On XSEDE, what types of allocations are available?

An allocation on the Extreme Science and Engineering Discovery Environment (XSEDE) is a grant of computing time or data space on XSEDE digital services that is awarded to a researcher who serves as the principal investigator (PI) of an approved project. There are three types of XSEDE allocations, each with a defined amount of computer time and storage space allotted, typical usage, and request process:

• Startup allocations: These are appropriate for code development, experimentation with XSEDE platforms, and application testing. Most first-time XSEDE users should request a Startup allocation. PIs may request a single computational service or a combination of services.

  Startup data allocations provide limited storage in databases, disk collections, and tape archives. Startup data allocations provide up to 5 TB on disk and 25 TB on tape.

  Startup allocations expire after one year, and a PI may have only one active Startup allocation at a time. Although renewals for Startup allocations are permitted with appropriate justification, a PI should consider requesting a Research allocation to continue work on XSEDE.

• Education allocations: These allocations are appropriate for use in classroom instruction or training activities. Education allocations have the same service unit (SU) and storage limits as Startup requests.
  
  
• Research allocations: Most Research allocations allow PIs to continue work they began with Startup allocations. However, a Startup allocation is not a prerequisite for requesting a Research allocation. A successful Research allocation request requires a detailed justification of resource usage. Requests are reviewed four times a year by the Resource Allocations Committee.

For more, see the XSEDE Allocations Overview.

This document was developed with support from National Science Foundation (NSF) grant OCI-1053575. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the NSF.

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