Support Channels #

Checklist when asking for help #

Whenever asking for help, here or elsewhere, stop, take a big breathe, and then ask yourself:

👉 - “How can I help the helper help me?” 👈

Below is a checklist that helps us better assist you with your issue and get to a resolution sooner. Please make sure to:

include your username on the cluster (e.g. “My user name is alice.”).
specify what machine the problem occurs on (e.g. “I tried this on dev1 and dev3.”).
if you get an error, cut-and-paste the full error message (e.g. R: command not found).
for failing jobs, specify the job ID of the job that has issues (e.g. “Jobs that failed are 9702394 and 9709933, but it worked for 9704439.”).
for failing jobs, specify how you submit the job and what your script is (e.g. “I submit using qsub -cwd -j y -l mem_free=500M my_script.sh. My script is /wynton/home/boblab/alice/my_script.sh.”). If the script is not too long, consider pasting it in your message.
cut-and-paste text from the console. By including also the prompt (e.g. [alice@dev2 ~]$ somecmd input.txt), you convey useful information, such as your username, current machine, and current working directory, and possibly more.
if using Slack, please format code and output as a “Code Block” (there’s a button for it too); it makes it much easier to read. Avoid screenshot images.
use ‘Reply All’ in all your email correspondence. That way others in the team can pitch with additional knowledge and suggestions.
never include PHI, or other sensitive, data in unencrypted emails or Slack channels. If you need to include sensitive data, use the UCSF encrypted email system (invoke by including “Secure:” at the start of the email subject line.) Do not include sensitive data in your Slack posts.

If you have questions which require Wynton staff assistance, please don’t hesitate to drop us a Wynton HPC Support email at:

support@wynton.ucsf.edu - reaches the Wynton support staff (Monday-Friday 08:00-17:00; Wynton support)
password@wynton.ucsf.edu - if you forgot your Wynton HPC password (Monday-Friday 08:00-17:00; UCSF IT support)

For questions, discussion, and feature requests, please use our Slack workspace:

ucsf-wynton - a communal forum for Wynton HPC users to interact in real time. We encourage everyone to engage, e.g. ask questions, answer questions, share tips and tricks, and participate in discussions. To join: (i) go to the signup page, and (ii) enter your UCSF email address. (*) If you don’t have one of the recognized email domains, or it for other reasons does not work, reach out to us on the above email address and we will send you an invite to your preferred email address.

If you prefer in-person support, please visit our Office Hours:

We hold online Office Hours every Tuesday at 11-noon (1 hour) - you can find the Zoom URL in the message-of-the-day (MOTD) that you get when you log into Wynton.