Frequently Asked Questions

How do I apply for an account?

Detailed instructions for account application can be found in the Applying for a user account section of the Accounts and Projects page.

What is the status of my application?

Detailed instructions for checking the status of your account application can be found in the Checking the status of your application section of the Accounts and Projects page.

How should I acknowledge the OLCF in my publications and presentations?

Users should acknowledge the OLCF in all publications and presentations that speak to work performed on OLCF resources:

This research used resources of the Oak Ridge Leadership Computing Facility at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, which is supported by the Office of Science of the U.S. Department of Energy under Contract No. DE-AC05-00OR22725.

What is a subproject?

Many OLCF projects make use of optional subprojects. Subprojects provide a useful means for

  • dividing allocations among different applications, groups, or individuals

  • controlling priority

  • monitoring progress

Similar to individual user accounts being granted resources by their association with a project, individual user accounts are granted the resources of a subproject upon association with the subproject.

Note

Subprojects do not inherit the accesses of their primary projects, and users can be associated with a subproject without association with the primary project.

The ID for a subproject must follow the format of: <6 character primary project ID> + <1-4 character subproject suffix>. For example, project ABC123 could have subprojects ABC123XYZ6 and ABC123P3. The hours allocated for the primary project and subprojects must equal the awarded allocation. All hours can be allocated to subprojects, or some amount can be held as reserve as part of the primary project. It is recommended that all users be assigned to a subproject(s). If all of a primary project’s awarded hours are allocated to its subprojects, all primary project users must be associated with a subproject(s). If you have any questions, or would like to request a subproject, please contact the OLCF Accounts Team at accounts@ccs.ornl.gov.

Note

Subprojects are created at the request of project PIs.

I no longer need my account. Who should I inform and what should I do with my OLCF issued RSA SecurID token?

Please inform the Accounts Team via email at accounts@ccs.ornl.gov and return the RSA SecurID Token to the following address depending on the mail service:

For US Mail:

Accounts Team
Oak Ridge National Laboratory
PO Box 2008, MS 6014
Oak Ridge, TN 37830-6014

For FedEx/UPS:

Accounts Team
Oak Ridge National Laboratory
1 Bethel Valley Road, MS 6014
Oak Ridge, TN 37831-6014

My SecurID token is broken/expired. What should I do?

If your project is still active and you require continued access to OLCF, you’ll need to request a replacement fob. To do so, contact either the User Assistance Team (help@olcf.ornl.gov) or the Accounts Team (accounts@olcf.ornl.gov). You do not need to return the broken/expired RSA token to OLCF. Disposal and recycling information can be found in the vendor’s disposal statement.

Getting Help

When submitting a ticket to help@olcf.ornl.gov requesting help, you will likely get faster resolution by supporting a few best practices:

  • Where possible, provide helpful details that can help speed the process. For example: Project ID, relevant directories, job scripts, jobIDs, modules at compile/runtime, host name, etc.

  • When replying to a ticket, do not modify the subject line.

  • Do not piggyback unrelated questions on existing tickets. This leads to slower response times and inflates ticket history.

  • Do not open multiple tickets on the same unresolved topic. Doing so can fragment resources and slow down the time to resolution.

  • Please do not respond to previous tickets with new, unrelated issues. This can slow down response time and make finding relevant information harder thereby slowing down time to resolution.

  • Let us know if you’ve solved the issue yourself (and let us know what worked!)

  • MOST IMPORTANT: do not hesitate to contact us (help@olcf.ornl.gov); we will work through the details with you.

Additional Resources

We’re here to provide support at every step. We also provide a collection of Tutorials for applied technical demonstrations, Systems, Training Events, and the User Assistance Center to answer questions and resolve technical issues as they arise.