Useful commands
We have gathered a list of useful commands when working with LaPalma4. These commands are classified in the next sections, please, let us know if you use other commands that you think we should add to this list:
Useful commands for executing your parallel application are listed at Useful Commands (executions).
Transferring files
For transferring files to LaPalma from Unix systems (Linux,
MacOS,...), you can use secure copy (scp) and secure ftp (sftp),
both tools have the same syntax as the old and insecure tools such as
rcp (remote copy) and ftp. You can use remote sync (rsync), too,
as long as you use ssh as remote shell. As have been said before, no
connections are allowed from inside LaPalma to the outside world so all
scp, sftp and rsync commands have to be executed from your local
machines and not inside LaPalma.
Here there are some examples of each of this tools transferring files to LaPalma:
[mymachine]$ scp localfile usertest@lapalma1.iac.es:remotedir
[mymachine]$ sftp usertest@lapalma1.iac.es
sftp> cd remotedir
sftp> put localfile
[mymachine]$ rsync -auv localfile usertest@lapalma1.iac.es:remotedir
These are the ways to retrieve files from LaPalma to your local machine:
[mymachine]$ scp usertest@lapalma1.iac.es:remotefile localdir
[mymachine]$ sftp usertest@lapalma1.iac.es
sftp> cd remotedir
sftp> get remotefile
[mymachine]$ rsync -auv usertest@lapalma1.iac.es:remotefile localdir
If you are not familiar with these transferring tools, please, check
documentation to know the different options they offer. For instance,
with sftp you can use mget or mput for multiple transfers, -r
for recursion in directories, lcd to change the local directory, use
! to execute some commands locally, etc. rsync also offers a lot of
different useful options.
Available software on LaPalma
LaPalma4 early access
LaPalma4 has been online since only mid-February 2026. Therefore, some of the
software stack may be not yet fully installed. If you encounter any software
issue or require a specific software not yet installed, please reach us at
res_support@iac.es.
The list of available software on LaPalma is continuously being updated, since we frequently install new software or upgrade existing one according to the needs of our users. If you would like to ask for time to execute on LaPalma, but you need to know first which software is available, please, contact us and inquire whether a specific software (and version) is already available or we can install it. Also you can check the next list to have an idea:
List of installed software on LaPalma (February 2026):
---------------------------------- Compilers ----------------------------------
gcc/15.2.0 oneapi/dpct/latest
oneapi/advisor/2025.4 oneapi/dpl/2022.10
oneapi/advisor/latest oneapi/dpl/latest
oneapi/ccl/2022.0.0 oneapi/intel_ipp_intel64/2022.3
oneapi/ccl/latest oneapi/intel_ipp_intel64/latest
oneapi/compiler-intel-llvm/2025.3.2 oneapi/intel_ippcp_intel64/2025.3
oneapi/compiler-intel-llvm/latest oneapi/intel_ippcp_intel64/latest
oneapi/compiler-rt/2025.3.2 oneapi/ishmem/1.5.0
oneapi/compiler-rt/latest oneapi/ishmem/latest
oneapi/compiler/2025.3.2 oneapi/mkl/2025.3
oneapi/compiler/latest oneapi/mkl/latest
oneapi/dal/2025.10 oneapi/mpi/2021.17
oneapi/dal/latest oneapi/mpi/latest
oneapi/debugger/2025.3.1 oneapi/tbb/2022.3
oneapi/debugger/latest oneapi/tbb/latest
oneapi/dev-utilities/2025.3.0 oneapi/umf/1.0.2
oneapi/dev-utilities/latest oneapi/umf/latest
oneapi/dnnl/3.9.1 oneapi/vtune/2025.8
oneapi/dnnl/latest oneapi/vtune/latest
oneapi/dpct/2025.3.0
------------------------------------ Tools ------------------------------------
cmake/4.2.3 python/3.12.12
---------------------------------- Libraries ----------------------------------
boost/1.90.0 fftw/3.3.10/intel/mpi gsl/2.8 hdf5/1.14.6
Specifying which software you want to use
All installed software (compilers, applications, numerical and graphical
libraries, tools, etc.) can be found at /storage/apps/.
