---
title: "Priority Access"
canonical: "https://kb.uconn.edu/space/SH/26698678562/Priority%20Access"
format: markdown
---
## What is *priority *access?

In short, priority access to HPC resources accelerates research on the HPC. There are two main benefits: 

1. <u>**Shorter**</u>** wait times**  
Priority access is sort of like TSA PreCheck at airports. Users with priority access get to move through the line (read: job queue) faster than general users. Meaning priority users' jobs start running faster.
2. <u>**Longer**</u>** run times**  
Users with priority access can run their jobs indefinitely. Meanwhile, the time limit for most general users is generally 12 hours, limiting certain analyses.

All access to resources is managed through the cluster’s job scheduler. With priority access, computational jobs are moved higher in the queuing system, and in most cases begin execution within twelve hours, depending upon other [FairShare ](https://slurm.schedmd.com/fair_tree.html#intro)factors. Accordingly, priority users' jobs are usually competing mostly with other priority jobs rather than jobs from the full HPC userbase.

## How do I purchase priority access?

Priority access to HPC resources is available under a “[condo model](https://kb.uconn.edu/space/SH/26033979511/Glossary#Basics-of-the-Condo-Model),” where faculty are able to purchase semi-dedicated nodes which get made available to all users when their lab members are not using them. 

Under the condo model, faculty researchers fund the costs to lease time on existing nodes, or purchase new individual CPU/GPU nodes, while the university funds the operating costs of running these nodes during this term. This lifecycle breaks down as follows:

- **Lease **terms are per month; resources are drawn from existing compute hardware.
- **Purchase **term is a minimum of 5 years; this funds the purchase of new hardware used to expand the existing cluster. Hardware support can usually be extended for an additional 2 years at additional cost.
- The **condo lifecycle** ends when the lease term ends (lease), or hardware support expires (purchase).
- At the end of the condo lifecycle, the nodes remain in the cluster in general queues only, and the priority QoS is removed.
- Hardware is permanently decommissioned and removed when:
  - Hardware support has expired, *and*
  - Hardware either fails, *or*
  - Hardware has reached EOSL (end of support for security fixes/firmware updates)

Faculty who lease or purchase compute nodes receive access to equivalent resources, at a higher priority than other researchers, for the duration of the condo term.

*To be clear*, researchers are **not **purchasing consistent access to a specific physical node. They are purchasing access to a node’s worth of specific (but interchangeable) resources. The faculty can then designate others—such as their graduate students, postdoctoral researchers, etc.—to receive priority access to those resources.

It is also important to note that all resources are available in the general queues. This is to enhance efficiency of resource utilization. As a result, wait times could potentially approach 12 hours (the maximum wall time for general jobs) depending on the occupancy rate of the cluster. 

## How will my lab members access our node(s)?

Priority users will be given a custom [QoS ](https://kb.uconn.edu/space/SH/26449379370/SLURM+Cheatsheet#Job-Submission)to access to priority resources. We use QoSs to govern who can access priority resources (a.k.a. Trackable RESources, or TRes). Please note that priority users will **not** be given separate partitions. 

## How much does priority access cost?

It varies depending on what you want. We have provided estimates below which are accurate as of February 2025.

**NOTE: **Prices may fluctuate significantly as a result of tariffs. We will strive to keep this page updated.

|  |  |  |  |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| **Service Type** | **Unit/Term** | **Unit Cost** | **Minimum Purchase** |
| **Purchase (CPU)** | 1 server/5 yrs | $27,500 (cpu) | 1 server |
| **Purchase (GPU)**<br>** ** | 1 server/5 yrs<br>(1-3 GPU) | $27,500, plus<br>$2500/GPU | 1 server, plus<br>1 GPU |
| **Lease (CPU)** | 1 server/1 mo | $442 | 1 month/server |
| **Lease (GPU)**<br>** ** | 1 server/1 mo<br>(1-3 GPU) | $375, plus<br>$42/GPU | 1 month/<br>server/GPU |

This includes ITS infrastructure and licensing costs. Actual cost may differ and will depend on a formal quote from Dell. 

The current hardware specifications are as follows:

| **CPU Node - Dell R6625** | **GPU Node - Dell R7625** |
| --- | --- |
| 2x 64-core AMD Epyc processors (128 cores)<br>768GB RAM<br>480GB SSD<br>25Gb/s Ethernet<br>200Gb/s InfiniBand (storage interconnect) | 2x 32-core AMD Epyc processors (64 cores)<br>768GB RAM<br>480GB SSD<br>25Gb/s Ethernet<br>200Gb/s InfiniBand (storage interconnect)<br>1x or 3x NVIDIA A100, L40, or A30 GPU accelerator |

It is worth noting that the market supply of GPUs is currently low. Accordingly. Dell may need to substitute a different card in place of the A100. 

## I’m convinced. How do I purchase priority access?

Interested faculty can get started by submitting a [PI Equipment Request Form](https://hpc.uconn.edu/storrs/condo-application). Storrs HPC Admins will then request a quote from Dell. When the quote is ready, it will be forwarded to PIs for review.


> ✅ <u>**Please note**</u>: Interested parties should be ***direct affiliates of UConn***.
> ✅ 
> ✅ We **do not** allow external businesses to directly purchase equipment, but current UConn faculty may use grant funds from corporate sources.