Service Level Expectations

There are three categories of service to be considered. Please read these service descriptions carefully.

System access and stability

Research Computing will make every effort to maintain a stable environment, but maintenance activities may cause unexpected interruptions of service. Please be aware that:

  • Maintenance activities will be carried out during regular maintenance windows (before 8:00am and after 5:00pm) as much as possible.
  • Some emergency maintenance may be carried out within short time of a warning at any time during the day.
  • Check the stoplight on the website home page for system status; it will be updated if an issues arises that affects the majority of users.
  • When there is a major unplanned outage, the UFIT Alerts page will also show the status of the system.
  • To access the system, you will need Gatorlink credentials. Collaborators of UF researchers can apply for credentials to access systems operated by Research Computing.
  • Login nodes should be used as the entry point to the system. Running data analysis or debugging of of software should be done on the GUI and dev nodes that are designed for this work, in which the scheduler will provide you with dedicated resources. This way your work will not adversely impact others, and the activity of others will not adversely impact your work.
  • Use the data transfer nodes to move large data sets in and out of the system. View options and instructions for doing so on the Transfer Data wiki page.

File systems

The system provides home directories for users on a small file system that is not intended for high performance work. The /ufrc file system is a high-performance file systems that allows all 50,000 cores to work at the same time.

  • The pathname for your files on /ufrc will be organized by group as follows: /ufrc/<groupname>/<username>
  • For collaboration within a group and between groups, please use the directories: /ufrc/<groupname>/shared
  • View the Storage policy page for details on options and procedures to optimize use of storage space.

Applications

A long list of applications is available on HiPerGator, which can be viewed on the Installed Software wiki page. Usage documentation is available for many applications, but will not exist for all installed software.

Not all applications have been thoroughly tested. If you find that something does not work, open a ticket to report the issue. Please note that we may not be able to fix the problem immediately, as there may be other dependencies.
  • If you need an application and it is not available, please open a support ticket to request that it be installed.
  • New software will be installed as soon as possible. Installation of simple libraries and tools usually takes a few days to complete.
  • You may request for more complex applications, with multiple dependencies on multiple libraries and frameworks, to be installed. However, if the work required of Research Computing staff to complete the installation exceeds 4 hours, you will be contacted about purchasing our consulting service, as intended for such complex application and software support tasks.