Usage policies – 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 modelling, 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 a valid SC-account is required. To apply for an SC account at https://service.rz.uni-leipzig.de/scientific-computing/sc-infrastruktur-beantragen-en/ a valid (guest) account of Leipzig University is needed.

Account sharing or sharing the password of the account is prohibited. The account can be managed through the SC-portal. This allows the autonomous change of the account password as well as other account related settings.

Validity

SC accounts are valid for 1 year from the day of activation.
Accounts can be extended yearly if all requirements are met.

After expiration the SC-account will be disabled. A reactivation is possible until 6 month after expiration. 12 month after an account is expired all user-related data will be deleted.

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 single compute nodes are to be deleted at the end of each job.

One month after the account expired all data in the home directory will be compressed and archived. After 12 month this archive will be deleted.

Shared resources

All offered resources are shared between all users. This requires considerate behavior of everyone. Within global limits, a resonable 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.

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 deactivation of the account.

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 per 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 the 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-knowledgebase.

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 are expressly desired.

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 resource 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."

Due to the General Data Protection Regulation that came into effect on May 25th, 2018, we inform you that we collect your name and your home institution, 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. 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 devices. 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 devices 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