High performance scratch space: HPC Workspace

Unity provides a tool called HPC Workspace that allows you to create and manage high performance scratch space in a sustainable fashion. The following instructions describe how to create workspaces and manage them with a few key features.

Create a workspace

Use the ws_allocate command to create a workspace. There are several different options for creating a workspace. To view all options, run ws_allocate -h.

The following code sample shows how to create a workspace for a single user with a given number of days. The maximum duration for a workspace is 30 days.

username@login2:~$ ws_allocate simple 14
Info: creating workspace.
/scratch/workspace/username-simple
remaining extensions  : 3
remaining time in days: 14

After running the ws_allocate command to create a workspace, the following code shows up to let you know that the directory that was created.

username@login2:~$ ls -ld /scratch/workspace/username-simple
drwx------ 2 username username 4096 Mar  2 17:48

Send an email reminder before workspace expiration

Use the -m option to specify an email address that you want to notify before the workspace expires. This option requires you to specify the number of days before expiration using the -r option.

For example:

username@login2:~$ ws_allocate -m username@umass.edu -r 1 email 2
Info: creating workspace.
/scratch/workspace/username-email
remaining extensions  : 3
remaining time in days: 2

Create a shared workspace

The HPC Workspace utility allows you to create shared workspaces, which are useful for collaborating on a project. To create a shared workspace, all members must be members of a common group, such as the members of a particular PI group.

The following code sample shows how to create a workspace that can be shared with a particular PI group.

username@login2:~$ ws_allocate -G pi_pi-username shared
Info: creating workspace.
/scratch/workspace/username-shared
remaining extensions  : 3
remaining time in days: 0

After creating a shared workspace, the following code shows up to let you know that the directory was created with group sharing permissions.

username@login2:~$ ls -ld /scratch/workspace/username-shared
drwxrws--- 2 username pi_pi-username 4096 Mar  3 19:08

Manage workspaces

HPC Workspace provides many useful features for managing your workspaces after they are created. The following instructions show you how to list your workspaces, share a workspace with another user, release a workspace, and extend a workspace.

List workspaces

Use the ws_list command to view a list of your workspaces along with key information about them.

For example:

username@login2:~$ ws_list
id: username-email
     workspace directory  : /scratch/workspace/username-email
     remaining time       : 1 days 23 hours
     creation time        : Fri Mar  3 16:56:51 2023
     expiration date      : Sun Mar  5 16:56:50 2023
     filesystem name      : workspace
     available extensions : 3
id: username-simple
     workspace directory  : /scratch/workspace/username-simple
     remaining time       : 0 days 23 hours
     creation time        : Fri Mar  3 16:56:44 2023
     expiration date      : Sat Mar  4 16:56:44 2023
     filesystem name      : workspace
     available extensions : 3

Release a workspace

Use the ws_release command to release a workspace once you are done with it. Releasing a workspace means that the ID can be reused, and the directory is no longer accessible.

For example:

username@login2:~$ ws_release email
username@login2:~$ ws_release simple
username@login2:~$ ws_list
username@login2:~$

Extend a workspace

HPC Workspace allows a limited number of opportunities to extend a workspace. Use ws_list to see the available number of extensions.

The following code sample shows how to create a workspace and extend it for 30 days.

username@login2:~$ ws_extend simple 30
Info: extending workspace.
/scratch/workspace/username-simple
remaining extensions  : 2
remaining time in days: 30

Share a workspace with another user

HPC Workspace also allows you to share a workspace with another user whether or not they are in your PI group. Use the ws_share command to share a workspace with a user.

For example:

ws_share share simple username2_umass_edu