Sign up for the U-M Research Computing Package

The University of Michigan Research Computing Package (UMRCP), provided by ITS, is an investment into the U-M research community via simple, dependable access to several ITS-provided high-performance computing clusters and data storage resources.

On this page:

What is the UMRCP

As a research faculty member with the University of Michigan, it’s very likely you are eligible for Advanced Research Computing (ARC) resources through the University of Michigan Research Computing Package program.

This program makes research computing resources widely available for eligible faculty and researchers. Every UMRCP is customized:

  • The specific, and total, UMRCP allocations that would be available to you depend on the selections you make in the UMRCP request form.
  • After making selections in the request form, and once the requests have been approved and resources are created: then each research project enrolled in our UMRCP program has one or more cost-covered annual allocations of research computing or storage resources from ARC.

Some research scientists and PhD students are also eligible for U-M Research Computing Package allocations with ARC. The UMRCP program is designed so that most U-M researchers will have access to at least one set of UMRCP resources.

What is included with the UMRCP

The U-M Research Computing Package provides:

80,000 CPU HOURS OF HIGH-PERFORMANCE COMPUTING

  • CPU credits are allocated on the Great Lakes cluster or the Armis2 protected data cluster; they can be used for standard, larger memory, or GPU resources, and renewed every July 1.  Please note – If you have an existing high-performance computing account it cannot be included under the UMRCP. Any request for computing hours through the UMRCP requires the creation of a new account. 

10 TB OF REPLICATED, HIGH-PERFORMANCE STORAGE

  • The Turbo Research Storage service can be used on many ARC/ITS, unit, Globus.org, and laboratory systems. Turbo is best for short-term, active storage that researchers access regularly. Capacity can be split across sensitive and non-sensitive science data.

100 TB OF ARCHIVE STORAGE

  • Replicated, durable storage for massive data volumes. The Data Den Research Archive storage service also supports reliable data transfer and international data sharing via Globus.org. Capacity can be split across sensitive and non-sensitive science data. Data Den is best for storing data that researchers do not need regularly, but need to retain because of NIH and NSF grant requirements.

16 GB of RAM for Secure Enclave Services

  • The Secure Enclave Services provides U-M researchers with high-performance, secure, and flexible computing environments enabling the analysis of sensitive data sets restricted by federal privacy laws, proprietary access agreements, or confidentiality requirements. The Secure Enclave Services are a virtual server environment designed for the secure hosting and analysis of restricted research data.The UMRCP provides researchers up to 16GB of RAM (memory) per machine, per month at no cost. Beginning July 1, 2023, each active virtual machine will be charged a provisional rate of $7.00 per GB of RAM (memory) per month for any services consumed greater than 16 GB of RAM.

ADDITIONAL HPC ALLOCATIONS FOR COURSEWORK

Additional allocations are available for instructors and student teams. This is not part of the UMRCP, but these allocations are covered by ITS.

How to get ARC resources through the UMRCP

The UMRCP request form allows you to choose the ARC resource options that will best meet your research needs.

Each completed set of UMRCP resources will be a customized set of research computing allocations. If you decide to submit a request for UMRCP resources, the first step will be determining which resources to select, based on your research needs. The UMRCP request form includes multiple options to choose from for each type of resource.

Please note that of the ARC resource allocations available through the UMRCP, only those that are specifically requested through selection in the form will be created and allocated for your project.

  • The request form allows you to create a customized UMRCP by opting-in to the ARC services that will best meet your research needs.
  • Only the resources selected in the form will be included in your request.

Determine research needs: HPC, HPC storage, longer-term data retention requirements, data sensitivity

To make sure all ARC resource options that would best meet your research needs are selected in the UMRCP request form, please review the information on this site:

In addition to a form option to select an annual high-performance computing allocation — with the option of selecting either (or both) the Great Lakes cluster or Armis2 (HIPAA-aligned) cluster for this annual allocation — there are also high-performance computing storage and archival storage options available.

The UMRCP Requesting Resources Guide includes ARC resource overviews, as well as additional information through links, that describe the differences between the options that are available.

Depending on your research needs, you can plan on at least 30 minutes to review the information in the Requesting Resources Guide and complete the request form.

Complete the UMRCP request form

Only the eligible PI can submit the UMRCP request form:

  • The form validation process creates groups, and if the request is approved these groups and all allocated ARC resources will be linked to the person logged in — who can only be the eligible primary faculty member or researcher.

After submitting the UMRCP form an approval process is initiated. You will be contacted if any additional information is required from you for determining your eligibility.

Once approved, the creation and allocation process for each ARC resource involves multiple steps for each resource, and coordination between multiple teams.

  • As each ARC resource allocation that was requested is completed, a notification is sent to let you know that the resource is ready to be accessed.
  • The notification you receive will include information about your ARC resource.

If after reviewing the information provided in one of these notifications you have any questions, or there are any issues, please feel free to contact ARC directly.

Manage access to ARC resources provided through the UMRCP

Once UMRCP resource allocations have been created, then project owners (PIs), or any additional project administrators who have been designated, can grant any person who has a fully active U-M account access to those ARC resources.

Access to ARC resources is restricted:

  • Only project owners, and any designated ARC project administrators, are permitted to manage user access.

Most ARC projects can be managed by project owners, and any designated ARC project administrators, in the Resource Management Portal application.