Czars roles and responsibilities

Some users have the privilege to manage the computing resources allocated to their laboratory or their group, to give a new password to a user or to request new resources. These users are called czars in the CC-IN2P3 jargon. There are different types of czars whose roles apply to a user or to a group:

• User

  • account czar: he is responsible for the validation of request for accounts made for a laboratory or, in some case authorized by IN2P3, for non-CNRS collaborators of experiments.

  • password czar: he is responsible of the users passwords. He can reset it when a user has forgotten it. Usually an account czar is also password czar but this is not a rule.

• Group

  • request czar: he is responsible for the resources requests (CPU/GPU, storage) for his group.

  • storage czar: he manages the storage space quotas allocated to the group (THRONG, SPS, HPSS, iRODS)

  • computing czar (batch): he is responsible for the management of priorities within his group on the computing platform.

To list the czars for a given role, use the command lines below from an interactive server:

% laboinfo -u <username> -p <typeDeczar={password,account}>
% laboinfo -g <group name> -p <typeDeczar={batch,storage,requete}>

where “requete” stands for “request”.

To explore all the functionalities of the command:

% laboinfo -h

Account Czar

Creation of new accounts

The account czar is the person who has been chosen by their laboratory leader to validate the form new account requests and the users’ laboratory changes. This czar does not have the necessary permissions to add a user to a group.

For international collaborations, one of the account czar major roles is to request new accounts for people working in foreign laboratories, or non-CNRS staff.

Group change

You can also contact your account czar when you want to switch group or add a group to your account. You must send an e-mail to your account czar with a copy to the computing czar of the new group. Your account czar will ask for your this modification via a ticket.

Laboratory change

You must fill the same form for account request when you change lab. There is a check-box to indicate that it is for a change of laboratory and not for a new account. The account czar of your new laboratory will sign the request to validate the change.

Intermediate support

Within the laboratories, the account czar is sometimes called “lab czar”. Very often, this czar has a role of intermediate support and trainer for new CC-IN2P3 users working in the same laboratory:

• manage account opening requests;

• manage group change requests;

• train new users;

• perform user or group registration requests in HPSS.

This czar should regularly check the accounts of his/her laboratory or group and report the accounts to be deactivated.

Password czar

The password czar has the privilege to change the password for a user belonging to the same laboratory with the following command:

% setkpasswd username

A step-by-step example is available to assist the user who needs to change the temporary password provided by the czar.

• Temporary password change

Request czar

The request czar makes the annual resources request for their group. This request is made in collaboration with the Support team of CC-IN2P3 in order to be as precise as possible in terms of computing and storage needs. The Support team enters this request, which is then arbitrated by the CC-IN2P3 management.

In the same way, he contributes to the writing of the DMP.

• Resources requests
  • List of available resources
  • SPS space allocation criteria

The resources usage reports can be found in the user portal https://portail.cc.in2p3.fr/:

• Computing resource usage is available in Reports > Computing of your groups.

• Storage resource usage is available in Reports > Storage of your groups.

Storage czar

The storage czar is responsible for the management of the group disk space and its ACLs. He contributes to the writing of the DMP.

THRONG space management

The THRONG space is not managed by any czar but by users. However your storage czar should be able to give you good advice for an efficient use of your that space.

SPS space management

The SPS is used to store large amount of data temporarily. This space is managed like the Unix directories /tmp or /scratch. When no more space is available, users are invited to clean up. The storage czar is responsible for this area and is entitled to manage quotas. He may give you advice on how to move and delete you data located in this area.

Computing czar

The computing czar may restrict or grant computing resources access to one or more users in his group, within the limit of the resources requested by the czar request. Communication by ticket to user support.