NSF NCAR

ncar-hpc-docs.readthedocs.io · 2 records in Compute, Storage · JSON

Records 2

fails: identityNSF NCAR Derecho
Computefree tieridentity institutionno cardlimit write-gatedevidence documentedstale on 2026-11-22
fails: identityncar glade (campaign / work / scratch)
Storagefree tieridentity institutionno cardevidence documentedstale on 2026-12-05

NSF NCAR Derecho

Compute

ncar-hpc-docs.readthedocs.io/en/latest/allocations/universitNational HPC allocationcompute/nsf-ncar-derechoJSON compare report an error

Free allowance: An Exploratory and Classroom allocation carries 500,000 Derecho core-hours and 1,500 Derecho GPU-hours, is accepted continuously, and requires "No external funding award", which the provider states explicitly in its funding eligibility column.
Verdict: fails: identitythe identity required is not reachable without it
Cost: free tier
Identity: institutionno card, no phone
Binding limit: write-gated"To use Derecho, you must be a U.S.-based researcher, and your research must be in the Earth system sciences or related to Earth system science", so the half-million core-hours fail on both country and field before any funding question...
Evidence: documented5 sources; a first-party page was read and the sentence quoted
Freshness: stale on 2026-11-22checked 2026-10-22 (live); stale on 2026-11-22

Free tier	An Exploratory and Classroom allocation carries 500,000 Derecho core-hours and 1,500 Derecho GPU-hours, is accepted continuously, and requires "No external funding award", which the provider states explicitly in its funding eligibility column. A Small allocation raises that to 1 million core-hours and 2,500 GPU-hours and does require an NSF award. Derecho is 2,488 nodes with nearly 320,000 AMD EPYC cores plus 82 nodes holding 328 NVIDIA A100 GPUs, and access is "at no cost to you, your institution, or your research grants". unit hours; metered on wall-clock; continuous-small-allocation
Price	none stated
Limits	write-gated (binding) "To use Derecho, you must be a U.S.-based researcher, and your research must be in the Earth system sciences or related to Earth system science", so the half-million core-hours fail on both country and field before any funding question arises. source
Identity	institution not published
Egress	not stated
Interface	unknown inferred from the tooling the provider documents; not probed
Tooling	not stated
Composes with	Derecho composes with nothing in the file because the field restriction is absolute: the machine is for Earth system science, so the 500,000 core-hours are only usable as a climate, weather or geoscience workload, and a general data-science job would be a false application rather than a clever one.
Reliability	no reliability event recorded
Notes	The number is the largest free core-hour figure found that does not require a funding award, and the reason it is recorded as a refutation rather than capacity is one sentence about U.S. residency. The Data Analysis route on Casper accepts any funding source, which makes it the only part of the NCAR offer not tied to an award, but it is for analysing NCAR-hosted data rather than for arbitrary compute. Large allocations have no upper limit and are reviewed in March and September; the September 18, 2026 deadline is the next one after this reading.
Parsed numbers	has-free-tier 1

Evidence 5

date	source	what it proved
2026-10-22	ncar-hpc-docs.readthedocs.io/en/latest/allocations/universit	Exploratory and Classroom: Derecho 500,000 core-hours and Derecho GPU 1,500 GPU-hours, continuous, funding eligibility "No external funding award", quoted from the table
2026-10-22	ncar-hpc-docs.readthedocs.io/en/latest/allocations/universit	Small: Derecho 1 million core-hours and 2,500 GPU-hours, continuous, NSF award required, quoted from the table
2026-10-22	commons.ucar.edu/discussion/tools-you-can-use-derecho-superc	"Derecho boasts 2,488 nodes with nearly 320,000 AMD EPYC cores and 82 nodes with 328 NVIDIA A100 GPUs"; "access to these Derecho and other resources is provided at no cost to you, your institution, or your research grants", quoted
2026-10-22	commons.ucar.edu/discussion/tools-you-can-use-derecho-superc	"To use Derecho, you must be a U.S.-based researcher, and your research must be in the Earth system sciences"; "we can offer access to graduate students, postdocs, and new faculty without NSF funding", quoted
2026-10-22	ncar-hpc-docs.readthedocs.io/en/latest/allocations/universit	the Data Analysis allocation on Casper accepts "Any funding source" in the funding eligibility column, quoted

More fields 1

facets	`{"class": "national-hpc","free_tier_kind": "continuous-small-allocation","shape": {"vcpu": null,"ram_gib": null,"gpu_class": "NVIDIA A100","gpu_count": null}}`

Unknown values 7

egress metered: egress metering was not published
egress terms: a source was read and is silent on this field
interface: the access interface was not established
per object cap stated: the field does not apply to this kind of offer
reliability note: nothing of this kind was observed
retention stated: the field does not apply to this kind of offer
tooling: a source was read and is silent on this field

ncar glade (campaign / work / scratch)

