Requirements for hosting hardware in the URCF

• In good working order
• Rack-mountable; PI must provide rails.  The rails must fit standard 19" EIA-310 racks.
• Linked to a PI
• Linked to a Drexel fund number

Policies

• Hardware hosted in the URCF should be for research purposes only
• Access: Hardware for the exclusive use of a PI will be physically accessible to that PI and to whomever that PI designates from his/her research group.  Access is granted by key-card.  To maintain access, the PI and his/her representative must abide by the all security policies of the URCF.  This includes a clear understanding that one may not touch any equipment not exclusive to one’s own research group.  Violation of these policies will result in equipment removal from the facility at cost to the PI. 
• Reporting: Any PI with hardware hosted in the URCF will be required to submit a brief annual activity report to the URCF Board.
• Each piece of equipment will be given an inventory number and entered into a database of URCF-housed equipment.
• At the request of the PI, a piece of equipment can be transferred to another PI.  The Drexel fund number is required should the PI need to purchase systems administration services and to cover costs associated with decommissioning.
• The URCF has limited rack space available for collocating rack-mountable high-power computing equipment. Any collocation requires technical review and approval of a Collocation Installation Plan by the URCF Systems Administrator. Following technical review, the collocation must be approved by the URCF Board of Governance. The URCF staff does not maintain or install any collocated equipment. All costs and labor associated with the installation, implementation, maintenance and ultimately decommissioning and removal of the collocated equipment are the sole responsibility of the PI. These costs may include but are not limited to hardware and labor for electrical connections and power distribution, networking fees, hardware for rack mounting. If a malfunction of the collocated equipment results in damage to the rack, room power distribution equipment or any other equipment in the facility, the PI will be responsible for its repair or replacement. While the URCF is committed to maintaining a room environment with reliable electrical service and cooling capacity for high-performance computing equipment, the URCF is not responsible or liable for performance by collocated equipment.

Proposed purchases

We recommend that prior to submission of proposals to external funding agencies in which some requested funds are meant for purchase of computer hardware, the PI submit a hosting application to the URCF.