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Trim That V:Drive
By
Shawne Neeper
You
probably received the e-mail sent out August 30 with the subject
heading: Quotas Now Implemented on Windows Disk Space. It announced new
limits on space usage in SLAC’s Windows network drives. Your individual
‘user’ drive, usually mapped as the Z:drive, has an initial limit of
500MB, or six percent greater than your existing usage, whichever is
greater. The ‘group’ or V:drive gets the larger of 10GB or 10 percent
greater than current usage.
Isn’t
Disk Space Cheap?
Disk
space is cheaper every year, so many of us have developed the habit of
keeping any file that might some day prove useful. It can also seem
daunting to comb through many years’ accumulation to sort the needed
from the unnecessary. As a result, the use of storage space for personal
and group files has doubled every year for the last six years, according
to Richard Mount (SCS), associate director for computing services. “Even
if you imagine that the current rate of hardware price decreases will
continue,” Mount said, “with storage doubling every year, we will be
spending the entire SLAC budget on this in 20 years.”
“Another reason [for the quotas],” Mount explained, “is that we have run
out of space.” SLAC’s Windows network storage consists of two big boxes
containing more than 100 hard drives each, plus about a half-dozen Dell
computers that serve the data. There is no more money in this year’s
budget to increase that storage space, so SCS devised the quotas to
encourage SLAC computer users to delete unnecessary files. “If somebody
fills up the disk then a large number of people can’t work,” Mount said.
“The quotas are keeping us from disaster.”
Windows
Space Request
Take
heart. Those who need more space can get it. You will receive e-mail
notices as your usage approaches its quota. When you reach 100 percent,
you will be able to save any open files, but will need to clear space in
order to add files to the server. If you have removed unnecessary files
but require more space, fill out the Windows Space Request form on the
Web:
http://www2.slac.stanford.edu/comp/helptrak/Public/STSubmit2_remedy1.asp?Catg=Windows&CItem=Space%20Request
Windows
network storage for SLAC ‘user’ and ‘group’ drives currently requires
devices costing a few hundred thousand dollars per year, Mount said. The
equipment, and salary for the six employees who maintain this and other
network services, are currently funded by indirect cost money—overhead
taken from the Lab budget that supports the telephone system, basic site
network and e-mail, as well as Windows disk storage.
“While
disk usage was small, using Lab overhead money was appropriate,” Mount
said. However, as disk usage increases, it will be desirable to fund
project-related storage through direct costs—money associated with
projects and science. SCS is working on a proposal that will ask SLAC
employees to separate project data from files related to individual
work, such as letters and CVs—items that would not normally be passed to
a job successor.
Under
the new proposal, individuals’ files belong on the user’s home
directory, the Z:drive, which is expected to use relatively little
space. Project work requiring vast amounts of data storage will reside
on the group drives. The cost of the large-scale storage would be shared
by the divisions using the space. “The beauty [of this approach] is that
we get some money to provide space, and avoid having a committee
deciding who gets what,” Mount said. “So we begin to tie the really
large use of space for science into the projects.” The final definition
of the proposal is pending, and will require approval of all SLAC
division leaders.
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