General Conditions of Use

The use of High Throughput Computing (HTC) resources is subject to the Privacy Policies, Computer Usage Regulations and Security Policy of the Information Technology Services (ITS). When requesting an account on ITS HTC systems, all users have to agree to abide by these policies and guidelines.

Acceptable Use Policy

Accounting Policy

  1. All HTC resources are for access by registered users only who have to observe the usage policies. Users are responsible for taking reasonable precautions to protect their own HTC account from unauthorized access.
  2. Users are prohibited from sharing their HTC account(s) or credentials with others; neither students nor other collaborators. This includes the prohibition in sharing the password of the account, providing access via a .rhost entry or other means of sharing. As such, users are also prohibited from using others’ logon ID and password to gain access to the HTC systems.

HTC Usage Policy

HTC resources are sharely used among multiple users, thus your actions can have serious impacts on the HTC system(s) and in turn affect other users. The following policies and rules are in place to ensure a fair use of the computing resources and enable the access from unauthorized or malicious use. Jobs/accounts may be suspended if any misuse of the system is identified.

  1. The use of HTC resources is restricted for academic and research purposes only. It must NOT be used in relation to any commercial activities, consultancy services, or creating any nuclear, biological or chemical weapons or military products capable of delivering weapons.
  2. Users are responsible for using HTC systems and facilities in an efficient, effective, ethical and lawful manner.
  3. Access to HTC resources is to be via secure communication channel (e.g. ssh) to respective login nodes. Direct access to compute nodes is not permitted.
  4. Login nodes are used for interactive work required to prepare computational tasks, as well as pre-processing and post-processing works such as source code editing, compilation, program testing, job submission and data analysis.
  5. All computational jobs run on the HTC system must be submitted via the condor scheduler. This enable resources to be sensibly allocated and most efficiently used.
  6. Users are requested to report for any weaknesses in computer security and incidents of possible misuse or violation of the account policies to the Information Technology Services.
  7. Users shall not attempt to access any data or programs contained on the HTC system for which they do not have authorization or explicit consent of the owner of the data/program.
  8. Users shall not make copies of system configuration files (e.g. the password file) for unauthorized personal use nor to provide such information to other people/users.
  9. Users shall not purposefully engage in activities to circumvent computer security or system administrative measures.
  10. Users shall not download, install or run security programs or utilities which reveal weaknesses in the security of HTC systems.
  11. Software run on HTC systems must have a valid license. No software should be submitted to HTC systems without eligible license. Therefore in case there is any such legal dispute, the job submitter has to take the responsibility.
  12. Users are requested to acknowledge the use of ITS HTC facilities in their research publications. Please see the Acknowledgement for more information.

In every attempts HPC team tries to plan and inform users of maintenance (via ITS webpage or email announcement), however the HTC systems may require shutting down without prior notice in case of an emergency or unavoidable maintenance.
This policy will be amended and reviewed periodically.

HTC Executable Files Policy

User executables include any runnable code/script which accompany the Condor submission, including but not limited to batch files (.bat), executable program (.exe), dynamically-linkable libraries (.dll) and any scripts. These files will be run on the HTC machines.

  1. Users are required to scan their user executables using the Universities’ specified Anti-virus program before copying them into the HTC system(s).
  2. User executables should not excessively consume local computing resources. This includes the use of CPU time and disk space, as well as spawn of threads/processes.
  3. User executables should not make network connections. If it is unavoidable, users shall request prior approval from the HPC team. Such requests will be considered on a case-by-case basis. Network connection beyond HKU campus network is STRICTLY PROHIBITED.

Getting Help

For any questions regarding this access policy or resources misuse report, please send an email to the ITS HPC team.