Data Access and Retention Policy¶
The different filesystem classes available on the Hoffman2 Cluster are regulated each with their own policies when it comes to access and retention.
Access to $HOME¶
Each Hoffman2 Cluster user is granted a 60GB home directory with a quota of 1,000,000 files for personal use.
User data and files stored in a user’s personal home directory ($HOME) are considered the property of the user, and access is subject to UCLA Policy 410 provisions.
Access to Project directories¶
Hoffman2 Cluster Sponsors may purchase storage space in 1TB/year increments for use by group members. A maximum of 1,000,000 files may be stored for each 1TB purchased.
User data stored in PI-purchased project directories are considered the property of the PI (i.e., Hoffman2 Cluster Sponsor). These data may be deleted or have ownership changed at the PI’s request.
Access to Scratch directory / $SCRATCH¶
Each Hoffman2 Cluster user may use up to 2TB of temporary storage space for running jobs, space permitting. No file count limits are enforced in the scratch filesystem.
For more information please visit the Storage page.
Access Without Consent (AWOC)¶
Official Access Without Consent (AWOC) requests must be filed by an eligible entity under a circumstance detailed in UCLA Policy 410 Section IV.
Data retention: $HOME¶
Files and data in home directories are under the control of the files’owning user and group. These data are retained indefinitely for active Hoffman2 Cluster users.
Data retention: Project directories¶
Files and data in project directories are under the primary control of the files’ owning user and group. These data are retained indefinitely as long as the project storage allocation is active (paid for).
Data retention: $SCRATCH¶
Files or data in $SCRATCH that have not changed in over 14 days are eligible for automatic deletion. Solely changing the date on a file is prohibited and does not “reset the clock” on its scheduled removal. Attempts to circumvent this policy may result in the user’s account being locked.
Data retention for inactive or deleted Hoffman2 user accounts¶
$HOME - inactive or deleted user¶
Home directory data will be retained for 120 days after a Hoffman2 cluster account is disabled.
Project directories - inactive or deleted user¶
Files stored in project directories, and belonging to inactive or deleted Hoffman2 user accounts, are retained indefinitely or until the responsible PI requests their deletion. As mentioned in Access to Project directories, PIs may request file ownership to be changed at any time at their sole discretion. See Data Retention for inactive (unpaid) project directories.
$SCRATCH - inactive or deleted user¶
Files or data in $SCRATCH are automatically removed 14 days after the owning user’s account is disabled.
Data Retention for inactive (unpaid) project directories¶
If a Hoffman2 Cluster storage sponsor ceases to provide a valid billing FAU for a project storage entitlement, the entitlement will be set to read-only status 30 days after the last successful billing period. 30 days after the project filesystem is set to read-only, it will be temporarily archived, taken offline, and no longer be accessible from the Hoffman2 cluster. All data in the project directory will be deleted 120 days after the filesystem is first set to read-only (90 days after it is archived).
Data protection and backup policies¶
$HOME backup¶
Home directories are protected by backups and storage server “snapshots.” Relative to the current time and date, snapshots are generally available for the two preceeding weeks, two preceding days, and five preceding hours.
Project directories backup¶
Data in project directories are protected by storage server “snapshots” and are backed up with a best-effort algorithm. There is no guarantee that any given version of a file is backed up at a specific point in time. The criteria for backing up a file include changes in UNIX ctime, mtime, or file size. Once a version of a file has been successfully backed up, its contents will be retained for 30 days upon being removed or changed on the file system. A limited number of versions of a file are kept; regularly changing the contents of a file may result in older versions being not available in the backup set.
$SCRATCH never backed up¶
Data in $SCRATCH are never backed up and are removed during each scheduled Hoffman2 Cluster maintenance window.