LESS Facilities Usage Policy

The LESS machines should be used according to the following policies. Note that these policies apply only to the general use of LESS machines. For experiments related to LESS research any of these policies may be violated.

Where to run programs

• Do not run any programs on the file server, less.csres.utexas.edu.
• The Ultra Enterprise 5500's, enzo.csres.utexas.edu and tazio.csres.utexas.edu, should be used only for computation that requires parallelism, large amounts of memory or jobs that are designed to use as many processors as possible on the system in order to accomplish useful work (such as a fairly large number of simulations).
• For editing, compiling, web browsing, and general work, please use any of the other systems within the lab.

The following guidelines for the use of enzo and tazio must be understood by all users of the machines, including both those who wish to reserve one of them and those who simply wish to use one in non-reserved mode for one of the functions listed above.

Responsibilities of Users Wishing to Reserve Enzo or Tazio

• Anyone wishing to reserve enzo or tazio may do so only for the purpose of dedicated timings or running experimental system software (such as the kernel).
• All reservations must be made at least 24 hours in advance.
• Before making the reservation, the user must check to see who is working on the machine and send them mail warning them that a reservation has just been made for such a date and time.
• Reservations must be fully utilized. It is not permissible to reserve a machine as a placeholder, keeping it idle for a significant part of the reservation.
• Fifteen minutes before starting the job at the reserved time, the user with the reservation must mail everyone using the machine warning them that the reservation will commence.

Responsibilities of Users Wishing to Use Enzo or Tazio in Non-Reserved Mode

• Anyone wishing to work on enzo or tazio must check the reservation schedule before beginning to work, making themselves fully aware of what's scheduled.
• If a user learns of a reservation that has been scheduled that may cause her or him problems, the first step is to work with the reserving user to see if the conflict can be worked out. If this proves problematic, the sponsoring professors will make the call.

Responsibilities of All Users Wishing to Use Enzo or Tazio

• The goal is to collaborate in keeping the machines as useful as possible for everyone. Since anyone who makes a reservation must reserve 24 hours in advance and warn everyone who is currently logged in and since anyone going to use the machine must check the reservation schedule, there should be no situation where a user is surprised by a reservation.

The LECS and LESS are shared resources, and the only way shared environments work is if everyone is flexible and courteous and committed to solving the inevitable logjams that result when we try to make our best equipment widely available. It is especially nice to accomodate folks who may be up against a deadline (perhaps a paper submission).

Reservation info: Reservations

Back to LESS

Back to LECS