Usage Documentation


  1. Requesting a new account
  2. Adding CERCS-ENT access to an existing account
  3. Subscribing to the email listserver
  4. Usage of the email listserver/Making a reservation
  5. Reporting machine problems/Reporting usage abuse

  1. Requesting a new account
  2. All new users must apply for an official College of Computing account. The forms for this are available outside rooms 213 and 141 in the College of Computing building, as well as online in PDF form at http://www.cc.gatech.edu/cns/forms/account_form.pdf

    Hints for filling out the form:

    Check the CERCS-ENT box under "Resources Requiring a CoC Faculty Signature".

    The project name can be just "CERCS-ENT", or it can be more elaborate. Just be sure CERCS-ENT is there.

    The purpose statement here can be short. However, we request that you also prepare a short paragraph describing your research and how it relates to and/or uses enterprise computing for inclusion in your request below.

    Contact cercs-enterprise-admin@cc for information about home directories, project directories, and file groups. Also send the paragraph described above so that we'll be able to publicize the uses people put our clusters to on our projects page.

    Submit the form for Karsten Schwan, Calton Pu, or Ada Gavrilovska to sign.

    The completed forms should be returned to Peter Wan in room 213. Forms can be slipped under the door in the event that he isn't there. If you are not on campus, email help@cc and they will give you additional information about faxing in your form.

    As a last step, everyone should be sure to subscribe to the cercs-enterprise-lab email list.

  3. Adding CERCS-ENT access to an existing account
  4. Send email to cercs-enterprise-admin@cc requesting the addition of CERCS-ENT access. The note should include a short paragraph describing the research to be done and how it relates to and/or uses parallel computing. This will be used on our project web page.

    If your research relates to an existing project, you can simply reference our existing write-up. If the existing project leader could send a confirmation note, this will greatly speed up our process.

    As a last step, everyone should be sure to subscribe to the cercs-enterprise-lab email list.

  5. Subscribing to the email listserver
  6. The email listserver is used to coordinate activities on the cluster. Reservations are conveyed to the group by the email list, and periodic information and updates are as well.

    To subscribe, visit the mailing list web site: https://mailman.cc.gatech.edu/mailman/listinfo/cercs-enterprise-lab. You can set up your account from there. The same web site can be used to remove yourself from the mailing list.

    If there are any difficulties, or if you have any further questions, you can address them to the Computer and Networking Services at help@cc .

  7. Usage of the email listserver/Making a reservation
  8. The email list cercs-enterprise-lab@cc is designed to facilitate communications between users. We do not enforce a particular batch submission protocol, so most usage issues are handled by individual users communicating by email.

    To send a note to all of the users of the cluster, address it to cercs-enterprise-lab@cc Reservations should be made at least 12 hours in advance. Emergencies do arise, so this isn't a hard-and-fast rule.

    Also, reservations for the weekends should generally be avoided. There are fewer support staff (ie none) to assist in the event that someone has failed to shut down their jobs, and other users tend not to be available. If a weekend reservation is truly needed, please send it out Friday at the latest, so that users don't leave jobs running.

  9. Reporting machine problems/Reporting usage abuse
  10. In general, all usage issues, whether hardware or otherwise, should be reported to cercs-enterprise-admin@cc This email address will get your message to the people equiped to administer the CERCS-ENT environment.

    However, particularly in the event of problems which will or have caused the machine to crash, it is wise to cercs-enterprise-admin@cc, help@cc to the recipient list. help@cc is monitored by the computer and networking services staff, so they may be able to respond more quickly.