General FAQ¶
Accounts and projects¶
Who can use CARC?
CARC resources are free of charge for UNM faculty, staff, and student researchers, supported by the Office of the Vice President for Research. External collaborators can get accounts through a UNM project PI — see Getting started.
How do I get an account?
UNM affiliates use the self-service portal at mokey.alliance.unm.edu; collaborators without a UNM email are requested by their PI. Details in Getting started.
I have an account — why can't I run jobs?
Your account must belong to a CARC project that holds compute resources. Ask your PI to add you to their project in ColdFront. Note that your Slurm account is not the same as your login account — see Slurm accounting and fairshare.
How do I become a project PI?
PI eligibility follows the UNM criteria for Principal Investigator status. Eligible PIs create projects and request resources in ColdFront.
Cost and allocations¶
Does CARC cost anything?
The core service is free for UNM researchers. Additional dedicated storage and premium services are available for purchase — see premium research computing services.
How is fair access enforced?
Through Slurm's fairshare system: heavy recent usage lowers your scheduling priority relative to lighter users, so everyone gets a fair opportunity. See resource limits and Slurm accounting.
What if I need more than CARC can provide?
National platforms are the next step — ACCESS-CI allocations, the Jetstream2 cloud, and CyVerse data services. See partner cyberinfrastructure; CARC staff can help you apply.
Storage and data¶
Where should I put my data?
Home for small, important files; project space for shared work; scratch
for active job I/O. Quotas and the quotas command are covered in
resource limits, and the layout in
storage and backups.
Is my data backed up?
Enterprise (NetApp) storage has automated snapshots (hourly to monthly, retained up to four months). Scratch is not backed up. See storage and backups.
Can I store HIPAA / regulated data on CARC?
No. HIPAA, PHI, PCI, FERPA, and CUI data may not be stored on or transferred via CARC systems — see the Good Neighbor Use Policy.
Software and hardware¶
How do I get software installed?
First check module avail (environment modules).
You can install your own stacks with conda
or run containers. For system-wide
installs, open a ticket. Export-controlled software
requires prior written approval from UNM Export Control.
What GPUs are available?
Easley has NVIDIA L40S and H100 GPUs, and Hopper has A100s — see the systems overview. Request GPU partitions in your job script; examples are in example Slurm scripts.
Can I use CARC from my browser?
Yes — Open OnDemand for files, shells, and jobs, or JupyterHub for notebooks.
Publishing¶
How do I acknowledge CARC in a paper?
Use the statement on acknowledging CARC and add the publication to your project's list in ColdFront.