Software Modules

To request software for the KU Community Cluster, fill out the Software Request form

Description

The Modules environment is used to manage your software environment. Unlike a traditional computer, software needs to be loaded in your environment before it is ready to use. This simplifies the management of environment variables associated with various software packages.

Many Linux settings are in environment variables. These include search paths for applications ($PATH) and libraries ($LD_LIBRARY_PATH). Adding or removing a directory to these lists, provides access or remove access to additional software.

The LMOD modules are an user friendly way to search and manage software packages without dealing with complicated directory names.

Note

All CRC clusters use the Lmod module environment.

List available Modules

There are various ways to search for a software package. You can list all currently available packages using:

module avail

You can search for all modules starting with a specific string:

module avail compiler

Furthermore, the following command lists you all the modules containing a certain sub-string in the name:

module spider python

In the example above all modules with the sub-string python will be listed

Load Modules

Loading a module will provide access to the software package and it will additionally load all required dependencies.

module load R

You may also wish to load a specific version of the software

module load R/4.2

List all Loaded Modules

You can list the currently loaded modules

$ module list

Currently Loaded Modules:
  1) StdEnv
  2) compiler/intel/18
  3) anaconda/4.7
  4) python/3.7
  5) compiler/gcc/8.3
  6) java/1.8.0_212
  7) R/4.0
  8) openmpi/4.0

Unload Modules

To prevent unwanted influences between software packages, it is advisable to keep the loaded modules small and clean.

Certain modules can be unloaded using:

module unload python/3.7

Purge all Modules

All currently loaded modules can be unloaded using:

module purge

Standard Environment

When you log on to the cluster and when running a job, a default stack of software will be loaded automatically.

1) compiler/gcc/8.3  2) openmpi/4.0

If you don't wish to use the standard enviornment, the command module purge will remove all modules loaded, then you can load the modules you wish