Are you a Primary Investigator wanting to join JHPCE?

This page is for new PIs who are interested in joining the JHPCE as well as for PIs who have previously registered with us but need to create a new project, collaboration or organization.

Stakeholder vs. Non-Stakeholder PIs

As a PI, you can join as either a Stakeholder or Non-Stakeholder. We define Stakeholder PIs as those that have contributed computing resources to the facility. Non-Stakeholder PIs are those that sponsor the computing for their lab or department, but do not purchase computing resources for the cluster. Most PIs will start as Non-Stakeholders, but will move up to stakeholders when they either acquire computing resources they want to contribute to the cluster, or purchase computing resources for the cluster either through a grant or through their normal budgeting cycle.

As a Stakeholder, you agree to share any unused capacity on your compute nodes with the broader JHPCE community by placing them on the "shared" partition or queue on the cluster. For non-Stakeholders, the only access to computing resources is via those shared by the Stakeholders. This model has historically worked very well for the JHPCE community. While there is no guarantee of computing resources to Non-Stakeholders, there is generally sufficient capacity on the "shared" partition to meet the needs of the users sponsored by Non-Stakeholders.

This model is often referred to as a “common pool resource” in the sense formalized by E. Ostrom and others. Users affiliated with stakeholders have the right of priority access to the resources that they “own”. All users, whether they are members of a stakeholding organization or not, are otherwise treated identically. Excess computing capacity is made available to the entire community via a low priority “shared queue”. The shared partition also provides surge capacity to stakeholders in addition to providing access to HPC resources to non-stakeholders.

The JHPCE service center will charge a monthly management fee to the Stakeholder PI that has purchased computing nodes for the cluster. This fee is roughly $500 per month for a compute node (which works out to $0.01/hr for a node with 64 cores and 512GB of RAM), and covers the charges for space, power, and cooling, as well as the salaries of those supporting the equipment. These Stakeholder fees though are defrayed to the extent that their capacity is used by others. So if the users sponsored by a Stakeholder PI do not use their compute nodes for a month, that monthly fee is paid for entirely by its usage on the "shared" partition.

In this way the system has been able to meet the needs of both the stakeholders with the greatest HPC consumption, and the needs of the smaller users in the long tail of HPC consumption (where the bulk of the science is performed). All of this is accomplished with light-weight polices and light-weight organizational infrastructure (< 3FTEs) , which is a major reasons that we are able to keep our costs low.

How to register

If you are a Principal Investigator registering a new project or organization, please fill out this Form. If you have never registered a project and budget number with the JHPCE, we request that you contact the director of the JHPCE to arrange a 1/2 hour orientation (either in person or via telephone).

Becoming a stakeholder

There are many benefits to becoming a Stakeholder in the JHPCE cluster.

As a Stakeholder, you will be given a dedicated partition on the node that you purchase for the cluster. The partition will only be accessible by members of your group, thus avoiding delays when the shared partition becomes busy. We also allow you to pull your node off the the shared partition if you need dedicated access to your computing resources for a time. Bear in mind though that while the node is off of the shared partition, you will be paying the entire management fee for the node.

If you are interested in purchasing nodes to add to the JHPCE cluster to become a Stakeholder, please email the JHPCE Director at jhpce@jhu.edu. We can help you with sizing an appropriate solution for your needs, and coordinate with vendors to get quotes.