Creation of shared group project directory (an additional 30 GB of storage space)

[markyashar]

When a researcher submits a request for the creation of an FCA project via the MyBRC Portal , one of the questions in the survey/intake form asks them whether or how much additional Data Storage Space that they need. If a researcher responds to that question with "30 GB" or something between 10 GB and 30 GB, that's probably an indication that they need a shared project group directory in /global/home/groups/ for FCA projects created for them. If they answer "10 GB" or less, that's an indication that their home directory is adequate. If they answer with something greater than 30 GB (for FCA projects) , that's an indication that their scratch space on Savio is adequate. Is there a way that a shared group directory (/global/home/groups/ fc_projectname) can be automatically created or at least created and set up up in a more expedited way when we see that the researcher has responded with "30 GB" or something between 10 GB and 30 GB in their response fo the "Data Storage Space" question, and at the same time that the FCA project is being set up on the cluster, rather than doing it after the FCA has already been created and having the researcher request it separately (again) via a Service Now ticket that /global/home/groups/ fc_projectname be created for them? Thanks.

[matthew-li]

Thanks @markyashar. @wfeinstein and I discussed this--because of limited resources, we want users to go out of their way to request additional space if they really want it, as otherwise, everyone would request it in the new project form. To my understanding, for this reason, this field is largely getting ignored during new project setup. Perhaps it makes sense to omit it entirely, and direct users to a separate place to request it.

With that said, we also discussed the possibility of moving project directory requests into the portal. I don't have a sense of how much back-and-forth/human interaction there is on the existing tickets for requesting these, so recreating them as portal requests may/may not be a challenge.

There is some discussion of this in an old issue: #87.

[matthew-li]

Some notes from 03/05/2024 meeting:

• Users should not be able to request the directory during a new project request, as most users would likely do so.
• Rather, there should be a button on the project detail view, located in the same place as the "Request a Secure Directory" and "Update Project Information" buttons.
• Behind the scenes, a directory will be modeled as an Allocation, similar to a secure directory. Thus, it would appear under the "Allocations" tab of the project detail view, and have its own detail page.
  • AllocationUser management needs to be considered. Presumably, all project users would have access automatically.
• The amount of storage granted differs across BRC and LRC.
• There is no notion of requesting "more" space beyond the initially-granted space.