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Request an Account

Before you can log in to the cluster, submit jobs, or even explore the system, you need an HPC account. The good news: it's quick to set up, free for anyone in the Dartmouth community, and comes with storage space you can access from anywhere on campus.

What You Get

An HPC account gives you:

  • Login access to Dartmouth's Linux compute servers using your existing campus credentials
  • A home directory — your own persistent storage space, shared across all HPC systems
  • Access to the job scheduler so you can submit work to the cluster's compute nodes

Think of it as your workspace on the cluster. Your home directory is where you'll keep scripts, small datasets, and configuration files. It's backed up and available every time you log in, no matter which system you connect to.

Home directories aren't just for the cluster

Your home directory lives on network storage, which means you can also mount it on your personal laptop or desktop. This makes it easy to transfer files back and forth without needing a separate tool.

Requesting an Account at Dartmouth

To request a Research Computing account, go to the HPC Account Request page and log in with your NetID. Once your account is created, you'll receive a confirmation email with further details.

Non-Dartmouth collaborators

If you're working with someone outside of Dartmouth who needs access, faculty sponsors can request accounts for external collaborators. Contact Research Computing for details.

Your Home Directory

When your account is created, you get a 50 GB home directory on DartFS. This directory is shared across all Research Computing Linux systems — Discovery, Andes, and Polaris — so your files are available no matter which system you log into.

Home directory paths follow a specific pattern based on the last character of your NetID. For example, if your NetID is f1234x5, your home directory would be:

/dartfs/rc/home/5/f1234x5

Legacy locations

There used to be two DartFS systems: One regular one and one intended for use with the HPC systems. For that reason, there are still some users and labs that are under /dartfs-hpc/.... Going forward, this location will be phased out, however, and we recommend putting everything under /dartfs/....

Mounting Your Home Directory on a Personal Computer

You can access your DartFS home directory directly from your laptop or desktop, as long as you're on the Dartmouth network (or connected through the VPN).

Open Finder, press Cmd+K, and enter your mount path:

smb://netid@dartfs.dartmouth.edu/rc/home/<last-char>/<netid>

Replace <last-char> with the last character of your NetID and <netid> with your full NetID. For example, NetID f1234x5 would use:

smb://f1234x5@dartfs.dartmouth.edu/rc/home/5/f1234x5

Open File Explorer, click the address bar, and enter your UNC path:

\\dartfs.dartmouth.edu\rc\home\<last-char>\<netid>

For example, NetID f1234x5 would use:

\\dartfs.dartmouth.edu\rc\home\5\f1234x5

You must be on the Dartmouth network

Home directory mounting only works when you're connected to the campus network or running the Dartmouth VPN. If you're off campus and can't connect, start the VPN first.

Additional Storage

Your 50 GB home directory is great for scripts, configuration files, and small datasets, but research often requires more space. All faculty are entitled to a free 1 TB lab volume on DartFS to support their research — additional storage beyond that can be purchased through the Storage Request page.

Lab volumes are faculty-only

Lab volumes are provisioned for faculty principal investigators, not for individual students or staff. If you're a student or postdoc, your advisor's lab volume is where shared research data typically lives. Ask your PI for the path.

Lab volumes live under /dartfs/rc/lab/ and default to the PI's last name and first initial, grouped by the first letter. For example, Professor Charles Xavier's lab share would be at:

/dartfs/rc/lab/X/XavierC

Like home directories, lab volumes can be mounted from a personal computer using the same pattern — just replace /rc/home/<last-char>/<netid> with /rc/lab/<first-letter>/<labname> in the mount paths described above.

For a full overview of the available storage tiers, see the Storage Fundamentals article.

Check Your Understanding

Enter your name and NetID below to see your actual paths — or leave the defaults to practice with a fictional researcher. The lab share path is included too, though note that lab volumes are only available to faculty.

About you (optional)

Optional Features

Research Computing offers a few optional features you can enable by emailing research.computing@dartmouth.edu:

Personal website hosting — Your home directory can serve a website at https://rcweb.dartmouth.edu/homes/<netid>/. Custom URL aliases are available on a first-come, first-served basis.

Login nicknames — By default you log in with your NetID, but you can request a friendlier username (e.g., cxavier instead of f1234x5) for use on the Linux systems. Nicknames make it easier to identify your processes and are approved on a first-come, first-served basis.

Note

Nicknames only apply to the Linux command line. They can't be used for mounting home directories or for website aliases (though it's nice when they match).

Managing Disk Quotas

Every home directory has a quota — a limit on how much storage space it can use. Quotas exist to make sure no single user (or runaway program) consumes more than their fair share of a shared resource.

To check your current usage, run:

quota ~

If you're running low on space, here are some strategies:

1. Find what's using space. The du command shows disk usage by directory:

du -h --max-depth=1 ~ | sort -hr | head -20  # (1)!
  1. This lists the 20 largest directories in your home, sorted by size. It's a quick way to find where space is going.

2. Remove what you don't need. Old output files, logs from completed jobs, and outdated datasets are common culprits.

3. Compress files you want to keep but aren't actively using:

gzip large_output.csv           # (1)!
tar -czf old_results.tar.gz old_results/  # (2)!
  1. Compresses a single file in-place. The original is replaced by large_output.csv.gz.
  2. Archives and compresses an entire directory into one file.

4. Move large datasets to a more appropriate storage tier. Your home directory is designed for small, frequently accessed files. Large research datasets belong on shared lab storage or scratch. See Storage Fundamentals for guidance on choosing the right tier.

Disk quota exceeded

If you see errors like Disk quota exceeded or No space left on device, your home directory is full. Start by running quota ~ to confirm, then follow the strategies above to free up space. If you need a temporary workaround to unblock yourself, you can work from scratch storage (/dartfs-hpc/scratch) while you clean up.

Passwordless Login

Because Dartmouth uses centralized campus authentication, standard SSH key pairs aren't supported for logging in. Instead, you can set up GSSAPI authentication, which works with your campus credentials to provide a similar passwordless login experience. See Connecting to the Cluster for details on setting this up.

What's Next?

With your account in hand, you're ready to connect: