The Federation offers users a range of storage options because users’ needs are diverse. Storage solutions range from high-speed temporary storage to longer-term storage. The systems are, however, a shared resource so we ask users to use them responsibly as their behaviour can have negative consequences for other users.
Our technical glossary may help users navigate terms with which you’re unfamiliar.
Filesystem quotas and policies
To ensure there’s space for all users, we have designed a system of quotas and policy restrictions regarding backups and filesystem purging. Each user has access to the /HOME and /SCRATCH spaces and each group has one terabyte of project space.
| Filesystem | Default Quota | |
| Cedar | Home space | 50 GB and 500K files per user |
| Scratch space | 20 TB and IM files per user | |
| Project space | 1 TB and 500K files per group | |
| Nearline space | 2 TB and 5000 files per group | |
| Graham | Home space | 50 GB and 500K files per user |
| Scratch space | 20 TB and IM files per user | |
| Project space | 1 TB and 500K files per group | |
| Nearline space | 2 TB and 5000 files per group | |
| Béluga | Home space | 50 GB and 500K files per user |
| Scratch space | 20 TB and IM files per user | |
| Project space | 1 TB and 500K files per group | |
| Nearline space | 1 TB and 500K files per group | |
| Niagara | $Home | 100 GB per user |
| $Scratch | 25 TB per use (dynamic per group) | |
| Up to 4 users per group: 50 TB | ||
| Up to 11 users per group: 125 TB | ||
| Up to 28 users per group: 250 TB | ||
| Up to 60 users per group: 500 TB | ||
| Above 60 users per group: 600 TB | ||
| $Project | By group allocation (RRG or RPP) | |
| $Archive | By group allocation | |
| $Bbuffer | 10 TB per user |
Visit this page for more information about policies and quotas.
For details on the storage types:
- Visit this page for details on /home, /project and /scratch spaces;
- Visit this page for details on using nearline.
For more storage
If users need more storage than is available as default when they first sign-up for an account, they can get small increases through our Rapid Access Service and larger allocations are available through the annual Resource Allocation Competitions.