Support Ticket Submission Guidelines

Published

January 19, 2026

This page provides instructions on how to submit a support ticket to the ITVO HPC team.

A clear, complete ticket lets us diagnose and fix your problem much faster. Tickets that do not follow this guideline may be returned for more information.

You can submit a ticket through the VU IT Serviceportal ticket submit page. Please mention ADA in the subject, so our colleagues from the central IT department know where to transfer the ticket to.

✅ Quick Checklist (include every item)

Symptom & context – one‑sentence summary + verbatim error text or screenshot
Minimal Reproducible Example (MRE) – smallest script or command that still fails (include file in request or specify the scistor path!)
Expected vs. actual behaviour – what you thought would happen and what did happen
Environment & other details
Other information relevant to the specific problem at hand, like:
- Account name or Job ID(s)
- Node list / partition / queue
- Loaded modules (module list) or Conda env name
- Compiler / MPI / application versions
Logs attached – stdout/stderr files (*.o<JobID>, *.e<JobID>), stack traces, application logs
Troubleshooting already tried – e.g. different node type, smaller input, googled error
Large files compressed – gzip anything > 1 MB

Tip

A good ticket should allow a consultant to copy‑paste your example into the debug queue and reproduce the problem in < 5 minutes.

📋 Detailed Instructions

1. Describe the symptom

Explain what you were doing and what went wrong. Paste the exact error message—even a missing colon can matter.

2. Provide a Minimal Reproducible Example (MRE)

Strip your script or code down to the fewest lines that still trigger the problem. Remove unrelated options, comments, or data files.

3. Expected vs. actual behaviour

State the outcome you expected (e.g. “allocate 64 GB on two GPUs”) and the outcome you observed (e.g. “job received only 32 GB and crashed”).

4. Environment & other details

Other information relevant to the specific problem at hand, like: - Scheduler info – Job ID, partition/queue, node list - Environment – full module list or conda info --envs, compiler and MPI versions - Hardware specifics – GPU type, high‑mem node, scratch file system if relevant - Application specifics – for example, software name and version

5. Logs & output files

Attach the raw *.o and *.e files or any application log. Compress large logs and never paste thousands of lines inline.

6. What you have already tried

List the diagnostics or work‑arounds you attempted. This prevents duplicated suggestions and speeds resolution.

📝 Ticket Template (Markdown)

Copy the block below into your ticket and fill in every section.

### Summary
A concise description of the problem (1–3 sentences).

### Steps to reproduce (MRE)
1. Command or script snippet that triggers the issue
2. Input files or parameters (links or small attachment)

### Expected behaviour
What **should** happen.

### Actual behaviour / error output
Paste **verbatim** error text or attach log file.

### Environment & other details
Other possible relevant details like:
- Job ID(s)
- Partition/queue
- Node list
- Loaded modules or Conda env
- Compiler / MPI / application versions
- Other...

### Logs
<attach or paste>

### Troubleshooting already attempted
- e.g. Scaled down input size → still fails

### Additional context (optional)
Screenshots, config files, links to docs you followed, etc.

Tip

A detailed, reproducible ticket is the fastest path to a solution. Thanks for helping us help you!