There is a directory for each application (uppercase letters)
and then a subdirectory with the installed versions. For better
flexibility, users are allowed to choose which software packages and
version want to use on their executions. By using the Environment
Modules
package you can dynamically load and/or unload specific modules using
the commands listed below (remember to load your required modules in
your submission scripts). To manage the modules, you only need to use
module command and the proper option, the most common ones are listed
bellow:
List all available modules
[lapalma1]$ module avail
List all available versions of a specific package
[lapalma1]$ module avail <package> # For example: module avail gnu
Load an specific module
[lapalma1]$ module load <module_name> # For example: module load gnu/7.2.0
List all loaded modules
[lapalma1]$ module list
Unload modules
[lapalma1]$ module rm <module_name> # Unload a specific module. For example: module rm python/2.6 [lapalma1]$ module purge # Unload all modules [lapalma1]$ module switch <old_mod> <new_mod> # Replace modules (unload old_mod and then load new_mod)
Show detailed info (like prerequisites and conflicts)
[lapalma1]$ module show <module_name> # Display details for a module (you can also use display) [lapalma1]$ module show <module_name> | grep "prereq\|conflict" # Show prerequisites and conflicts
Note
Some of the modules could be needed when executing your code, in order to properly load dynamic libraries, etc. Be careful and do not forget to add the right modules in your script file when submitting it.
Compiling
LaPalma4 early access
LaPalma4 has been online since only mid-February 2026. Therefore, some of the
software stack may be not yet fully installed. If you encounter any software
issue or require a specific software not yet installed, please reach us at
res_support@iac.es.
There are several available compilers in LaPalma4, remember to load their modules before using those compilers. Some modules are not compatible among them, so you may need to unload first a module to load a new one (some examples about how to load and unload modules are shown above).
Sequential
You can use the GNU or Intel OneAPI compilers in order to compile your sequential codes:
# C C++ Fortran Compiler
[lapalma1]$ gcc ... g++ gfortran # GNU: module load gnu
[lapalma1]$ icx ... icpx ifx # Intel: module load oneapi/compiler
OpenMP
The same compilers used for sequential codes can be used for OpenMP
applications, adding the proper flag, -fopenmp for GCC and -qopenmp for
Intel OneAPI compilers.
MPI
If you need to compile MPI programs, you can use the Intel OneAPI MPI library:
# C C++ Fortran Compiler
[lapalma1]$ mpiicx mpiicpx mpiifx # Intel OneAPI module load oneapi/compiler oneapi/mpi
Optimization options
Using the proper optimizations options when compiling could considerably increase the performance of your program, but bear in mind that optimizations highly depend on each code, so you should check which options are the best ones for your application. Here we recommend some generic ones:
GNU compilers:
-O3 -mtune=native -march=nativeIntel compilers:
-O3 -xHost
Note
If your application needs some external libraries (like
gsl,mkl,hdf5,netcdf, etc.), use commandmodule avail <package>to see if they are available. If so, load the one(s) you need withmodule load <module>before compiling your application (and also remember that you might also need to load them in your submit script when running your application). Also check all available versions before loading a module, since sometimes there are specific modules depending on the compilers that you are going to use (for instance,openmpihas different modules forgnuorintel. You can see all those versions using:module avail <package>, usually dependencies are indicated after the version number). Please, contact us if you have any doubt about which version you should choose or you need any software that is not already installed.
Profiling and debugging
LaPalma4 early access
LaPalma4 has been online since only mid-February 2026. Therefore, some of the
software stack may be not yet fully installed. If you encounter any software
issue or require a specific software not yet installed, please reach us at
res_support@iac.es.
The next tools are available on LaPalma4: