Project Applications, Resource Allocations on Berzelius and Acknowledgement

Project Applications

Access to the compute and storage resources on Berzelius is provided via a project application process, where approved projects get a share of the total resources. The size of this share is based on the merits of the application, as assessed by an allocation committee.

Project applications are made in SUPR in an application round called “LiU Berzelius”, available via the menu drill down “Rounds” –> “AI/ML” –> “LiU Berzelius”. SUPR is the NAISS database used to keep track of persons, projects, project proposals and more. To use most SUPR functions you need to be logged in. You need to register an account when using SUPR for the first time.

Project Applications Guide

The project application and review process is described in a resource allocation guide document available in Swedish and English version. The guide aims to provide a step by step instruction on how to apply for a project on Berzelius, as well as a guide to the policy which govern the project review and resource allocation process carried out by the allocation committee.

Of particular note in the application context: When making a project application, the project application Abstract section will be publicly available via NSC’s web, and information should only be put in the Abstract section bearing this in mind. Information necessary for your application which is not suitable for public display (for instance methodological aspects giving a competitive advantage) should be put in other application sections, for example the “Resource Usage” section.

When applying for a project on Berzelius some things are especially worth mentioning making the review process simpler for our reviewers.

• Apply for your estimated time average compute need for the project duration in terms of GPU-hours/month (actually per 30-days running), where continuous use of one GPU equals 720 GPU-h/month. The default allocation is 240 GPU-h/month which correspond to 1/3 GPU on average. Scale this figure to match your need. Other compute resources such as CPU and memory are matched automatically to this request.
  • This request is made under the “Resources” heading of your main application page, clicking a link “Berzelius Compute”. Only do this if you request more than the default compute time or storage space.
  • If applying for more than the standard compute allocation, a motivation containing a break-down of how you have arrived at your request is required. This break-down should be provided in the “Resource Usage” field in the “Basic Information” section on the main application page.
• The default allocation of storage is 2 TB and 2 million files.
  • If applying for more than the standard storage allocation, a motivation containing a break-down of how you have arrived at your request is required. This should be provided in the “Abridged Data Management Plan” field in the “Basic Information” section on the main application page.
• Specify how many users are expected to work on your project.

Other things of note in the project application context:

• Berzelius is subject to EU export regulations for dual-use equipment (Regulation No 428/2009), and it falls on the PI to ensure the compliance to this regulation by all project members. Particularly relevant in this context is that using Berzelius from a country outside of the European Union (including EEA and the Swiss Confederation) via a network is considered an export, and this may be prohibited. The list of countries from which network access to Berzelius (directly or indirectly via e.g. VPN) is prohibited can be found at https://www.sanctionsmap.eu via the drill down (hamburger) “Menu” → “Measures” and checking the box “Embargo on dual-use goods”. At the time of writing (2022-08-25), the list consisted of Russia, Belarus, Iran, Myanmar and North Korea. NB: This export restriction has nothing to do with the affiliations (like citizenship) of the person using Berzelius.
• Your granted allocation is not a hard limit to what you may run in your project. In fact there is no formal limit in place. Only in cases where Berzelius is fully subscribed by jobs contending for resources (forming a queue) will any overdraft on your compute time “account” come into effect, in practice only delaying the start of your job in favour of jobs from projects with less overdraft (relative to their allocation). This is called fair-share scheduling, see Fair-share scheduling for reference.
• Applications are evaluated monthly as they come in except in July (vacation season). There is no specific deadline for applying.
• The maximum allocation for a Doctoral student, Post Doctoral researcher, or similar, is the default allocation. A more senior person have to be the Principal Investigator for a larger allocation.
• Doctoral students, Post Doctoral researchers, or similar, that are members in one or more projects will normally not be granted their own projects.

Acknowledgement

The recommended way to acknowledge access to Berzelius is:

“The computations/data handling/[SIMILAR] were/was enabled by the Berzelius resource provided by the Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation at the National Supercomputer Centre.”

If applicable, also add an acknowledgement for application support:

“[NAME] at the National Supercomputer Centre is acknowledged for assistance concerning technical and implementational aspects [OR SIMILAR] in making the code run [OR SIMILAR] on the Berzelius resource.”

or

“We thank [NAME] at NSC for [his/her] assistance with [describe tasks such as porting, optimization, etc.] on the Berzelius, which was made possible through application support provided by National Supercomputer Centre at Linköping University.”