24 About UFIT Research Computing

About UFIT Research Computing

Research Computing is a division of UFIT focused on supporting the computational needs of researchers across campus beyond what can be done on desktop computers. Resources are subsidized by the university but are supported by researcher investments.

Pricing and Investments

Pricing is generally based on the actual cost of hardware, with the university covering the cost of racks, networking equipment, maintenance, staff, and other infrastructure costs associated with a large data center.  This pricing model has worked for over a decade, balancing affordable access to compute resources for researchers with the need to maintain and upgrade hardware over time.

The current pricing can be found on the UF Research Computing website. There are two main methods of investing: hardware investments and service investments.  Hardware investments are for the life of the equipment (5-years) and are listed for the 5-year period.  Service investments vary in duration and are listed per year.  However, they can range from three months to longer times.  Hardware investments frequently are not subject to indirect costs (IDC) on grants. However, researchers are encouraged to check with the granting agency and the UF Office of Research.  Investment is generally limited to university faculty.

Once an investment is made, the resources are available to researchers for the duration of the investment.  Investors do not own a particular piece of equipment but instead, have access to the invested resources in the shared pool that makes up the cluster. The expectation is that when submitting jobs to the scheduler, jobs within the investment limits will start within a few scheduler cycles. There are no additional hourly usage fees as in cloud computing environments.

Using HiPerGator in Your Class

Research Computing supports classes that wish to use HiPerGator for coursework. This provides students with access to a top supercomputer for learning valuable skills.  Instructors should consult the UF Research Computing support webpage with details for using HiPerGator in courses. In general, instructors should notify Research Computing two weeks prior to the start of the semester to set up resources. Please note that Research Computing does not install specific applications. Thus,  instructors should limit assignments based on the installed applications and be cognizant of the resources available to the students in the course.