[CCSM-participants] CESM and NCAR HPSS cutover

[Mariana Vertenstein]

CSEG engineers have been working with CISL staff to ensure a smooth  transition of
CCSM/CESM archiving activities from  NCAR's Mass Storage System (MSS) to the new
high-performance storage system (HPSS).  This transition is planned for March 27-28.
Please refer to CISL updates to obtain the  latest details on the transition.

For the most part, we expect the archiving scripts within existing CCSM/CESM
case directories to continue working after the  transition has occurred, /*without*/ any
required intervention by the user.  This presumption is based on the following:

1.  The assurance from CISL that the following commands:
                'msrcp', 'mswrite' 'msread' and 'msmkdir'
will no longer be available after the cutover, thereby triggering existing
logic in our scripts that will automatically direct long-term files to the NCAR HPSS."

2.  A guarantee from CISL that the current MSS directory structure will be
maintained on the HPSS as part of the transition.  In  other words,   /CCSM
on the MSS will be moved to /CCSM on the HPSS. In  addition, files will have
the same owner as they had in old mss:/CCSM directory.

The lone exception to our expectation of a seamless transition to the HPSS has
to do with the default charge account being assigned to files archived on the HPSS.

1.  For existing CCSM/CESM tags and any derived case directories, the scripts
will rely upon the default charge account assigned to each user.  CISL has
established a utility for users to identify and change their default charge account
through the CISL portal (https://cislportal.ucar.edu/  ). An overview of this is also
given at http://www2.cisl.ucar.edu/allocations/default-projects.

2.  For new tags (beginning with an upcoming CESM tag), we will enable users
to specify the HPSS charge account for each individual case via an environment variable.

If users encounter problems with their archive scripts after the transition,
or if they want more flexibility in account specification with their existing
cases, CSEG engineers will be available for help on a case-by-case basis.

Mariana Vertenstein



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