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Basic

§ 4.A: Courtesy


When working on this workstation cluster, you should keep in mind that file space and central memory are limited and shared with all users. For this reason, please close unneeded windows and remove unneeded files quickly. Also, keeping your array and file sizes from becoming gigantic can help. Specifically, do not store all your mail, news, executeable, postscript, object, or personal files on the system. If you do need more space for your work, contact support.

When you are running programs or problem solving environments like Maple on the Department Cluster, you are sharing CPU time, disk access, and central memory with other users. If you have to wait more than about 10-15 seconds for an answer, this means your job is intensive enough to weight down the system for all users. This may be unavoidable for complex problems. On the other hand, if your simple problem appears to be running for too long, it's a good idea to interrupt it and enter it again, carefully. Sometimes a typing error or an extra zero can change the problem significantly.

One way to be considerate of other users, is to have you time- or memory-intensive programs run when the demand on the system is low (like overnight and on weekends). This can be done with the nice, batch, and at commands. (The nice command will be described in the programming section, or the man nice command will give you the information on it.) Another way to be considerate is to work on the least-used machine at the time. The rwho, users, and ruptime commands will show you where the users are and what the load is.

Do not run your own widow managers or change the setup files on the x-stations as you might on your personal computer or research computer. Our cluster is a finely-tuned system and user changes to it can be harmful to others.

Beware, you should not assume that your files are backed up by the authories or will remain on the computer until you tell someone to get rid of them. While we try to notify you in advance, or wait until you leave the department, you should be prepared to have all your files disappear without notice. It also means you personally should have some means to restore them, possibly from floppy disks or from your ucs account.


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Comments and questions to CP-unix@physics.orst.edu.