Paid resources

All users are automatically provided a set number of READ credits each month. For extended computing, ICDS offers paid compute in the form of credits and allocations. We also offer extended, group-level storage either mounted on the compute cluster or as an archive option.

Compute offerings

Credit accounts are like Starbucks cards:

you only pay for what you use;
you can buy time on any type of hardware you need;
but you must stand in line with other paying customers.

Allocations are like vacation time-shares:

you reserve time on specific hardware;
you get prompt access to your resources;
but you cannot use hardware different from what you reserved,
and you must pay whether or not you use the time.

With both credit accounts and allocations, PIs can manage the account, adding group members to the list of allowed users.

PIs can have multiple accounts and allocations, with different user lists, paid by different sources of funds, for different research projects.

Storage offerings

Paid storage is available as group or archive storage.

Group storage is shared storage that is mounted to the cluster, meaning the files can be accessed and modified in place. This storage is intended for use within computing jobs and can be shared with a specified group of individuals.

Group storage membership can be managed by you through the use of User Managed Groups. or by requesting that members be added to the storage's collab group by emailing us at icds@psu.edu.

Archive storage is shared storage that is separate from the computing resource. This storage is intended for long term file storage and files need to be transferred out before they can be accessed or modified.

Prices

Prices for different compute nodes are set proportional to the cost of the hardware, and at a level competitive with the cost of buying your own cluster. More expensive nodes cost more to use, reflecting their greater value.

If you're interested in purchasing credits or allocations, please view current pricing and details on our website or contact us with your requirements or questions at icds@psu.edu.

Service Details and Rates

Estimating Job Costs

For credit accounts, it is helpful to estimate how many credits a batch job would use before you actually run it.

Estimating Future Job Costs

You can estimate its potential credit impact in two ways:

Command Line: Use job_estimate to analyze a specific submit file:
```
job_estimate <submit file>
```
User Portal: If scheduling interactively, a dynamic estimate is displayed near the Launch button. This updates in real-time as you adjust your requested resources, partitions and duration of the job.

Estimating Past Job Costs

To understand how many credits a past job (or a set of past jobs) would cost if run under current credit rates, use the credit_estimate tool. This is particularly useful for budgeting based on previous research cycles.

Provide a job ID or a file containing a list of job IDs (typically generated via sacct) to the estimator:

# Estimate a single specific job
credit_estimate -j <jobID>

# Estimate from a saved list of job IDs
credit_estimate -l <job-list-file>

# Direct pipe from sacct (no intermediate file)
sacct -n -X -o jobid -u $USER -S 1/1 | credit_estimate

For more details on available options and instructions, refer to the command credit_estimate -h