How to use the CISER Research nodes: Your Working Environment

HOW TO SET UP YOUR WORKING ENVIRONMENT ON THE CISER RESEARCH COMPUTING NODES:

FINDING AND USING YOUR "HOME DIRECTORY"

• ABOUT HOME DIRECTORIES:
  • Your home directory resides in a user folder on the CISER file server (rschdfs) which is mapped as the U:\ drive on every CISER Research Computing node. Users' home directories are assigned to sub-folders such as "user1", "user2" ... "user9".
  • The specific path to your home directory will be in a e-mail that you receive from ciser when you set up your computing account. (example: "U:\user5\cam6")
  • Your home directory is where all of your research files should be stored!  
    • Files in your home directory are backed up daily* AND they are accessible from any computing node
      • (*As long as you do not alter the system or administrator privileges to your folder or its contents.
  • One way to navigate to your home directory from any computing node is to go to "Start --> My Computer" then  type the full pathname for your home directory (example "U:\user5\cam6") in the address bar of that window.
  • note: Your "My Documents" folder is also located in your home directory (example: "U:\user5\cam6\My Documents"). Use of the "My Documents" folder is purely optional and is a matter of preference. See below for more detail.

• TO CREATE A SHORTCUT TO YOUR HOME DIRECTORY
  • From a CISER Research Computing node, go to "Start --> My Computer".
  • Under "Network Drives" and you will see the following entry
    • "rschdfs on 'AthenaDC2 (ciserrsch.cornell.edu)'(U:)".
  • Double click on that icon and you will see the list of user home directories.
  • Double-click on the appropriate user folder (example: "user5") and then locate the folder with your own netid (example "cam6").
  • RIGHT-CLICK on the folder with your netid and then choose "send to" --> and then "desktop".
    • This will create a shortcut on the desktop of that computing node so that everytime you log on to the node you can use the shortcut to go directly to your home directory.
      • You will need to do this the first time you log on to any computing node (i.e. once for each node)

USING YOUR "MY DOCUMENTS" FOLDER (optional)

• ABOUT YOUR "MY DOCUMENTS" FOLDER
  • Your "My Documents" folder is located in your home directory (for example "U:\user5\cam6\My Documents". See above for more detail.  
• Use of the My Documents folder is purely optional. You may choose to create folders in the top level of your home directory (example "U:\user5\cam6") instead of in your My Documents folder.
• Users should NOT rename this folder as it is used by various applications.  Renaming may result in some applications not working properly.
• You can get to your My Documents folder by typing "My Documents" in any explorer window or via shortcuts created by one of two methods below.
• Use of the My Documents folder for file storage is optional and is simply a matter of preference.  

• CREATING OR USING A SHORCUT TO YOUR "MY DOCUMENTS" FOLDER
  • Recommended way of creating a shortcut to your My Documents folder.
    • Go to your home directory (see above) and look for the documents folder labeled with your own netid (example: "cam6's documents")
    • RIGHT-CLICK on that folder and choose "send to" --> and then "desktop".
    • Creating your My Documents shortcut like this will mean that the proper pathname will show up in the address bar of the explorer window each time your open the shortcut. (example: "U:\user5\cam6\My Documents"
  • Using the system created shortcuts to My Documents folder
    • Some computing nodes contain system created shortcuts to your My Documents folder.
    • In these the pathname that will appear at the top level will just be "My Documents" but the pathname for subfolders will show up with the full address of the mapped drive.
      • For example if I go to a subfolder called "mydata" inside my "My Documents" folder by means of this shortcut the pathname will show up as:
        "\\ciserrsch.cornell.edu\rschdfs\User5\cam6\My Documents\mydata"
        instead of the more familiar
        "U:\User5\cam6\My Documents\mydata"
      • Both pathnames are correct, and point to exactly the same folder.

SETTING UP YOUR CISER RESEARCH COMPUTING DESKTOP

• (Optional)
  • As described above, you can easily create shortcuts on your CISER Research Computing desktop to your home directory, and you may also set up shortcute to any folder within it:
• right-click on the desired folder icon and choose "Send To" --> "Desktop"
• You can also create shortcuts to applications (such as SAS, SPSS, Stat, etc) that you use frequently
• Start --> All Programs --> right click on the desired application and choose "Send To --> Desktop" or "Pin to Start Menu", etc. 
• You will need to set up your shortcuts once for each computing node, since user profiles are unique on each node.

IMPORTANT TIPS ABOUT DOWNLOADING AND STORING FILES ON THE CISER RESEARCH COMPUTING NODES:

• Whenever you download files directly from the internet to any computing node be sure to direct the download to your home directory on the U:\ drive. Do not download files to the desktop or anywhere on the C:\ drive of any node.
• Save all program output to your home directory. In many cases you may need to specify the path and file name within your code.
• See How to Manage your Files for more information.

IDENTIFYING DRIVES, PATHNAMES, and FILETYPES

• USEFUL TIP for any Windows environment (including the computing nodes)
• To help you identify pathnames of drives, folders, files, and identify filetypes do the following:
1. Start --> Double-click on "My Computer"
2. Go to Tools --> Folder Options.
3. Select the "View" tab.
4. Check the following two boxes:
• "Display the full path in the address bar".
• "Display the full path in the title bar".
5. UNcheck:
• "Hide file extensions for known file types".
6. Click the "Apply" button.
7. Click the "Like Current Folder" button.
8. Click "OK".