Universitätsklinikum Essen RCCResearch Compute Cluster
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Overview · RCC ClusterDocs

RCC Expedition

Recommended onboarding for new RCC users

RCC Expedition is a self-contained interactive course for Windows 11 and current macOS. It starts with workstation security and continues through SSH, Linux, Slurm, storage, data boundaries, and reproducible RCC workflows.

Complete the required RCC Expedition Light first. Continue here for optional deeper training after the first connection works.

Download RCC Expedition v1.0.1

SHA-256:

0cc1b6ad446db85d276dd7634f1fddca1c6029c3838191d404870a9912278780

Checksum file

Start without installing anything

  1. Download the ZIP.
  2. Extract the whole ZIP to a normal local folder.
  3. Open START HERE.html.
  4. Choose Open the course now.

The course runs from that folder in the browser. Keep the extracted folder until you finish. No administrator access, command line, Python, package manager, or network connection is required to start.

The optional installer only adds a Desktop launcher and local readiness helpers. You can add it later from START HERE.html; it is not required to read or complete the course.

Privacy: datensparsam by design

RCC Expedition runs locally on the user's computer.

It has:

  • no learner account;
  • no analytics;
  • no telemetry;
  • no central progress database;
  • no supervisor dashboard; and
  • no background course synchronization.

Course progress stays in local browser storage. Local workstation checks retain only coarse states such as PASS, WARN, FAIL, or UNKNOWN.

The course does not collect passwords, MFA secrets, BitLocker/FileVault recovery keys, SSH private-key contents, filenames, shell history, raw Wi-Fi network names, or research data.

External documentation is contacted only when the user clicks an external reference. RCC is contacted only when the user deliberately runs an RCC SSH exercise.

Supported workstation baseline

Use:

  • a currently supported and patched Windows 11 system; or
  • a currently supported and patched macOS system.

Windows 10 is not treated as a suitable baseline for a newly configured RCC research workstation because normal free Windows 10 security support ended in October 2025.

Windows 11

The course covers:

  • Windows Update and application patching;
  • Device Encryption / BitLocker;
  • BitLocker recovery-key handling;
  • Windows Security / Microsoft Defender;
  • Windows Firewall and Secure Boot;
  • screen locking and personal user accounts;
  • backups plus an actual restore test;
  • Windows OpenSSH Client; and
  • RCC SSH-key setup.

macOS

The course covers:

  • macOS and application patching;
  • FileVault;
  • Gatekeeper;
  • screen locking and personal user accounts;
  • encrypted Time Machine backups plus an actual restore test; and
  • RCC SSH-key setup.

Research workstation and clinical-network boundary

A privately maintained or research workstation used for RCC should not be turned into a clinical hospital endpoint.

Do not use hospital/clinical VPN as an RCC connectivity workaround, and do not connect an unmanaged research laptop or desktop to clinical/internal networks merely because those networks are available.

Network reachability itself can expose clinical resources and governed data to browser sessions, mapped shares, caches, sync tools, temporary files, IDE extensions, logs, and other background software.

Use an appropriately managed hospital endpoint for hospital-only clinical resources.

For ordinary Internet access:

  • use eduroam when eligible and available;
  • where locally provided, Stiftungsnetz may be used as a semi-official/transitional Internet bootstrap route; or
  • use another approved guest Internet path or a personal hotspot where appropriate.

Stiftungsnetz is mentioned only as a practical bootstrap option. This documentation makes no undocumented claim about its network isolation.

What the course teaches

The release contains platform-specific and common missions for:

  1. workstation security and patching;
  2. encryption and recovery planning;
  3. backup and restore;
  4. passwords and MFA;
  5. safe network boundaries;
  6. ClusterDocs as the RCC source of truth;
  7. OpenSSH and RCC SSH keys;
  8. Linux shell fundamentals;
  9. submission hosts versus compute allocations;
  10. first Slurm job and resource requests;
  11. durable storage versus node-local scratch;
  12. governed data and transfer boundaries;
  13. explicit software environments;
  14. Apptainer;
  15. Snakemake (ready now) and managed Nextflow (validating);
  16. optional VS Code and Jupyter; and
  17. an end-to-end synthetic RCC experiment.

Exercises use synthetic/non-sensitive material.

Using a coding agent with RCC

When an RCC-internal coding agent is available for your project, you can ask it to help turn a research question into code, a scheduled calculation, plots, and a report. It works inside RCC under your normal project access; larger calculations run on RCC workers; results return to the project. The coding agent does not gain extra access. Never give RCC research data to an off-site coding agent; use fully synthetic data instead.

Start with coding agents and your data.

Optional integrity check

The Desktop-helper installer verifies every packaged file before copying it. You can also compare the downloaded ZIP with the SHA-256 value shown above. Do not bypass Gatekeeper, SmartScreen, Windows Security, or antivirus to start the course.

Relationship to ClusterDocs

ClusterDocs remains the source of truth for mutable RCC technical facts.

RCC Expedition links back to ClusterDocs for current:

  • login/SSH configuration;
  • Slurm resource policy;
  • storage layout;
  • transfer services;
  • GPU instructions;
  • containers;
  • workflow execution; and
  • Jupyter/remote-development instructions.