These “Terms and Conditions”, hereafter referred to as “T&C”, contain basic provisions that will guide the working relationship between a Pennsylvania State University Principal Investigator, hereafter referred to here as “PI”, and the Institute for Computational and Data Sciences hereafter referred to as “ICDS”, related to the services and resources managed by ICDS. ICDS policies and Service Level Agreements (SLA) as well as additional details related to these “T&C” can be found at the ICDS website.
PIs and users authorized by PIs to act on their behalf, both hereafter referred as “Users”, and ICDS agree to the T&C as specified herein and in conjunction with a fully executed SLA.
1.0 General
- These T&C, together with any exhibits, attachments, or other documents with specific reference as noted within this document, constitute the contractual agreement between the PI and ICDS with respect to this SLA.
- ICDS Leadership will provide governance over ICDS resources and services, including T&C and the T&C Exceptions Process described below.
- Users agree to follow all pertinent University and ICDS- policies and protocols. The latest revision of these T&C and all policies and protocols shall be considered in effect for all SLAs.
- The Users agree to the ICDS services outlined in the SLA. All services will be in effect during the term of service specified in the SLA.
- Users agree to have an account on any systems where the SLA is applicable, consent to having that account created on their behalf, and agree to keep that account in good standing.
- The Total Cost specified in the SLA reflects costs calculated according to the currently published ICDS pricing. Pricing will be reviewed and adjusted by ICDS and University Administration on a regular basis.
2.0 ICDS Responsibilities – General
- Design/develop, procure, deploy, operate and maintain a CyberInfrastructure (CI) system comprised of computer servers (including system operating software and tools), data storage appliances, network infrastructure, common and discipline-specific software stacks, data archival and back-up systems, and rack infrastructure (equipment racks, cooling, power).
- Systematic refresh of hardware and software to ensure up-to-date computer architectures and operational performance are maintained. All replacement hardware will equal or exceed the performance specifications of original equipment.
- Work with University services to provide data center infrastructure (facility, rack space, cooling, and power redundancy) and external network infrastructure.
- Establish and maintain user accounts and groups.
- Operate job submission queues.
- Provide services and support through the Client Support Center.
- Provide select operational information regarding the ICDS systems to Users (e.g., system status, node status, network performance, etc).
- Operate within ICDS policies and processes in accordance with university policies and procedures.
3.0 ICDS Responsibilities – Software Stack
ICDS provides software to enable research on the Roar systems according to the provisions of the ICDS Software policy in ICDS-P040-Software Acceptable Use.
4.0 Users Responsibilities – General
- Follow all Penn State and ICDS policies related to acceptable use, data, security, export control, and systems.
- