What is an Allocation?
Because the HPC platform resources are limited, we manage access to our resources through allocations. Typically, an allocation is a grant of a certain amount of a resource, or of a rate at which a resource can be consumed, during a defined period of time. Different types of resource have different allocation criteria.
An allocation will come from one of our allocation classes. We will decide what class of allocation is most suitable for you and your research programme, however you're welcome to review our article on allocation classes to find out what class you're likely eligible for.
An important note on CPU hour allocations¶
You may continue to submit jobs even if you have used all your CPU-hour allocation. The effect of 0 remaining CPU hours allocation is a lower fairshare, not the inability to use CPUs. Your ability to submit jobs will only be removed when your project's allocation expires, not when core-hours are exhausted.
HPC Platform allocations¶
The form of our allocation you may be most familiar with is an allocation of computing power. We currently offer three sorts of compute allocations, of which your project needs at least two (online storage plus one kind of compute allocation) in order to be valid and active.
Compute allocations are expressed in terms of a number of units, to be consumed or reserved between a set start date and time and a set end date and time. For allocations of computing power, we use Fair Share to balance work between different projects. NeSI allocations and the relative "prices" of resources used by those allocations should not be taken as any indicator of the real NZD costs of purchasing or running the associated infrastructure and services.
Allocations¶
Allocations are measured in compute units, with the price of hardware in terms of compute units shown in the following table.
| Hardware type | Fair Share Price |
|---|---|
| Milan CPU | 0.9 compute units per physical-CPU-hour |
| Milan Memory (RAM) | 0.13 compute units per GB-hour |
| Genoa CPU | 1.4 compute units per physical-CPU-hour |
| Genoa Memory (RAM) | 0.20 compute units per GB-hour |
| A100 GPU device | 18.0 compute units per device-hour |
| A100-1g.5gb GPU device | 3.0 compute units per device-hour |
| L4 GPU device | 4.0 compute units per device-hour |
| H100 GPU device | 40.0 compute units per device-hour |
The total compute unit cost of a job is the sum of these three components. Once the job has finished running, this composite price is what affects your project's Fair Share score. However, whether your institution will be charged based on the composite price or based on your job's CPU core hour consumption alone, or on some other basis, will depend on your contractual arrangements with NeSI.
Online storage allocations¶
An online storage allocation, unlike compute allocations, functions more like a lease than a rate‑of‑consumption model. It provides your project team with a fixed amount of disk space and a corresponding number of inodes (directory entries, i.e., files and metadata) on our high‑performance online filesystems. The inode limit is not normally visible to users, as the default allocation is sufficient for most workflows. Online storage is typically granted to both your persistent project directory and your temporary project directory.
We do not yet have a ratio of online storage disk space or inodes to compute units.
Data storage allocations¶
Freezer storage allocations¶
A Freezer storage allocation, like online storage allocations but unlike compute allocations, is more like a lease than a rate of consumption. It provides your project team with a defined amount of storage space and a corresponding number of inodes (directory entries, i.e., files and metadata) on our Tape system.
We do not define a specific ratio between Freezer storage capacity (tape space or file count) and compute units.
Consultancy allocations¶
A consultancy allocation is for a number of scientific programmer hours between two dates, or is sometimes expressed as a fraction of an FTE between the same two dates. This reflects the commitment of our scientific programming expertise to your project.
We do not yet have a ratio of consultancy hours to compute units.