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User policy – Scientific Computing

Introduction

The Team Scientific Computing (SC) of the Leipzig University Computing Center offers a broad spectrum of hard- and software-infrastructures, as well as methodological consulting and services for application of mathematical modeling, simulations and computational optimizations, intelligent data analysis and AI methods. With this we support the research at Leipzig University.

The user policies of the information and communication systems of the University of Leipzig are applied (IuK-Benutzungsordnung), as well as other IT-relevant Legal basics.

Target group

Our services are designed to support the research at the University of Leipzig and is geared towards scientists and researchers of Leipzig University, as well as students. The use of our resources presumes the limitation of the individual available resources to handle the researcher's demand.

Account

To use the services of the Team Scientific Computing access has to be requested. To request access at https://service.rz.uni-leipzig.de/scientific-computing/sc-infrastruktur-beantragen-en/ a valid (guest) account of Leipzig University is needed.

The requests get evaluated manually. After the access is granted the (guest) account of Leipzig University can be used to authenticate to the SC services.

Account sharing or sharing the password of the account is prohibited. SC specific account data (SSH keys, language settings, etc.) can be managed through the SC-portal.

Validity

The SC services can be used as long as the Leipzig University (guest) account is valid. In addition, access to the SC services expires if no login to at least one SC service is registered within one year.

Access can be reactivated as long as the Leipzig University account is valid.

Data persistence

There are no backups. All generated data are to be considered temporary. Users are responsible for copies and backups of their data. Temporary files on individual compute nodes are to be deleted at the end of each job.

After one year of inactivity (no SC logins for 12 months) all user generated data will be deleted (home directory and workspaces). 14 days after invalidation of the Leipzig University (guest) account all SC specific account data will be deleted permanently.

Both the home directory as well as workspaces are using quotas to ensure a fair use between all users. The current quota can be viewed at the SC Knowledgebase. The quota limits can be adjusted by the SC Team based on technical requirements at any time, but will be announced beforehand.

Workspaces are only available for a certain time. The current period can be viewed at the SC Knowledgebase. The period can be adjusted by the SC Team based on functional and non-functional requirements.

Shared resources

All offered resources are shared between all users. This requires considerate behavior of everyone. Within global limits, a reasonable reservation of resources is part of personal responsibility. This means that only the actual resources needed are to be reserved.

It is prohibited to start jobs directly on the compute nodes. All jobs must be submitted via the appropriate web portals or the login nodes. Running jobs on the login nodes that exceed a short functional test is not allowed. Data transfer should be done on the export nodes. Large data transfers using the login nodes will automatically be canceled after 10 to 20 minutes.

Violating the above mentioned fair-use rules will result in an automated or personalized warning by the administrators. Repeated offense against the rules can results in the revocation of the access to all SC services.

System Management

Maintenance

To keep hardware and software up to date and to guarantee undisturbed service, we schedule two planned maintenance windows per year (spring and fall). The exact dates for each maintenance are announced in good time and usually take no more than 3 days.

Unforeseen downtimes cannot be ruled out.

Software

The Team SC provides a selection of scientific software. Smaller extensions for existing software packages, e.g., Python modules, can be installed via the appropriate tools as a user. More complex software packages with multiple system-specific dependencies (e.g., CUDA) are installed globally by the SC team. System-wide installations requiring root-access (sudo) are not allowed.

New software can be requested via a support ticket and will be deployed by the SC team.

System Usage

Self-reliance

All users are strongly encouraged to familiarize themselves with the software they use in detail. In particular, reading the specific documentation first and refer to it if questions arise.

In addition, it is important to read and understand error messages carefully.

The SC team provides some environment-related information about available software at the SC Knowledge Base.

Support

The SC team is happy to provide assistance with problems that arise when using our resources (hardware and software). An online form is provided for this purpose. Users are encouraged to send complete error messages (preferably as text) and to describe the circumstances of the error message in detail.

Feedback

Feedback on our services is expressly welcome.

In addition, the contribution of information and tips and tricks that can help all users is very welcome.

Acknowledgements

To report about the usage of scientific computing resources we would like to ask you to include the following acknowledgement to your publications: "Computations for this work were done (in part) using resources of the Leipzig University Computing Center."

Please also send a reference to your publication to is via email.

GDPR

Due to the General Data Protection Regulation that came into effect on May 25th, 2018, we inform you that we collect your name, your home institution, and your IP address, as well as your e-mail address for the purpose of communication for the interests of the SC team. Your data will only be used by those responsible for the system at the SC. A transfer to third parties is excluded, unless required by law. You can object to the use of your email address at any time. The data is collected voluntarily, but is a prerequisite for registering with the SC services and therefore a prerequisite for using the SC infrastructure. An objection to the use of the email address for matters of the SC therefore means that the registration with the SC and the use of the services expires. The legal basis for collecting the data mentioned is Art. 6 Para. 1 a GDPR. All further information resulting from the information obligations of the University of Leipzig can be found in the data protection declaration of the University of Leipzig: http://www.uni-leipzig.de/service/datenschutz.html