Current Limits on the Use of Computing Resources at USC
Section 1. General Understandings
Section 2. SCF, Faculty/Staff, HSC
Section 3. Research Servers (RCF)
Section 4. Web Servers
Section 5. Resnet bandwidth usage
Section 1. General Understandings
1.1 Although computing resources available to the university community are vast, they are limited. Therefore, ITS must ration usage to ensure that all users have adequate access to efficient and reliable computing resources. Resource limits apply to time-sharing hosts, campus servers and the university network infrastructure. The policies below cite specific restrictions and identify activities designed to ensure maximum benefit to each user.
1.2 For account holders accessing ITS time-sharing systems, limits exist based upon CPU usage (time and percentage), total number of user processes, memory and disk space usage. As shown in the following sections limits may be system-wide or specific to a particular host and change periodically based on available resources.
Section 2. Student Computing Facility (SCF), General Faculty/Staff Computing (mizar), and Health Sciences Computing (hsc)
2.1 No CPU-intensive or large memory process may be run on any of the general time-sharing systems. Only one Lisp job per user is allowed at one time. On single-user workstations, the process restrictions are waived provided the user leaves no processes running after logging out.
2.2 A CPU-intensive process is defined differently depending upon the host. A list of major hosts and limits is shown below.
Host Max CPU Time Max % CPU Max Memory aludra (SCF) 60 minutes 10% 300 Mb nunki (SCF) 60 minutes 10% 200 Mb mizar 30 minutes 10% 20 Mb hsc 30 minutes 10% 20 Mb
2.3 On all general purpose time-sharing hosts, users may not have more than 20 processes at any time. Stopped and/or backgrounded processes count equally toward this limit.
Section 3. Research Computing Facility (RCF)
3.1 There is a limit of one compute-bound, long-running, or large memory process per user at any one time on any computer that makes up the Research Computing Facility (RCF).
4.1 On the primary Web server, cwis, users may not have any long running or CPU intensive processes. cwis should only be used for Web-related work and should not be used for email or other non-Web related processes. Disk allocation on cwis is intended only for storage of Web-related files and should not be used for general file storage.
Section 5. Resnet bandwidth usage
5.1 All uses of the Resnet network should be within the limits of the General Policies Regarding the Electronic Communication Infrastructure at USC General Policies. Additionally, intensive use of the network for long periods of time should be limited to no more than 3.5 gigabytes transfered in two hours and no more than 10 gigabytes in any 24 hour period. This usage level is stated to insure adequate bandwidth is available for all users of the network. Violations of this policy can result in the disabling of all network access.
5.2 In all cases, usage at or above these levels for academic or USC mission related work can be excepted. Exceptions will need to requested in writing and have a departmental chair's approval for the work.
6.1 To ensure adequate network resource availability and network security, the running of servers in the residential network is prohibited. These servers include and are not limited to WWW, FTP, and Telnet servers. Violations of this policy may result in the disabling of network access.
Last updated: Wednesday, September 12, 2007, 11:08AM PDT