Research Computing
This site focuses on research computing, which is provided through a support contract with Research & High-Performance Computing Support (RHPCS). Many of the most common questions and problems are addressed in the Documentation section of this site. For further assistance, please contact rhpcs@mcmaster.ca.
If you are looking for department-specific documentation, please see one of the following:
Supported Systems
RHPCS is able to provide limited support to all major desktop operating systems, namely
- Linux
- MacOS
- Windows 10
All support is subject to personnel expertise.
Support Priorities
Incoming requests will be prioritized according to the following:
Top Priority - Emergencies
- System failure on multi-user systems
- System failure on desktop systems
- Patching of high-risk security holes.
Non-Emergency Work
- Requests which can be taken care of in a minute or two.
- Account administration.
- Set up of new systems.
- System updates deemed important by the analysts.
- Work which benefits many researchers (e.g. "upgrade Maple on spruce").
- Work which removes an obstacle to progress of one or more researchers (e.g. "I can't compile the program on which my thesis depends without libfoo.so, and I can't find libfoo").
The first item on the list above has a corollary: any non-emergency request, no matter how important to a researcher or group, may be deferred or even dropped if it takes too much time. The researchers involved will be consulted before such a decision is made.