Resource allocation

Billing units

Many of CSC’s services use Billing Units (BUs) to measure and monitor service usage. There are four different Billing Unit types available; CPU, GPU, Storage and Cloud. These Billing Units are used to distribute our service resources to all users, irrespective of whether they have purchased our services, or use them on a free-of-charge basis. Those using our services on a free-of-charge basis will not be charged for the used Billing Units.

Most of CSC’s services require a CSC project created in MyCSC Customer portal. Billing Units are allocated to and tracked per project. The actual Billing Unit usage can be reviewed in MyCSC. Please note that different services consume Billing Units at different rates. For more information, please see our user guide Docs CSC:

• How to create a CSC project
• Reviewing Billing Unit usage
• Service-specific billing models

CSC projects within the scope of the free-of-charge use can apply for Billing Units. Such requests are handled by a dedicated Resource Allocation Group at CSC. Commercial CSC projects need to purchase Billing Units. If you are a commercial user, please consult CSC Service Desk for acquiring resources.

Billing Unit types

CSC’s services need various kinds of infrastructure and different research projects have varying requirements; some need a lot of CPUs or GPUs for a short while, some more permanent resources, and some vast amounts of data storage. These requirements can evolve independently over time.

The four different Billing Unit types covering the diverse use cases of CSC’s services are:

• CPU BU (used in Puhti, Mahti and upcoming Roihu jobs without GPU)
• GPU BU (used in Puhti, Mahti and upcoming Roihu jobs with GPU)
• Storage BU (used in Puhti, Mahti and Roihu Lustre storage, Allas, Shared Fileservice and SD Connect)
• Cloud BU (used in cPouta, ePouta, Rahti, Pukki and SD Desktop)

Quotas

Some of CSC’s services have set quotas, which limit service usage per project. Quotas can apply, for example, to the amount of data that can be stored in a certain disk area. Some quotas can be modified while others cannot be changed. Read more about service-specific quotas.

Applying for more BUs and increasing quotas

When you use our services free-of-charge, you may find that the amount of resources provided by default do not cover your needs. In this case you can apply for more as follows.

Billing units

You can apply for more Billing units in MyCSC Customer portal. Detailed instructions are available in our user guide Docs CSC.

• Small resource requests are processed immediately.
• Medium requests are processed within a few days.
• Large resource requests are processed by a dedicated Resource Allocation Group, which makes decisions on set dates every three weeks. Make sure to keep track of application deadlines and fill the application thoroughly.

Quotas

You can request quota changes for many services in MyCSC, but some requests need to be sent to CSC Service Desk. More detailed information about applying for resources (Billing Units and quota), as well as the deadlines for large resource requests can be found on the Applying for resources page.

When your resource needs are extremely large

If your resource needs are larger than what CSC normally grants, there are other options provided by different organizations. Please see the Extremely large resources page for more information.

Billing unit calculator

The Billing Unit calculator is currently being updated to account for the new Billing Units. Once re-implemented, it will be re-published here.