Standard Processor Core Unit

ACCRE standardizes its fairshare usage policies on a processor core unit. Hardware in the cluster comprises nodes with dual processors (or two processor cores), dual processor dual core nodes (called dual duals which have four processor cores) or dual processor quad core nodes (called dual quads which have eight processor cores).

Purchasing and/or Service Use Fee to Obtain Cluster Fairshare

Since it is necessary to efficiently manage all hardware in the cluster, ACCRE staff in consultation with the ACCRE Faculty Advisory Board determine the type and timing of adding new hardware to the cluster.

Purchasing Cluster Hardware

Vanderbilt researchers may pay for hardware purchased for the cluster using capital funds. Researchers pay the actual cost of a compute node or nodes plus a proportionate share of the cost of the gateway server, the network switch and the cabling shared by a 40-node brood of hardware. ACCRE’s most recent purchase is dual quad nodes with eight processor cores costing approximately $2,500 per node. Since this cost varies with each purchase, researchers should contact Carie Lee Kennedy with questions about buying hardware for the cluster.

In addition to the capital purchase cost of the hardware, researchers must pay a service support fee which covers shared costs including hardware maintenance, cluster-wide software such as the scheduler, maintenance agreements, and infrastructure costs. In addition the service support fee covers some of the cluster staff support cost. The cluster staff support, however, is subsidized by Vanderbilt. The cost of this support for FY2010 is $480 per node (or machine) per year. This payment is charged to Vanderbilt centers monthly at $40 per month via an online payment system called Cores.

Service Use Fee

The service use fee for FY2010 is $180 per processor core per year. This payment is also charged to Vanderbilt centers monthly via Cores. If you would like to use the cluster through this method, please contact Carie Lee Kennedy to verify if ACCRE can meet your requirements with the current cluster hardware. ACCRE maintains some hardware for groups to begin using the cluster for the first time or to increase their existing fairshare. However, new hardware may be required for a new or existing group requiring a significant increase in processor cores.

Cores Billing System

To add new center numbers to the Cores billing system, please follow the instructions at this link:

http://www.mc.vanderbilt.edu/root/vumc.php?site=CFUIS&doc=13520

Why Purchase vs. Service Use Fee?

Many grants dictate whether a researcher can access fairshare via purchase or service use fee. If your grant allows computing through capital purchases only, the Purchase method meets that requirement. If your grant requires computing be done through annual payments, the Service Use Fee method meets that requirement. The Purchase method is a match for groups ready to commit to the cluster for three or more years. The capital cost of the purchase is paid upfront but the service support fee payments are made monthly for the life of the hardware. The Service Use Fee can be used for either short or longer-term commitments to the cluster.

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Last modified: August 17 2009 08:39:46 CST.