Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
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Who will be charged for using HMS O2 cluster and storage?
Researchers from labs whose PIs do not have a primary or secondary faculty appointment in an HMS Blavatnik Institute Basic and Social Science Department will be charged for use of HMS High-Performance Computing and storage resources. Most affiliate hospital faculty have appointments like 'HMS Professor of Surgery' but those labs will still be charged.
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When did billing start for these services?
July 2021
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How often will I receive a bill?
We will be billing quarterly.
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What are the rates?
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Can you provide an estimate of my usage?
Yes. Please contact us at rccore@hms.harvard.edu
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Where can I find the HMS IT External Use of HPC Resources Policy?
HMS IT External Use of HPC Resources Policy: https://it.hms.harvard.edu/about-hms-it/it-policies-and-forms/external-use-of-hpc-resources-policy
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Will I be charged for my files or data stored in my O2 home or scratch directories?
No, you will not be charged for data or files in the home or scratch directories described on the O2 wiki.
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How can I cancel my O2 Cluster account or remove my HMS storage space?
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How do I submit a purchase order (PO) for the RC Core?
It is recommended that you provide a PO that will be active for 18 months, if possible. The HMS RC Core will accept POs only as the method of payment for labs external to Harvard. We will send invoices four times per year. Thus, we are requesting that you provide a standing PO that will be valid for several billing cycles (e.g. for at least 18 months). This will minimize future correspondence re: expiring POs.
You can submit the PO info via the PPMS RC Core system. Please use this URL https://ppms.us/harvard-hms/req/?pf=11&project=true and click "RC Billing Form - Required by EXTERNAL Customers with POs".
The PO needs to be made out to the address below:
Harvard University
P.O. Box 4999
Boston, MA 02212
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Understanding your invoice
- RC Core Billing Rates
- Storage units are tracked in TiB (TiB = 1 Tebibyte is equal to 1.0995 Terabytes)
- RAM units are 1 GIB x 1 hour
- Core units are Core x 1 Hour
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How do I sign up to use RC Core resources like HMS O2 compute or storage?
If you are interested in utilizing services from the HMS Research Computing Core, you will need to first register for an account. Please visit PPMS RC Core system to start the signup process. Lab PI must also register via the PPMS system, attest to RC Core policies, and provide a purchase order before access is granted.
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When I submit a job on O2, are we charged for the time and resources (CPU and memory) we consume, or are we charged for the time and resources (CPU and memory) we requested?
You are charged for the time your job takes and the resources you requested.
Example:
If a job requests 1 core and 10G and 10 hours but only runs for 5 hours we charge for 5x (1 core + 10 G)
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Does my HMS account for guests (HMS ID) expire?
HMS accounts for guests (HMS ID) provided by the HMS RC Core to O2 Users will automatically expire one year after it was created. If you need to extend the HMS account, please email the RC Core at rccore@hms.harvard.edu and include your PI on the email. In the message, include your HMS ID and the date you wish to extend to. We can only extend to a maximum of one year. You might need to sign are RC Core user agreement. Visit https://it.hms.harvard.edu/getting-started-it/guests for more details on the HMS Accounts for Guests.