LCRC FY2024 project renewals and new project requests are due at 5:00 PM CDT on Monday, September 11, 2023.
Important note to users:
LCRC is anticipating bringing our new cluster – Improv – into production for FY2024 (currently, we are in the “acceptance stage” of getting the cluster ready for FY2024). Improv has 825 dual-socket compute nodes with AMD 7713 64-core processors (2.0 GHz) and 256 GB DDR4 memory. 68 nodes have 4TB NVMe SSD, and 12 of those have 1024 GB DDR4, instead of 256 GB. The high-performance interconnect is Nvidia/Mellanox HDR200 (14 core, 35 edge switches). There are 12 HDR200 connections to LCRC’s existing data storage system. Computing time will be allocated on Improv and Bebop for CPU-based simulations (and on Swing for GPU-based projects as before). PIs are requested to apply for time, both on Improv and Bebop, for CPU-based simulations. More details on Improv (regarding submitting jobs and other features/policies) will be available on the LCRC webpages as we transition the cluster from “acceptance stage” to “production mode” towards the end of September 2023.
Note: You may see an allocation box to request time on Improv for FY2023 as well when managing your project. This should be ignored as only time will be granted for FY2024 on Improv.
RENEW YOUR EXISTING PROJECT
To renew your existing project, please login here:
https://accounts.lcrc.anl.gov/
Navigate to each of the projects you lead on the left-hand navigation menu under ‘Owned’. Then update the information in each project for each field as changes are needed. It is recommended that PIs create a separate document with the text required for updating your project information and cut-paste the relevant information in the appropriate boxes in the form as the webpage can timeout when unused.
Make sure to update the project description highlighting your new plans for FY2024 and enter an allocation request for each quarter in the FY2024 section. Please fill in all 4 quarters on your request. If you do not have any time to enter for any of the boxes, you should leave the field blank instead of entering 0. Time is allocated only in the quarters for which there is an entry. If your project will extend over the entire fiscal year of FY24 – please ensure that you request time for all the 4 quarters for each of the partitions (Bebop and Improv) and Swing (if needed).
Please follow the example provided in https://accounts.lcrc.anl.gov/sample_project_request.pdf to show your core-hour computations in the ‘Request Allocation’ text box. Your request should indicate the typical size of the job (number of cores), the typical time for a run and number of runs planned in each quarter. Projects requesting over 200K/quarter should also include scaling studies. The strong scaling study is meant to justify the choice of the number of cores used per job. Please do not provide a link to publications/reports that have scaling information or any code performance related discussions. All scaling related information should be included in the allocation request form for the request to be deemed complete. Incomplete information regarding your core-hour computations or scaling studies might lead to a reduction in the core-hours allocated to your project. PIs (and their project members) should review the mid-quarter allocation policy at https://www.lcrc.anl.gov/for-users/getting-started/projects-in-lcrc/#mid-quarter-allocs
Note that unused time for a quarter expires at the end of each quarter; see http://www.lcrc.anl.gov/for-users/best-practices-and-policies/allocation-expiration-policy/ for the details of the policy. Please also take the time to update any other information about your project which might have changed. If your project is asking for a significant increase in time, make sure to provide justification for that increase, and please give a heads-up to your project’s Point of Contact on the Allocations Committee.
Once all the data on the form is up-to-date and complete, press the ‘Save Project’ button at the top to submit the request. If you have trouble with your submission, please contact [email protected] with the name of the project and the date and time that you requested the renewal.
REQUEST A NEW PROJECT
Requests for new projects for FY2024 are now being accepted as well. To submit a NEW project request, please login here:
https://accounts.lcrc.anl.gov/
Then select the ‘Request New LCRC Project’ option on the left-hand navigation menu. Please make sure to fill in all the required data and enter an allocation request for each quarter in the FY2024 section. Please fill in all 4 quarters on your request. If you do not have any time to enter for any of the boxes, you should leave the field blank instead of entering 0. As stated earlier, it is best to first create a separate document with your text and then copy everything onto the form.
Please follow the example provided in https://accounts.lcrc.anl.gov/sample_project_request.pdf to show your core-hour computations in the ‘Request Allocation’ text box. Your request should indicate the typical size of the job (number of cores), the typical time for a run and number of runs planned in each quarter. Projects requesting over 200K/quarter should also include scaling studies. The strong scaling study is meant to justify the choice of the number of cores used per job. Please do not provide a link to publications/reports that have scaling information or any code performance related discussions. All scaling related information should be included in the allocation request form for the request to be deemed complete. Incomplete information regarding your core-hour computations or scaling studies might lead to a reduction in the core-hours allocated to your project. Note that unused time for a quarter expires at the end of each quarter; see http://www.lcrc.anl.gov/for-users/best-practices-and-policies/allocation-expiration-policy/ for the details of the policy.
DEADLINES AND APPROVALS
The deadline for requests is Monday, September 11th (5:00 pm CDT) 2023. The LCRC Allocations Committee will review all FY2024 requests and meet to make decisions. PIs submitting the largest requests (as individuals or through groups of related projects) may be asked to present a more detailed explanation of their usage including performance and scaling reports. These PIs will be contacted individually.
For projects requesting a renewal, a FY2023 Yearly Project Report is REQUIRED to have been submitted before FY2024 allocations will be started where applicable. FY2023 Project Reports can be submitted also by logging into your account at https://accounts.lcrc.anl.gov
PIs of large projects (>500K/quarter) are also encouraged to supplement their LCRC allocations using ALCF resources via the Director’s Discretionary (DD) allocation program:
https://www.alcf.anl.gov/science/directors-discretionary-allocation-program
If you have any questions, please send an email to [email protected].
Thank you,
LCRC Staff
