Storage Details
As explained in the Overview, the available storage is divided into four main filesets: home, projects, scratch, and softs. Each fileset serves a specific purpose.
Users Storage
The /gpfs/home directory contains each user's personal files, configurations, and scripts for managing jobs.
User home directories are organized by organization and follow this structure:
This directory serves as the default starting point when logging into Lucia and is often referred to as$HOME or ~.
Permissions
Access to your home directory, /gpfs/home/<organization>/<user>/, is restricted to you by default. Others will not be able to access it unless specifically shared.
Quota
Each user has a quota for both blocks and files, with limits defined as follows:
| Block Limits | Soft | Hard | Grace Period |
|---|---|---|---|
| Blocks (GB) | 200GB | 230GB | 7 days |
| File Limits | Soft | Hard | Grace Period |
|---|---|---|---|
| Files | 1000k | 1300k | 7 days |
Warning
Exceeding the soft limit triggers a grace period. After 7 days or upon reaching the hard limit, further writes are blocked until usage is reduced below the soft limit.
To check your current usage and limits:
Projects Storage
Each project has two main directories where shared data is stored:
- /gpfs/projects: For long-term collaborative data storage (e.g., software, input files, job results).
- /gpfs/scratch: A high-speed, temporary workspace for job execution that requires fast I/O.
Managing Users Access
If you are involved in multiple projects, you must have access to the directories and files associated with those projects. This is possible through group memberships.
For example, if you are a user named user, you can check your group memberships with the id command:
> id
uid=xxxx(user) gid=xxxx(user) groups=xxxx(user),xxxx(project01),xxxx(project02),xxxx(project03)
user belongs to the groups project01, project02, and project03, granting access to the directories and files associated with each of these projects.
Permissions
The directories under /gpfs/projects and /gpfs/scratch are group-owned by the corresponding project group. The setgid bit is applied to these directories to ensure that new files and subdirectories inherit the correct group ownership.
For example, project01's directories permissions would look like this:
> ls -ld /gpfs/{projects,scratch}/company/project01/
drwxrws--- 3 root project01 4096 Mar 14 13:37 /gpfs/projects/company/project01/
drwxrws--- 4 root project01 4096 Mar 14 13:37 /gpfs/scratch/company/project01/
s in the group execute field (drwxrws---) indicates that the setgid bit is set on these directories, ensuring that new files and subdirectories created within them inherit the group ownership of the project.
Quota
Group quotas are applied to both the projects and scratch directories, varying depending on the project.
The file limit depends on the block limit. By default: - Projects with up to 500GB of block limit have a minimum of 500k files. - For each additional GB of block space, the file limit increases by 1k, capped at 10,000k files for projects with block limits greater than 10,000GB (this can be increased upon request).
Defaults for industrial projects are:
| Fileset | Block Soft Limit | Block Hard Limit | File Soft Limit | File Hard Limit | Grace Period |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
/gpfs/projects |
1000GB | 1300GB | 2000k files | 1300k files | 7 days |
/gpfs/scratch |
1000GB | 1300GB | 1000k files | 1300k files | 7 days |
Warning
For non-project Unix groups, quotas are minimal (16KB and 1 file). Misconfigured permissions or ownership on project directories may cause a Disk quota exceeded error. If this occurs, refer to the setgid bit for guidance on how to fix permissions.
To check project usage and limits:
- For /gpfs/projects:
-
For
/gpfs/scratch: -
For all filesets:
Danger
The /gpfs/scratch directory is cleaned up during maintenance windows in late May and November. A reminder will be sent 15 days beforehand.