To see the current usage of your PI-group, use the command groupquota.
Check your group quota every time you go on the cluster to see if you are close to exceeding your soft limits for disk storage and files written to disk.
The storage space in your VACC account is for data you are currently using on the cluster. Please do not save/store data in your account. For data storage, see Research Storage.
Disk quotas are determined by the VACC account owner’s tier — the level of support the principal investigator (PI) is providing to the VACC.
All members of a PI-group share the group’s disk quota. A “PI-group” includes the PI and any sponsored users under that account. If you have no sponsored users, the PI-group is just you.
Disk Storage & File Limits
In the table below, “block” is the total size of your group’s disk storage. “Files” is the total number of files allowed to be written to disk.
| TIER | FILESYSTEM | BLOCK Soft Limit / Hard Limit |
FILES Soft Limit / Hard Limit |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | gpfs1 | 2TB / 4TB | 1M / 1.5M | |
| 1 | gpfs2 | 4TB / 8TB | 1.5M / 3M | |
| 2 | gpfs1 | 8TB / 13TB | 3M / 6M | |
| 2 | gpfs2 | 15TB / 25TB | 4M / 8M | |
| 3 | gpfs1 | 20TB / 25TB | 6M / 12M | |
| 3 | gpfs2 | 35TB / 45TB | 8M / 16M |
Filesystem: gpfs1 vs. gpfs2
- gpfs1 is periodically backed up. It is where users’ home directories are stored.
- gpfs2 is “scratch space” and is NOT BACKED UP. If you accidentally delete or overwrite a file on gpfs2, or if the filesystem encounters a catastrophic failure, you will lose the data. gpfs2 is a good place to put job temporary output or data that can easily be regenerated or re-downloaded.
Soft Limit vs. Hard Limit
If you look at the table above, you will see two types of limits: soft and hard.
- Soft limits are the amount of resources you are allocated based on your tier and the filesystem you are using.
- Hard limits are the buffer of resources we allow you because we understand that sometimes resources are unintentionally exceeded.
- You have a grace period of 7 days to reduce your usage of resources back to your soft limit.
For example, if you unintentionally exceed the soft limit of resources allocated to your tier/filesystem, your work will not be terminated and deleted for 7 days (the grace period). However, once the grace period of 7 days expires, your work will be terminated and files will be deleted to the soft limit you are allocated based on your tier/filesystem.