This page explains ARCC policies for high-performance computing.
Contents
These policies and procedures are intended to ensure that ARCC HPC facilities are fairly shared, effectively used, and support the University of Wyoming's research programs that rely on computational facilities not available elsewhere at the University.
Definitions
Cluster
an assembly of computational hardware designed and configured to function together as a single system, much the way neurons work together to form a brain
Condo
a computational resource that is shared among many users — condo compute resources are used simultaneously by multiple users
HPC
high-performance computing generally refers to systems that perform parallel processes at a level above a teraflop or 1012 floating-point operations per second
HPS
high-performance storage system, usually a tiered system with media covering a range of speeds to optimize performance while reducing cost
Customer
a person, or group to whom ARCC provides a service
General Policies
For policies that apply to all ARCC resources, see ARCC Policies.
Usage of Login Nodes
The login nodes are provided for authorized users to access the Teton cluster.
They are intended for people to set up and submit jobs, access results from jobs, transfer data to/from the cluster, etc. As a courtesy to your colleagues, you should refrain from doing anything compute-intensive (any task(s) that uses 100% of a CPU), long-running tasks (over 10 minutes), a large number of tasks that have the same footprint on these nodes as it will interfere with the ability of others to use the node resources. Compute intensive tasks should be submitted as jobs to the compute nodes, as that is what compute nodes are for.
Short compilations of code are permissible. If you are doing a very parallel or long compilation, you should consider requesting an interactive job and doing your compilation there as a courtesy to your colleagues.
Compute-intensive calculations, etc. are NOT allowed on the login nodes. If system staff find such jobs running, we will kill them without prior notification.
Tasks violating these rules will be terminated immediately and the owner will be warned, and continue violation may result in the suspension of access to the cluster(s). Access will not be restored until the ARCC director receives a written request from the user’s PI.
Do NUT run compute-intensive, long-running tasks, or large numbers of tasks on the login nodes.