How to create HPC Cluster with Slurm scheduler on Google Cloud Platform

Generating SSH keys for specific accounts (from Linux machine)

• Login to the Linux machine console.
• Run the following command to generate the SSH key pair:

ssh-keygen -t rsa -f ~/.ssh/[KEY_FILENAME] -C [USERNAME]

Note 1: Replace KEY_FILENAME with the actual private key file name

Note 2: Replace USERNAME with the user who will use this SSH key to login

• Change the permissions of the SSH private key using the command below:

chmod 400 ~/.ssh/[KEY_FILENAME]

Note: Replace KEY_FILENAME with the actual private key file name

Generating SSH keys for specific accounts (from Windows machine)

• Download puttygen.exe from:

http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~sgtatham/putty/download.html

• Run the puttygen.exe
• Click Generate and follow the on-screen instructions to generate a new key.

Note: Make sure you create keys with at least 2048 bits

• In the Key comment section, replace the existing text with the username who will use this key to login to the VM instance.
• Click Save private key to write your private key to a file with a .ppk extension.
• Click Save public key to write your public key to a file for later use.

Configure Metadata settings for the VM instances

• From the upper left pane, click on “Compute Engine”
• From the left pane, click on “Metadata”
• From the main pane, under “Metadata” click on Edit -> add new key:

• Key: enable-oslogin
• Value: false

• Click on Save
• Open the previously created public key (usually it has no file extension) using a text editor and copy its entire content into memory.
• From the main pane, under “SSH Keys” -> click on Edit -> click on Add item -> paste the content of the public key previously created into the free text field labeled “Enter entire key data” -> click on Save

Google Cloud SDK installation phase

• Login to a machine using privileged account
• Install Google Cloud SDK tools.

• Linux (Debian / Ubuntu):

https://cloud.google.com/sdk/docs/quickstart-debian-ubuntu

• Linux (CentOS / RedHat):

https://cloud.google.com/sdk/docs/quickstart-redhat-centos

• Windows:

https://cloud.google.com/sdk/docs/quickstart-windows

• Run the following from command prompt to initialize the Cloud SDK:

gcloud init --console-only

• Select a GCP project from the list
• Select a default Compute region and zone

Common Google Cloud SDK CLI Commands

• Login to Google Cloud Platform:

gcloud auth application-default login --no-launch-browser

Note: The command prompt will show you a link – copy the link to a new browser, login with your GCP project credentials and copy the verification code from the browser to the command prompt

• List all active GCP accounts:

gcloud auth list

• Change the active account:

gcloud config set account <Account_Name>

Note: Replace <Account_Name> with the target GCP account

• Lists all available GCP projects:

gcloud projects list

• Change the GCP project:

gcloud config set project "<Project_ID>"

Note: Replace <Project_ID> with the target GCP project ID

Git installation phase on Linux (Debian / Ubuntu)

• Login to the Linux machine using privileged account
• Run the commands below:

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install git-core

• Run the command below to view the Git version:

git --version

Git installation phase on Linux (Centos / RedHat)

• Login to the Linux machine using privileged account
• Run the commands below:

sudo yum install git

• Run the command below to view the Git version:

git --version

Git installation phase on Windows

• Login to the Windows machine using privileged account
• Download and install Git from the link below:

https://gitforwindows.org/