Starting May 1, 2011, a new common Standard Billing Unit (SBU) will be used for allocating and tracking computing time usage at both the NASA Advanced Supercomputing (NAS) Facility and the NASA Center for Climate Simulation (NCCS).
TO: All NAS Users
WHAT: Implementation of a New Standard Billing Unit (SBU) Definition
WHEN: May 1, 2011
IMPACT TO USERS:
DETAILS:
Since Mar. 2005, the NASA Advanced Supercomputing (NAS) Facility has provided allocation and usage information using a Standard Billing Unit (SBU) based on one core of a Columbia 3700 system. The new SBU will be based on one node (12 cores) of Pleiades Westmere hardware.
The change is being made to reflect the fact that there is a minimum allocatable unit (MAU) that represents the smallest part of the system that the scheduler allocates to a job. This change will also make more apparent the true cost of some jobs.
The new SBU will go into effect May 1, 2011--the beginning of the allocation year for many computational projects. For projects that began November 1, 2010, allocations will be recalculated to reflect the change. Usage of all projects (going back to Mar. 2005) will be recalculated using the new SBUs so that acct_ytd and acct_query reflect consistent data.
The article New Common System Billing Unit (SBU) Rates explains how these changes affect NAS systems.
For additional details, see the feature story, "NAS and NCCS Moving to a Common Standard Billing Unit May 1, 2011.
For questions or additional information, please send email to support@nas.nasa.gov or call 1-800-331-8737 or 1-650-604-4444.
Thank you,
NAS Support
NAS Operations
NAS User Services
support@nas.nasa.gov
800-331 8737
650-604-4444