Software on Nero GCP

Software via Environment modules

When utilizing an Interactive Session via nero-login node, a set of supported software installations is provided for use on the Nero Cluster. This software is made available through a Software Modules system in the form of loadable environment modules.

Nero uses Lmod to manage software installations. The modules system helps setting up the user’s shell environment to give access to applications, and make running and compiling software easier. It also allows us to provide multiple versions of the same software, that would otherwise conflict with each other, and abstract things from the OS sometimes rigid versions and dependencies.

When you first log into Nero, you’ll be presented with a default, bare bone environment with minimal software available. The module system is used to manage the user environment and to activate software packages on demand. In order to use software installed on Nero, you must first load the corresponding software module.

When you load a module, the system will set or modify your user environment variables to enable access to the software package provided by that module. For instance, the $PATH environment variable might be updated so that appropriate executables for that package can be used.

Example:

cdoane@nero-login-1:~$ echo $PATH
/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/sbin:/bin:/usr/games:/usr/local/games
cdoane@nero-login-1:~$ module load anaconda/3
cdoane@nero-login-1:~$ echo $PATH
/share/sw/open/anaconda/3/bin:/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/sbin:/bin:/usr/games:/usr/local/games

Feel free to contact us for more details or if you have questions.