USC Center for High Performance Computing and Communications

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    - Applications on Almaak-01

Account Applications

Announcement

A new HPCC account application page is available at:

https://www-rcf.usc.edu/rcfdocs/hpcc/allocations

This page will be used for new and existing applications, as well as upcoming 2008-2009 account renewals.

Please note the following changes:

1. Each time a URL is entered, the primary investigator (PI) will see a security certificate warning. Please examine the certificate and make sure you see the following:

Issued by: University of Southern California PKI-Lite CA, release 1

The message will indicate that the certificate cannot be verified. This is because the certificate was not signed by an authorized commercial certificate authority like Verisign. Please be assured that the certificate has been issued by USC; it is safe to proceed in spite of the warning. Please note that if you click Accept Once rather than Accept Permanently, you will receive a warning about the certificate the next time that you visit the website.

2. After accepting the certificate, the PI will be required to authenticate with his or her RCF login id and password.

3. All data has been streamlined, so that you need only one PI information record for all your HPCC accounts.

4. You will no longer be required to sign a hardcopy of the account application and mail it to HPCC.

5. You need to enable Java and Javascript in your browser to use the application.

For more information about this new application, please visit our About the new software page.

Applications and Processing Procedures

You will need an HPCC account to use the machines. There are two types of accounts available:

  • Small Accounts: These accounts are restricted in the amount of resources that may be used. These accounts are available to USC faculty, research staff, and graduate and undergraduate students with the approval of their faculty advisor. Users associated with an account share the resources allocated to that account.

  • Large Accounts: Large accounts allow for large allocation of computing resources and are appropriate for large research projects. These accounts are available to the principal investigator of a research group or project. Researchers may have more than one project account. Users associated with an account share the resources allocated to that account. Applications for large accounts will be reviewed in detail by the HPCC Allocation Committee (a subcommittee of the HPCC Faculty Advisory Council).

Researchers requesting an allocation of resources should explain the nature of the work from a computational perspective, detail the experience of researchers in using similar machines, and describe how computing resources will be used.

Applications for small allocations are reviewed by the HPCC management and are processed routinely within two weeks. Applications for all large allocation proposals will be reviewed by the Allocation Committee. Applications will be evaluated on the basis of their technical merit and accomplishments (for renewals), the justification of computational needs, and the demonstration of effective use of the HPCC computing resources.

Definition of the terms used in request of resources

  • NWCH: Time on the Linux Computing Resource will be allocated in Node Wall Clock Hours (NWCH). The use of 10 nodes for three hours would be counted as 30 NWCH.

  • CPUH: Time on the SUN computing resource will be allocated in terms of CPU Hours (CPUH). One hour of CPU time on four processors would be counted as four CPUH.

    Renewals and Publications

    Copies of published papers acknowledging HPCC should be submitted to the Center at hpcc@usc.edu for inclusion on the Center website. Be sure to include complete publication information (a URL, PDF or PS file of the actual publication) and indicate if there are any restrictions on publication. Compliance with this policy will be a factor in the evaluation of proposals renewals.

    Any form of publication, including web pages, resulting from work done on the HPCC machines should include the following citation:

    Computation for the work described in this paper was supported by the University of Southern California Center for High-Performance Computing and Communications (www.usc.edu/hpcc).


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