HPC & ML Infrastructure Engineering
Hi, I’m Will Paik. Welcome to The Login Node.
I specialize in scaling AI/ML models on High-Performance Computing (HPC) systems.
In supercomputing, there’s always a natural tension between system administrators (“Keep it stable!”) and researchers (“Run it faster!”). My job is to find the technical sweet spot that makes both of them happy.
Currently, I work as an HPC Machine Learning Performance Engineer. By day, I optimize large-scale clusters for training massive AI models. At night, I build (and occasionally break) my own mini-supercomputer to teach you how it all works.
CORE STACK: Slurm Linux Docker/Apptainer PyTorch Distributed Ansible
Tools I actually use to build, operate, and optimize production HPC systems.
"Function over Form. The physical cluster building process documented on The Login Node."
What is ‘The Login Node’?
“If you can’t log in, you can’t compute.”
I run The Login Node, a tech channel dedicated to HPC Tutorials, System Optimization, and DevOps for Science.
Most tutorials stop at “Hello World”. Here, we go deeper. From learning SSH to building a physical cluster with mini PCs. I document the entire engineering process here.
Whether you are a grad student struggling with sbatch or an engineer building a home lab, I hope this becomes your knowledge base.
| Role | Hardware Model | Specs |
|---|---|---|
| Login Node | Lenovo IdeaPad 1 | Ryzen 5 7520U, 8GB RAM |
| Management | Lenovo ThinkCentre M715q | Ryzen 5 2400GE, 16GB RAM |
| Visualization | Lenovo ThinkCentre M715q | Ryzen 5 2400GE, 16GB RAM |
| Worker Nodes | Lenovo ThinkCentre M715q | Ryzen 5 2400GE, 16GB RAM |
| GPU Node | HP Envy TE01 | Core i7-10700F, 32GB RAM GTX 1660 Super (6GB) |
| Storage | (Shared via Mgmt) | 1TB NVMe SSD (NFS Share) |
| Network | Gigabit Managed Switch | 8-Port, VLAN Support |
Software Stack
- OS: Rocky Linux 10
- Scheduler: Slurm 25
- Provisioning: Ansible
- Container: Apptainer
- Monitoring: Prometheus + Grafana (In Progress)
Start Here: HPC 101
New to HPC? Check out my latest tutorial series.
📰 Latest News
- [Jan 2026] 📝 New blog post: [HPC 101] Lesson 3: Environment Management
- [Jan 2026] 📝 New blog post: [Linux 101] The Terminal: Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark
- [Jan 2026] 📝 New blog post: [HPC 101] Lesson 2: Data Transfer and File Management
- [Dec 2025] 📝 New blog post: [HPC 101] Lesson 1: SSH, Modules, and Slurm