Managing Allocations¶

Monitor usage charges¶

Check your usage charges frequently to help ensure that you are using CISL resources as efficiently as possible. Also make sure that others who are authorized to charge against your allocation understand how to use them efficiently. Understand how your choice of queues affects charges against your computing allocation and be aware of other allocation-related policies. See Managing your allocation.

If you are authorized to charge your work against multiple projects, check your usage charges and storage holdings for each project on a regular basis. This will help ensure that you are charging jobs correctly and help you avoid overspending your allocations.

Optimize on a single processor¶

Minimize your use of computing resources and conserve your allocation by optimizing your code on a single processor before running larger jobs in production. Use optimizing libraries if your code lends itself to that.

Remove unneeded data¶

Periodically examine your GLADE and NSF NCAR Campaign Storage holdings and remove unwanted, unneeded files. This reduces charges against your storage allocation and makes these systems more efficient for everyone.

Contact CISL consultants¶

Before you run a set of jobs that will consume a large portion of your allocation – a long experiment, for example – contact the NSF NCAR Research Computing help desk to request a review of your job configuration. One of the consultants may be able to suggest an economical workflow that will help you conserve computing resources. This is especially important if you are unfamiliar with job configuration or with how to manage your allocation efficiently.