8 October 2026 to 18 February 2027
Europe/Brussels timezone

Containers on HPC

26 Nov 2026, 11:00
30m
CYCL09a

CYCL09a

chemin du cyclotron 2, Louvain-La-Neuve

Speaker

Dr Olivier Mattelaer (UCLouvain/CISM)

Description

Containers have become a standard way to package and distribute scientific software. Apptainer (formerly Singularity) allows users to run complex software stacks on HPC clusters in a portable, reproducible, and secure manner without requiring administrator privileges. This session introduces container technologies and teaches participants how to use, create, and deploy Apptainer containers on CÉCI clusters.

Contents Information
• Introduction to containers and reproducibility
• Why Apptainer is used on HPC systems
• Pulling and running existing container images
• Accessing files and directories from within containers
• Building Apptainer images from definition files
• Using containers with Slurm jobs
• Managing software dependencies with containers
• Best practices for portable and reproducible research workflows
Prerequisite:
• Mastering the Linux command line and GNU utilities
• Basic familiarity with Slurm job submission

Type: Hands-on
Target audience: Everyone
Must: Strongly recommended for users who need custom software environments or reproducible workflows.

Presentation materials

There are no materials yet.