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List:       bioclusters
Subject:    [Bioclusters] Re: Business-ish stuff: monitoring cluster usage, and how to pay for it all
From:       "John Van Workum" <jdvw () tticluster ! com>
Date:       2002-09-26 19:45:43
Message-ID: 002a01c26595$4cfeba90$0a01a8c0 () tsunamicnt
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Hello Tim,

I'm new to this list and came across your post. I'm actually in this business. Here \
are some of my responses to your questions:

> 1.  What charging scheme do you use?  Options range from a one-off "lifetime
> membership" charge for a whole company or university to charging by the
> wallclock or CPU minute.

- We charge by wall-clock, broken down by CPU/hour

> 2.  How much interest do you have from the commercial sector for using up
> unused clock cycles?  Is this a useful approach for meeting costs?

- Some interest from companies looking for computing resources, but not overwhelming.

> 3.  How do you prioritize these users fairly?

- Each user has the same priority. Nodes can be "dedicated" to a user but that user \
is charged for hours even when not in use.

> 4.  Do you have a way of deciding how many nodes should be allocated to a
> particular batch task, based on the number and size of other batch requests
> that have occurred or are likely to occur?

- Users specify how may nodes they want to use (they have to pay for it). If the \
nodes are available, the batch job is run.

> 5.  Are there particular usage patterns you have discovered (e.g. length and
> frequency of batch jobs, number of nodes requested or allocated etc.), which
> are important to take into account?

- Node requests range from just a single node up to dozens of nodes. It all depends \
on the user. Every user requires something unique. Have you thought about the time \
spent supporting these users?

> 6.  (More technical)  Is there any software you would recommend for
> collected this information automatically?

- Most batch systems (schedulers) have some sort of accounting built in. We happen to \
use OpenPBS (with customizations) and Condor.

> At the moment we are planning to allow an initial 6-month period of free
> access to any user, to determine the level of interest in using such a
> system, the kinds of usage patterns and to build up an idea of how to manage
> the system as we go along, but it would be really beneficial to hear from
> others who have been there.

- We did the same thing.

> Please let me know if there are any further details you need to know.  I
> look forward to your comments!

- Actually, I have some other ideas and ways I can help if you wish to discuss them \
offline.

Best regards,

John Van Workum
Tsunamic Technologies Inc.
support@tticluster.com
http://wwww.onlinecluster.com


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