Nuvolos Compute Units (NCUs)

NCU Definition

The Nuvolos Compute Unit (NCU) is the computational unit for regular (non-HPC) applications run by users, and is the main unit of account for Nuvolos subscriptions.

In terms of computational resources, an NCU consists of 1 virtual CPU (vCPU), 4 GB of RAM, and adequate temporary storage to run a particular application.

NCU consumption of applications

Every time a user starts an application, a corresponding number of NCUs are checked out from the service. The following default values apply:

• Applications in teaching spaces consume a single NCU,

• Applications in research and dataset spaces consume 4 NCUs.

Space administrators can change the NCU consumption of applications. In research spaces, even instance editors can change the NCU settings of applications to allow for seamless collaboration.

NCU limits of a resource pool

Each resource pool has a certain number of NCUs available for consecutive use. Information on NCU limits is available in the monitoring dashboard. There are three types of NCUs, each differing in terms of time availability:

• Round-the-clock NCUs are available 24 hours a day, every day during the term of the Nuvolos subscription.

• Power save NCUs are available 12 hours a day, every day of the month during the academic year (power save NCUs are not available during the summer months).

• Burst NCUs are available to users 3 hours a day every workday during the academic year (burst NCUs are not available during the summer months).

In practice, each NCU type corresponds to a certain amount of compute hour limit for the subscription term:

• Round-the-clock NCUs are available for 8760 hours a year.

• Power save NCUs are available for 3240 hours a year.

• Burst NCUs are available for 540 hours a year.

To calculate the total compute hours available to a resource pool for a year, sum the product of each NCU type and its corresponding yearly rate.