The Data Capacitor II or DC2 (for more details, link here) is a high-performance file system that will be retiring soon. Toward that end, on October 11th, 2020 the file system will become read-only and on December 11th, 2020 the file system will be shut down for the last time. This will affect all users who are currently working in or have files in file paths, /N/dc2/scratch and /N/dc2/projects. By DC 2’s retirement, all files in these two scratch spaces will have to be, deleted, archived, or moved. UITS has made available two file systems to serve as a replacement to DC2. These file systems are Slate, for individual use and Slate-Project, for collaborative work and shared access.
Difference between DC2 and the Slates
On DC2 all IU HPC users were given a scratch space. UITS is in the process of finding a replacement for DC2’s scratch space.
About DC2: https://kb.iu.edu/d/axod
Though DC2 didn’t have any storage limits, data that were not accessed for 60 days on scratch (/N/dc2/scratch) or 180 days on project space (/N/dc2/project) were purged. The Slate file systems provide for persistent storage without a purge policy.
About Slate: https://kb.iu.edu/d/aqnk
At this time, any HPC user desiring persistent space for individual users will need to request a Slate account. The initial quota for Slate is 800 GB. If more space is required, please send a note to hpfs-admin@iu.edu and your quota will be doubled to 1.6 TB. The path for Slate is /N/slate/$USER where $USER is your username.
Steps to request a Slate account
- Go to one.iu.edu/Accounts
- Click on Create Computing accounts – select “Slate”
- Read and agree to the Slate Terms of Service – https://kb.iu.edu/d/axms
- Create
- In less than an hour, your account on Slate should be created
About Slate-Project:
DC2 supported project spaces without boundaries for all HPC users. Project spaces are now housed on Slate-Project and support persistent storage using quotas without a purge policy. Unlike DC2, affiliate account holders will need a sponsor to request a Slate-Project space on their behalf. Slate-Project quotas are requested, and the path is of the form /N/project/”yourprojectname”, where “yourprojectname” is the name of your project.
More information available here https://kb.iu.edu/d/aqnj
Steps for you or your sponsor to request a Slate-Project space
- Go to the Slate-Project request page: https://uitsfs.uits.iu.edu/scripts/slate-project/scrqst.cfm
- Fill out the form – select the amount of storage you will need
- You may request up to 15 TB at no charge, but more will require an IU account number
- Allocations past 15 TB, will be charged (as of this writing) $5.97 per TB per month.
- Submit the form and respond to the email you receive with your list of collaborators
- Upon review, you will receive an SSA (subscription service agreement)
- Examine the agreement and reply, noting that you agree to the terms (or not).
- If you agree, you’ll receive a link to a site where you can digitally sign the agreement.
- Once the directory has been created, a new account will be available for you to create
- Go to one.iu.edu/Accounts
- Click on Create Computing accounts – select “Slate-Project”
- Read and agree to the Slate-Project Terms of Service – https://kb.iu.edu/d/axmw
- Create
- At this point you should be able to access your new Slate-Project space in /N/project/
Creating a Slate Project account if you have an IU affiliate account
- Contact the team/individual that sponsored your account. If you have been working NCGAS, send an email to help@ncgas.org with information about your project, how much space you will need, the name you would like the project directory to be called, and other users (IU usernames) who you would like to have access to this space (read-write or read-only).
- The sponsor will complete the steps above, sign the SSA, and function as a sponsor of the project space.
Moving data from dc2 to slate
Email us at help@ncgas.org if you have any questions or concerns.
Special shoutout to Stephen Simms from the High-Performance File Systems team who has been helping us with all our questions on the migration and helped write this blog.