Resource Usage

CPU Cycle Usage

  • If you want to run a long-running job please register it with the Technical Support Team (TST). Otherwise we may think it is a runaway process and kill it.
  • Remember the UNIX commands nice, renice, ps and kill.
  • CPU intensive jobs should be run on a machine in your affiliated research lab. If you are not affiliated with a research lab, please run them on pipestone or bonanza.
  • if you want to use a machine or group of machines, make sure you check with the owner of the machine and TST before running any jobs or you may have your jobs killed.
  • See the workstation use guidelines.
  • If you are logged into a machine on the research network, the command /usr/local/bin/csm -a will tell you about all the research machines in the department, where they are located and the "owner" if the machine is on someone's desk.

Disk Usage

  • There are no disk quotas. You share the disk with others so be considerate.
  • The Technical Support Team (TST) does daily backups of filesystems with home directories and many other UNIX filesystems. For more information see our page on backups.
  • Backups are kept for at least 1 month, maybe longer.
  • Do not keep core or *.o files around.
  • Make use of gzip or gunzip as much as possible to compress your data.
  • Files can be backed up to exabyte tape or burned onto a DVD. Ask TST for more information.

UNIX Account Usage

  • Do not share your account with anyone for any reason.
  • We have software that checks for secure passwords whenever you change your password to help maintain security.
  • Make sure you are familiar with the Conditions of Use that you agreed to when your account was created.