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What is a Slurm Account?

A Slurm account is a resource allocation entity used to manage and organize computing resources on a Supercomputer. It differs from your user account, which identifies you as an individual on the system. Instead, Slurm accounts group users based on their affiliation, such as research groups, classes, or projects.

Key Differences between a Slurm Account and a User Account​

  1. User Account: Your individual identity on the cluster, tied to your username and credentials.
  2. Slurm Account: A resource grouping to track and manage usage, such as computing time, priorities, and fairshare policies.

You may belong to one or more Slurm accounts, depending on your affiliations.

Why You Might Belong to Multiple Slurm Accounts​

  1. Multiple Research Groups: If you conduct work for two or more research groups, each may have its own Slurm account.
  2. Class Projects: Students enrolled in academic courses with Supercomputer assignments will receive Slurm accounts specific to the class.
  3. Collaborations: Collaborators on interdisciplinary projects may gain access to multiple accounts to work across different teams.

How Slurm Accounts affect Fairshare​

Fairshare determines your job's priority relative to others and is calculated based on past resource usage within a Slurm account. If you belong to multiple Slurm accounts, your usage is tracked separately for each account.

Quality of Service (QoS)​

The Quality of Service (QoS) of your job submissions determine resources limits such as job runlength, memory, and priority. For example, class accounts can only submit to the class QoS. When submitting a job, always verify the QoS associated with your chosen Slurm account.

If you have multiple slurm accounts and wish to change your default slurm account, please contact Research Computing to make this change.

Practical Example​

If you are working on both a research project and taking a class that uses the cluster:

  • Submit class-related jobs under the class-specific Slurm account.
  • Submit research-related jobs under your research group’s Slurm account.
  • Each account will have separate fairshare tracking and QoS policies.

Understanding Slurm accounts ensures efficient and fair usage of cluster resources while respecting the allocations and policies of your affiliations. Always choose the appropriate account for your job to optimize your resource usage and priorities.