Pitzer
Guidance After Pitzer Upgrade to RHEL9
We upgraded the operating system on the Pitzer cluster from RHEL7 to RHEL9 on July 28 2025. This upgrade introduces several software-related changes compared to the RHEL7 environment used on the Pitzer and provides access to modern tools and libraries but may also require adjustments to your workflows. Please refer to
New scratch storage policy implemented
The Ohio Supercomputer Center (OSC) has implemented a new scratch filesystem storage policy. The purge period has changed from 90 days inactivity to 60 days inactivity to help alleviate recent storage stress on our scratch filesystem: https://www.osc.edu/resources/security_accessibility_and_policies
Podman
Podman is an Open Containers Initiative (OCI)‑compliant, daemonless and rootless container tool developed by Red Hat. Unlike Docker, Podman operates without a central daemon and supports secure rootless execution, making it well‑suited for HPC environments and schedulers such as Slurm.
Availability and Restrictions
Versions
Podman is available on all OSC clusters. Only one version is available at any given time. To find out the current version:
Pitzer upgrade to RHEL9 is complete
The upgrade of the Pitzer cluster to Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 is complete. Please refer to the [Pitzer documentation](https://www.osc.edu/resources/technical_support/supercomputers/pitzer) for more information about what has changed.
Update to Scratch File Purge Policy
To help alleviate recent storage stress on our scratch filesystem, we will be changing the purge period for scratch files from 90 days to 60 days. This means that any files not accessed within 60 days will be deleted. We invite you to share your comments or concerns during the public comment period, which will remain open until August 3. Please submit your feedback via https://www.osc.edu/resources/technical_support/supercomputing-policies/proposed_osc_policies_for_public_comments.
Action Requested - Free Up Space on OSC's Scratch Filesystem
The OSC Scratch filesystem (/fs/scratch) is currently under significant space pressure. To address this, OSC is preparing a proposed policy update that would reduce the default data retention period on Scratch.
Under the current policy, we may need to implement a one-time emergency reduction in retention time to free up space. To help avoid this, we are asking all clients to *voluntarily delete any unneeded data* from Scratch as soon as possible.
Your cooperation is greatly appreciated and will help maintain system stability for everyone.
System Downtime August 19 2025
A downtime for OSC HPC systems is scheduled from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m., Tuesday, August 19 2025. The downtime will affect the Pitzer, Cardinal and Ascend Clusters, web portals, the state-wide licenses and HPC file servers. MyOSC (the client portal) will be available during the downtime. In preparation for the downtime, the batch scheduler will not start jobs that cannot be completed before 7 a.m., August 19. Jobs that are not started on clusters will be held until after the downtime and then started once the system is returned to production status.