Storage

ncar-hpc-docs.readthedocs.io/en/latest/storage-systems/gladestorage/ncar-gladeJSON compare report an error

Free allowance: Per-user quotas for account holders: Home 50 GB, Work 2 TB (not purged), Scratch 30 TB and 10 million files (purged after 180 days).
Verdict: fails: identitythe identity required is not reachable without it
Cost: free tier
Identity: institutionno card, no phone
Binding limit: noneno named constraint binds
Evidence: documented11 sources; a first-party page was read and the sentence quoted
Freshness: stale on 2026-12-05checked 2026-11-04 (live); stale on 2026-12-05

Free tier	Per-user quotas for account holders: Home 50 GB, Work 2 TB (not purged), Scratch 30 TB and 10 million files (purged after 180 days). Campaign Storage has no default quota and is allocated per project on request. unit TB; metered on stored-bytes
Price	none stated
Limits	retention-clamped Scratch 30 TB per user, purged after 180 days source volume-quota Work 2 TB per user source write-gated Campaign Storage only by project allocation request source Home 50 GB, Work 2 TB, Scratch 30 TB with a 10 million file limit and a 180 day purge; Campaign Storage by allocation request.
Binding	none access needs a project allocation at an eligible institution; scratch is then clamped by a purge
Identity	institution eligible U.S. post-secondary institution or non-profit research organization; unsponsored requests need a letter from an advisor or department head
Egress	not recorded
Retention	Scratch is purged after 180 days; Work is not purged; Campaign Storage is medium-term, typically three to five years.
Interface	unknown
Tooling	Globus web and command-line transfers to the NSF NCAR Campaign Storage collection; /glade paths on the Derecho and Casper clusters
Composes with	not recorded
Reliability	University Campaign Storage requests are prioritised, not guaranteed; the documentation says NSF NCAR is not currently funded to provide long-term data storage services to the university community.
Notes	Work is 2 TB per user and Scratch is 30 TB but PURGED at 180 days; Campaign Storage is the only large tier and it is allocation-request-gated for university projects. The 30 TB scratch is…
Evidence note	documented documented: the work and scratch quotas and the scratch purge were read on 2026-11-03 at https://ncar-hpc-docs.readthedocs.io/en/latest/storage-systems/glade/, the eligible-institution and advisor-letter requirements at https://ncar-hpc-docs.readthedocs.io/en/latest/allocations/university-allocations/, and the campaign storage terms at https://ncar-hpc-docs.readthedocs.io/en/stable/storage-systems/glade/campaign/.
Parsed numbers	has-free-tier 1 retention-clamped 30 TB volume-quota 2 TB

Evidence 11

date	source	what it proved
2026-10-21	ncar-hpc-docs.readthedocs.io/en/latest/storage-systems/glade	the text of Notes, above
2026-11-03	ncar-hpc-docs.readthedocs.io/en/latest/storage-systems/glade	scratch is 30 TB and 10 million files per user and is purged after 180 days
2026-11-03	ncar-hpc-docs.readthedocs.io/en/latest/storage-systems/glade	work is 2 TB per user and not purged
2026-11-03	ncar-hpc-docs.readthedocs.io/en/latest/allocations/universit	access is limited to eligible institutions
2026-11-03	ncar-hpc-docs.readthedocs.io/en/latest/allocations/universit	unsponsored requests need an advisor or department-head letter
2026-11-03	ncar-hpc-docs.readthedocs.io/en/stable/storage-systems/glade	campaign requests are prioritised, not guaranteed
2026-11-03	ncar-hpc-docs.readthedocs.io/en/stable/storage-systems/glade	campaign storage is reached through Globus
2026-11-03	ncar-hpc-docs.readthedocs.io/en/latest/storage-systems/glade	campaign storage is allocated per project on request
2026-11-03	ncar-hpc-docs.readthedocs.io/en/stable/storage-systems/glade	campaign storage is medium-term
2026-11-03	ncar-hpc-docs.readthedocs.io/en/stable/storage-systems/glade	university campaign requests go through the allocation system as supplements to a project allocation
2026-11-04	ncar-hpc-docs.readthedocs.io/en/latest/allocations/universit	an unsponsored request needs a letter from the advisor or department head

More fields 1

dead end	`{"failure_class": "quota","why": "Work is 2 TB per user and Scratch is 30 TB but PURGED at 180 days; Campaign Storage is the only large tier and it is allocation-request-gated for university projects. The 30 TB scratch is…","retry_when": null,"first_recorded": "2026-10-21"}`

Unknown values 5

chaining: no value was recorded for this field
egress terms: no value was recorded for this field
interface: the access interface was not established
per object cap notes: no value was recorded for this field
per object cap stated: no value was recorded for this field