Author: Danilo

High disk partition usage Linux systems can quickly become a critical issue, whether you are managing a production server, a virtual machine, or an HPC login node. When I investigate storage problems, I start by identifying which filesystem is full before narrowing the search to the directories and files responsible for the excessive disk usage. Over the years, I have found that Linux provides all the built-in tools needed to diagnose disk space problems without installing additional software. By combining commands such as df, du, find, and lsof, it is possible to identify storage bottlenecks efficiently and reduce the time…

Slurm administration commands are part of my daily routine when managing HPC clusters. Whether I need to investigate scheduling issues, monitor running jobs, inspect compute nodes, or respond to unexpected incidents, having the right commands readily available makes cluster administration faster and more reliable. Although Slurm provides hundreds of commands and options, only a core set is required for most administrative tasks. In my experience, mastering these commands significantly reduces troubleshooting time and helps maintain cluster stability while supporting users more efficiently. This guide presents the essential Slurm administration commands I regularly use to manage HPC environments. The examples assume…

tmux on Linux is one of the tools I rely on most when working on remote servers and managing multiple terminal tasks simultaneously. Instead of opening several terminal windows, I use tmux to organize sessions, split the screen into panes, and keep long-running processes active even after disconnecting from an SSH session. In day-to-day Linux administration, tmux makes it much easier to monitor logs, edit configuration files, execute maintenance tasks, and work with multiple remote systems from a single terminal window. Its lightweight design and wide availability across Linux distributions make it an essential utility for system administrators and developers…

The Lustre file system is one of the most widely used parallel storage solutions in High-Performance Computing (HPC) environments. In this guide, I introduce the core concepts behind Lustre, explaining how its distributed architecture enables multiple clients to access massive datasets efficiently while delivering the high throughput required by modern HPC clusters. Before deploying or administering a Lustre environment, it is important to understand how its architecture differs from a traditional filesystem. Unlike local filesystems such as ext4 or XFS, the Lustre file system distributes metadata and file data across dedicated servers, allowing storage resources to scale while supporting parallel…

Installing Rocky Linux shows how to install, step-by-step, the Rocky Linux OS. First and foremost: What is Rocky Linux? Nowadays, Red Hat is one of the biggest and most important companies in the IT sector. They develop and maintain Red Hat Enterprise Linux, one of the biggest Linux flavors used by companies all around the world. On December 8, 2020, Red Hat announced that it would discontinue development of CentOS, which has been a production-ready downstream version of Red Hat Enterprise Linux, in favor of a newer upstream development variant of that operating system known as “CentOS Stream”. In response…

Slurm nodes and partitions are among the first components I check when monitoring or troubleshooting an HPC cluster. Commands such as sinfo and scontrol provide immediate visibility into node states, partition availability, and potential issues that can affect job scheduling and cluster performance. If you’re getting started with Slurm administration, understanding how to inspect nodes and partitions is an essential skill. In my experience, these commands are invaluable for identifying unavailable nodes, reviewing partition status, and quickly determining why resources are not accepting new jobs. In this guide, I demonstrate how to view information about Slurm nodes and partitions using…