Support

EPCC's User Support team provides support for all users of EPCC's high-performance computing systems. We operate the EPCC Helpdesk, register users for the parallel systems and provide information on all aspects of EPCC's work. In addition, we produce documentation for many of the facilities, produce best practice guides, and answer technical queries about using the facilities.

We use our own internal software, known as the SAFE, to administer all of the above services. The SAFE is used to manage both Helpdesk tickets, and to administer the projects and users on the systems. End users and PIs have access to the SAFE.

For queries about the National Facilities we host please select the appropriate helpdesk from the menu on the right of this page. If you do not knwo which helpdesk to contact please just contact the EPCC Helpdesk and we will make sure your question goes to the correct place.

EPCC Helpdesk

Submitting a query

You can submit a query:

• By e-mail, to epcc-support@epcc.ed.ac.uk
• By telephone, to +44 (0) 131 650 5029
• By post, to:

  EPCC Helpdesk
  EPCC
  The University of Edinburgh
  James Clerk Maxwell Building
  Mayfield Road
  EDINBURGH EH9 3JZ

Please try to send only a single problem in each query. This is because different problems may be handled by different people.

Please also try to provide some background information if you are experiencing a technical problem, for example, your user id, the command you are running and the error message you are getting. It will allow us to look into the problem immediately and respond to you faster.

How the Helpdesk works

The software which we use to drive the helpdesk is part of the SAFE, EPCC's service administration software. When you send an email query, you will normally get an automatic acknowledgment by email, including a tracking ID, with a few minutes. If you submit your query through SAFE, it will give you a tracking ID immediately. Your query will be read a few minutes later by a member of the Helpdesk team. If they cannot solve it at once, they will assign it to the appropriate person within EPCC to handle. The handler may contact you to discuss your problem or to get extra information. Finally, the handler will send you an answer, and the query will be closed. At this point the helpdesk will send you another message, telling you that this has happened.