Access

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User account requests

To create new user or lab accounts, please follow these instructions:

  • Please email user account requests to support@hpcc.ucr.edu. Include the full name, NetID and email address of both users and PI. Users need to be members of the PI’s group. Preferentially, user account requests should come from the corresponding PI directly. If the request comes from a new user then the PI needs to be CC’ed in the email exchange.
  • If a PI’s lab is not registered yet, please provide in the same email a COA (formerly FAU) required to pay for the annual subscription fee, and optionally for additional data storage (see here). If additional storage is needed, mention how much and the COA to be used for the additional recharge.

After receiving the access information for a new account, users want to follow the login instructions here.

Recharging rates

HPCC’s recharging rate structure is outlined below. A more formal summary is available in the most recent Recharging Rate PDF here.

PI-based Registration Fee

An annual registration fee of $1,000 gives all members of a UCR lab access to our high-performance computing infrastructure. The registration provides access to the following resources:

  • Over 16,000 CPU cores (60% AMD and 40% Intel), ~230,000 cuda cores (Nvidia A100, P100 and K80 GPUs), ~5PB parallel GPFS-based disk space, 512GB-1TB of memory/node, etc. More details are available on the hardware pages.
  • Over 1000 software packages and community databases. Details are available on the software page.
  • Free attendance of workshops offered by HPCC staff
  • Free consultation services (up to 1 hour per month)
  • Note: there is no extra charge for CPU usage but each user and lab have CPU quotas of 384 and 768 CPU cores, respectively. Computing jobs exceeding these quotas can be submitted but will stay in a queued state until resources within the quota limits become available.

Big data storage

For data storage the HPCC uses a central parallel GPFS storage system that scales to many thousands of TBs. This high-availability storage system is directly attached (mounted) to all its CPU and GPU nodes, meaning users can immediately process their data with high-performance computing hardware without moving them from one location (e.g. a data archival system) to another.

  • Rented big data storage

    • Standard user accounts have a storage quota of 20 GB. To gain access to much larger storage pools, PIs have the option to rent or own storage space.

    • Storage rental option

      • $1000 per 10TB of usable and backed up storage space per year. Smaller units than 10TB are also available (e.g. 100GB units). For details see here. In comparison, the maintenance cost for the same amount of owned storage is $260 per year (see below).
      • Since the HPCC backs up all user data to a secondary server room and uses snapshotting as an additional data security measure, 10TB of usable backed up space is the equivalent of almost 30TB of raw disk space. Thus, the cost for rented storage is $33.33 for 1TB/yr raw disk space.
      • The rented storage pool can be shared among all user accounts of a registered lab.

Ownership models

  • Owned big data storage

    • A lab/PI purchases storage hardware (e.g. hard drives) according to the specifications of the facility. Owned hard drives will be added to the facility’s parallel GPFS storage systems including production and backup storage. There is no extra charge for the additional storage infrastructure required for operation, including hard drive enclosures (servers) and high-speed network. The annual support fee for owned disk storage is $260 per 10TB of usable and backed up storage space. Since we back everything up to a secondary server room and use snapshotting as an additional data security measure, 10TB of usable backed up space is the equivalent of almost 30TB of raw disk space. Thus, the maintenance cost for owned storage is $8.67 for 1TB/yr raw disk space. Note, owned storage space is only available to the users of a PI’s group or those a PI wishes to give access to.
    • The owned storage pool can be shared among all user accounts of a registered lab.
    • Owned storage can be attractive for labs with storage needs above 40TBs. For smaller amounts the rental option is often a better and more flexible choice (e.g. available within a few days).

  • Computer nodes

    • A lab/PI purchases compatible computer nodes (e.g. with supported network cards). Examples of popular high-density architecture are quad node systems shown here. A quad node system includes 4 nodes where each node can be configured, for example, with two 64 core AMD or Intel chips (providing 128 cores per node or 512 cores per quad node system), 1,024GB of RAM, 2TB SSD and NDR-IB interconnect (additional example). Similar options are available for GPU nodes.
    • Nodes are administered under a priority queueing system that gives users from an owner lab priority and also increases that lab’s overall CPU quota (see above) by the number of owned CPU cores.
    • Owned computer nodes are an attractive solution for labs requiring 24/7 access to hundreds of CPU cores with no or only minor waiting times in queue.

Software install

  • Registered users can email software install requests to HPCC’s issue tracking system @ support@hpcc.ucr.edu. Install requests are addressed in the order received. Simple installs are addressed within 1 to a few days. Complex installs may take longer.

Department cluster membership with owned computing nodes

This option addresses the need of department-level HPC access where the standard PI-based membership is not practical, e.g. provide cluster access to large number of undergraduate students in classes. Under this model a department purchases computer nodes that will be administered similarly as described above under the Ownership model. Due to the large number of expected users from departments, the CPU quota per user is usually lower compared to the PI-based model.

Using HPCC cluster for classes

To use the HPCC cluster for teaching UCR classes, please coordinate with the systems administrators (support@hpcc.ucr.edu) at least 4 weeks prior to the start of a class so that there is enough time for planning. Details that need be discussed includes the number of user accounts required, special software requirements, creation of a class-specific Slurm partition, data storage reservations, as well as other needs that may vary for different classes.

External user accounts

Accounts for external customers can only be granted if a lab has a strong affiliation with UC Riverside, such as a research collaboration with UCR researchers. Both the corresponding UCR PI and external collaborator need to maintain an HPCC subscription. External accounts are subject to an annual review and approval process. To be approved, the external and internal PIs have to complete this External Usage Justification.

Facility description

  • The latest hardware/facility description (e.g. for grant applications) is available here.
Last modified January 8, 2025: Update access.md (dc1ecc752)