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Hour requests
You will find an explanatory video concerning hour requests and opening a computing account on our YouTube channel "Un œil sur l'IDRIS" :
Resource management by GENCI
The allocation of computing resources from the three national centres (CINES, IDRIS and TGCC) is organised under the coordination of GENCI (National High-Performance Computing Facility).
Before any hour request, we strongly recommend that you consult the complete GENCI documentation. You will find, among other things:
- the eligibility conditions to obtain computing hours;
- the access terms to national resources.
To ensure the scientific excellence of the work carried out thanks to the resources it provides, GENCI relies on eleven thematic committees consisting of experts from the various user communities.
This documentation page only summarises the content of the GENCI documentation. It is the GENCI documentation that is authoritative in case of discrepancy.
eDARI portal
Hour allocation requests are made via the eDARI portal common to the 3 centres: www.edari.fr.
From your personal space on eDARI, you can at any time submit requests for computing hours to:
- start a new one-year allocation;
- renew an existing allocation for an additional year;
- supplement an allocation for the current year ("on-the-fly request").
On the eDARI portal, you can also manage your IDRIS computing account.
Two types of access
Whatever the intended use (HPC or AI) and the number of hours requested, the procedure for requesting computing hours is done via a single form on the eDARI portal.
The allocated hours are valid for one year. Depending on the volume of hours requested, the submitted file will be of type Dynamic Access (DA) or Regular Access (RA):
- Dynamic Access for requests ≤ 50kh normalised GPU and 500kh CPU;
- Regular Access for larger requests.
On Jean Zay, 1 normalised GPU hour = 1 V100 hour = 0.5 A100 hour = 0.25 H100 hour.
The "normalised hour" equivalences of the accelerated partitions of the other centres are specified when
you fill in the online resource request form.
The number of hours considered to determine your type of access corresponds to the cumulative resources requested on the three national centres.
Dynamic Access (DA)
You can submit a request for resources of the Dynamic Access type at any time during the year. The hour allocation is valid for one year and renewable each year on the anniversary date of the allocation.
Requests are reviewed and validated by the IDRIS management. They will judge the scientific and technical quality of the files and may seek the opinion of an expert from the thematic committee to which the project belongs if necessary.
Regular Access (RA)
For a request for resources of the Regular Access type, two calls for projects are launched each year:
- in January-February for an allocation of hours on 1st May, for one year;
- in June-July for an allocation of hours on 1st November, for one year.
New files for Regular Access can be submitted at any time during the year but they will only be examined during the call for projects following the submission date. This is why it is then possible to request to benefit from a Transitional Dynamic Access.
Renewals of Regular Access are done every year and must be submitted before the closing date of the corresponding call for projects, for review as part of the current campaign.
The next call for projects closing date is visible on the DARI website (first column on the left).
All files are reviewed by an evaluation committee, during the period between the call for projects and the start of the allocation. The technical review is carried out by the computing centres and the scientific review by the experts from the thematic committees. An allocation committee then decides the final amount of hours for each allocation.
Transitional Dynamic Access (TDA)
When making a first request for resources of the Regular Access type, you can request a Transitional Dynamic Access to access the resources in advance, without waiting for the start of the RA allocation (1st May or 1st November).
In this example, the RA request is made at the beginning of July. But as the allocation will not be effective until 1st November, you have to wait four months to be able to use the computing resources. The Transitional Dynamic Access allows access to the resources during these four months:
The hours allocated to the Transitional Dynamic Access are proportional to the duration of the TDA and the number of hours requested for the corresponding RA. In the example above, 4 months representing one third of the year, the TDA will have one third of the hours requested for the RA.
The hours consumed during the TDA are deducted from the hours allocated to the corresponding RA on the day of the allocation (i.e. 1st November for the example above).
On-the-fly request
Throughout the year, from the eDARI portal, you have the possibility to make on-the-fly requests to supplement an existing allocation (Dynamic Access or Regular Access) that has exhausted its initial quota of hours.
For Dynamic Access, the total request must remain below the thresholds of 500 kh CPU and 50 kh normalised GPU.
It is the IDRIS management that studies the on-the-fly requests and makes limited allocations to avoid blocking other ongoing projects.