Resource Allocations

Leaders of research projects with above-average computing requirements may apply for enhanced access to the resources managed by Compute Canada through an annual competition described below.  An email announcing the 2011 Resource Allocation Competition was sent to a Compute Canada general mailing list on September 20, 2011. If you did not receive the September 20th email and are interested in more information about the current procedures and your questions were not answered by reading the Call for Proposals below, please write to rac@westgrid.ca.

Compute Canada Resource Allocation Committee Call for Proposals - September 2011 

 Introduction

This year WestGrid's Resource Allocation Call for Proposals will be done in conjunction with Compute Canada.

The Compute Canada Resource Allocation Committee (RAC) ensures that all high performance computing (HPC) resources, operated by the seven regional HPC host consortia, of which WestGrid is the local host, are fully shared in the national context. Compute Canada enables Canadian researchers to obtain access to the most powerful national computing resources in the country, regardless of their host consortium. That is, resources will be accessible to any eligible researcher at a publicly funded Canadian academic or CFI-eligible research institution, irrespective of their geographical location.

Principal Investigators (PIs) at Canadian academic institutions who require access to HPC resources on Compute Canada systems are hereby invited to submit proposals requesting allocations of CPU time and storage to Compute Canada. In addition to offering access to computing resources with an aggregate peak of well over 1 PFLOPS of compute power and more than 5 Petabytes of storage, Compute Canada offers applications-enabling assistance from HPC experts at the regional consortia.

Allocations will be valid for one year, beginning January 2012. Under exceptional circumstances and for long term national and international projects an extended timeframe may be granted. Allocations of longer than one year will be subject to NRAC (National Resource Allocation Committee) approval and will require the submission of an annual progress report.

Submission of a Proposal

This call for proposals is aimed at PIs who require greater than the default allocation on any system. All  applicants must complete the online application form on the CCDB: https://ccdb.computecanada.org/allocation/list_applications. Please note that one must log in using Compute Canada registration credentials to view the application form and associated documentation.

Any individual who is eligible to apply to national granting councils for funding is eligible to apply for an allocation. Typically, this means that regular faculty are eligible to apply while postdoctoral fellows and graduate students are not. Individuals who have adjunct status may apply for an allocation if the project for which the allocation is requested is eligible for funding from CFI or the granting councils. A lead PI cannot submit more than one individual application, but can be a participant in other submissions.

Note that a proposal is not required in order to get access to Compute Canada systems. Any Canadian academic researcher may obtain a “default allocation” on any Compute Canada system at any time by registering with the Compute Canada DataBase (CCDB) (https://ccdb.computecanada.org/account_application) and then requesting accounts at one or more consortia. 

Technical Aspects

It is strongly recommended that all applicants consult with the Compute Canada technical staff responsible for the systems they intend to use well before completing their proposal. PIs who have not previously used Compute Canada systems MUST discuss their proposal with technical staff (support@westgrid.ca) before submission. For any questions regarding the RAC process, please contact rac@computecanada.org.

Please do this before October 3rd so that we have time to help you.

Submission Date

Proposals must be submitted electronically to Compute Canada on or before October 18, 2011 at 3pm (Eastern).

Evaluation of Proposals

Proposals will be evaluated and applicants notified by email in December.

Applications will be judged according to the quality of science, the excellence and expertise of the PI and the technical merits of the proposal. The need for the computing resources, the availability of resources, the impact on other high quality projects, the suitability of the resources being requested, and past experience of deploying and using the requested resource(s) with the code proposed will also be evaluated.

Users with large storage needs must make a request for a storage allocation. Users requiring more than 2TB of data in a volume that is backed up to tape, or more than 5TB of data in a volume that is not backed up to tape, are required to make a resource allocation request. Although users can specify a preference for where stored data will be allocated, the NRAC reserves the right to allocate the storage where appropriate.

All WestGrid users who have existing RAC allocations are required to resubmit proposals if they require their allocation to continue.

Facilities Available

The size of default allocations vary by system; please consult the list of resources page for more details.  Note: Compute Canada will update its website as national machines become available.

Privacy Policy

Confidentiality of information

Compute Canada and WestGrid will safeguard the information that it receives from applicants. It instructs reviewers to keep all information confidential and to use it only for review purposes. All proposals will be available for review by all RAC members and/or NRAC members. Applicants who have particular concerns about confidentiality should consult Jill Kowalchuk, Executive Director, WestGrid at kowalchuk@westgrid.ca or Susan Baldwin, Executive Director, Compute Canada at susan.baldwin@computecanada.org.

Use of Personal Information

All personal information collected by Compute Canada and WestGrid is used to review applications. Such information may be shared with relevant officials in the relevant consortium and/or to their research institution.

Public Information
WestGrid and Compute Canada will post the following information on its website for allocations that are made:

Name
Department/Institution
Project Title
Research Summary
Allocation

APPENDIX 1: Local (WestGrid) Resource Allocation Committee

Coming soon.

APPENDIX 2: National Resource Allocation Committee

Pierre Savard (SciNet, Chair)
Natalie Cann (HPCVL)
Christian Gagné (Calcul Québec)
Stanimir Bonev (ACEnet)
Clinton Groth (SciNet)
Richard Keeler (WestGrid)
Allan Macisaac (SHARCNET)
Jeff Racine (SHARCNET)
Alain Rochefort (Calcul Québec)
Alain Vinet (Calcul Québec)
Laurence Yang (ACEnet)
Susan Baldwin (Compute Canada)
John Morton (technical advisor)
Chris MacPhee (technical advisor)

Click here to download the September 2011 Compute Canada Call for Proposals from the Compute Canada website.

Updated 2011-09-22.