` (the regular one)
and `ml` (environment for the Machine Learning partition). Keep in mind that ZIH systems have a
Linux based operating system.
It is good practice for working on HPC clusters to use software and packages with parallelization wherever possible. Open-source software is more preferable than proprietary software. You can check for already installed software at the [Software module list][2]. However, the majority of popular programming languages, scientific applications, software and packages can be installed on the HPC cluster using different dependencies. There are [two different software environments](../software/modules.md) implementing these varying dependencies: `scs5` (the regular one) and `ml` (environment for the Machine Learning partition). When looking for your software, keep in mind that it needs to work on Linux.
