Modules in Roihu
βπ» This tutorial requires that you have a user account at CSC that is a member of a project that has access to the Roihu service.
βπ» You must also have set up SSH keys and downloaded an SSH certificate that is still valid.
Checking the default modules
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Log in to Roihu-CPU with your user credentials (SSH or Roihu web interface):
ssh <username>@roihu-cpu.csc.fi # replace <username> with your CSC username, e.g. myname@roihu-cpu.csc.fi -
Try a
modulecommand! Check out which modules are loaded as default as you login to Roihu:module list
More module commands with GROMACS as an example
π¬ Letβs imagine that you want to do some molecular dynamics simulations using the GROMACS application.
- It is always a good idea to start by checking the application list in Docs CSC to see whether this application is installed in Roihu and how to use it.
- Check out the GROMACS page.
- Skim through the documentation and verify that the license allows you to use the software.
- Check what is the module command that you need to run to be able to load GROMACS in Roihu.
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Back on the command-line, check which GROMACS versions are available in Roihu.
module spider gromacsβπ» This might take a while as the command searches through all the available modules.
π¬ The list can be quite long. You can go to the next line with Enter, or stop viewing by typing
q). -
Check if some versions can be loaded directly, i.e. are compatible with your currently loaded module environment:
module avail gromacsπ‘ Tip: Another quick way to list the available versions is by typing the load command until the module name and then hit
TABtwice:$ module load gromacs # and here double press TAB gromacs gromacs/2025.2 gromacs/2025.4 gromacs/2026.1 gromacs/2025.1 gromacs/2025.3 gromacs/2026.0 -
Which version is loaded with the default command? Is it the newest version? Try:
module load gromacs -
Do you notice any changes in the output of
module listcompared to the first try? Try this again:module listβπ» If no version is given in the module command, the default version is loaded.
- The default version is typically the latest stable version of the program.
- It is recommended to also provide the version in the module load command, as the default version may change.
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Letβs try loading the 2025.1 version specifically:
module load gromacs/2025.1 module listβπ» It is generally best to use the latest versions since they typically are more performant than old ones and may have useful new features.
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If you want to do something else in the same session, it is usually best to reset the module environment to the default settings. This can be done by first removing all loaded modules and then loading the default environment:
module purge # Purge all (non-sticky) modules module list # List the loaded modules module load StdEnv # Load the default module environment module list # List the loaded modules
More information
π If actually using GROMACS in Roihu, you would run the application as a batch job through the queueing system, which will be discussed in detail later.
π Check out an example batch job script for GROMACS to see how the module is recommended to be loaded (module load gromacs-env loads the latest minor release of a specific year).
Loading a module with non-default dependencies
π¬ As an example of a module with non-default dependencies, you can try to load the GPU version of CP2K 2026.1, a software package for electronic structure calculations.
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Log in to Roihu-GPU with your user credentials (SSH or Roihu web interface):
ssh <username>@roihu-gpu.csc.fi # replace <username> with your CSC username, e.g. myname@roihu-gpu.csc.fi - The
cp2k/2026.1module cannot be loaded in the default environment since it has different dependencies.module availwill not show it and runningmodule load cp2k/2026.1in the standard environment will give an error (feel free to try).
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Check with the
module spidercommand which other modules are needed:module spider cp2k/2026.1 -
Load all of the required modules manually before loading
cp2k/2026.1module purge module load gcc/13.4.0 module load openmpi/5.0.10 module load cp2k/2026.1 module list