Project folders and requesting them¶

In the HPC cluster, project folders are (usually) a per-project folder meant as a collaborative sharing space between multiple members. The document below details a few guidelines on both how to request a collaborative space and further options available.

Overview¶

Project folders are held in one of the HPC filesystems, usually under a sub-directory named projects. By default, users do not have write-privileges and folder in the shared space must be created by HPC administrators. This is mainly since collaborative folders must have a bit of extra permissions to make sure only the right people can access them.

Another reason to request a project folder is backups. While home folders are not backed up, project folders run on a weekly backup schedule. This means that restoring data can be done even after the underlying filesystem snapshot rotates(also weekly).

Furthermore, for accounts and organizations made under the minu.etais.ee self-service, granularity regarding file and folder permissions can be applied quite easily, facilitating a secure data-access environment for the whole organization.

Requesting a folder¶

Requesting a project folder is quite straight-forward, contact support@hpc.ut.ee with the following details

• Name of the folder
• List of (user)names to whom access should be granted
  • If you'd like to restrict access on a minu.etais.ee project/organization level, include this information as well
  • If you are requesting the folder then you are also considered the owner of it and the data inside. If this is not the case make sure to mention it as well.

Backups¶

Weekly backups are run on the whole project folder directory, so once a folder is created there are no extra steps required to make sure a backup copy is made. However, HPC does not back up some types of folders, mainly pertaining to software downloads that are reproducible by public means.

A non-exhaustive list of subdirectories excluded from backups can be found below

conda*
.conda*
miniconda*
.miniconda*
tmp*
.tmp*
cache*
.cache*
.local*
pip*
site-packages*
.pip*
*.tmp
*.swp

Restoring from backups¶

A restore operation can only be performed by HPC administrators. For a data restore request, please contact support@hpc.ut.ee

Please include information on the scope of data that needs to be restored, a file list if possible.