Condo Cluster Service

(Available for LBNL researchers)

Overview

The LBNL Condo Cluster program provides Berkeley Lab researchers with state-of-the-art, professionally administered computing systems and infrastructure. It helps groups stay competitive on grants and achieve economies of scale through centralized computing systems and data center facilities.

PIs use equipment funds from grants or other sources to buy compute nodes, which are added to the Lab’s Lawrencium cluster. Condo nodes use Lawrencium’s high-speed InfiniBand interconnect and high-performance Lustre parallel file system. Operating costs for managing and housing condo nodes are waived in exchange for letting other users run on idle cycles. Condo owners have priority access to the equivalent of the resources they bought and can use more nodes when they need them, which gives far more flexibility than a standalone cluster.

The program is intended for PIs who would otherwise buy a small (4 nodes) to medium (72 nodes) standalone Linux cluster. Projects with larger compute needs, or with many users or groups, should consider a dedicated cluster so they can set their own priorities for shared access.

Program details

Hardware lifecycle. Compute nodes are bought and maintained on a 4-year lifecycle. In year 5, the PI is notified that the nodes need to be upgraded. If they are not upgraded by the end of year 5, the PI can donate the equipment to the Condo program or take it back, at the PI’s expense for removal and transport. Nodes left in the cluster after five years may be removed and disposed of at the discretion of the HPC Services manager.

Storage. Every Lawrencium user, including condo users, has a 30 GB backed-up home directory. Users or projects needing more space for persistent data can buy storage shelves hosted on the Lab’s HPC infrastructure. Storage shelves are on a 5-year lifecycle, after which the PI must renew the purchase at the then-current price or remove the data within 3 months.

Account fee. Every user account is charged a $25/month account fee, including condo users. See Charges and Billing.

Running outside your condo. Jobs that run within the condo’s contribution are free. Jobs that run outside it are charged at the standard recharge rate. See the Recharge Model.

Project ID. A valid project ID (PID) is required to keep a Lawrencium user account. See Project Accounts for details and how to change a PID.

How to join

Before buying any hardware, submit a condo node procurement request to Science IT. We will confirm that the equipment is compatible with Lawrencium and work with you on the purchase.

The PI, or someone the PI designates, works with the HPC Services manager and operations team to buy the compute nodes and storage. The process usually takes about three months. In the meantime, a test condo queue with a small allocation is set up for the PI’s users. Users can also submit jobs to the general Lawrencium partitions, which are charged at the recharge rate. Access to the contributed cores is guaranteed only once the purchased nodes are in service.

Request a condo project in MyLRC. For step-by-step instructions, see Using the MyLRC Portal.

Questions: scienceit@lbl.gov

Lawrencium condo owners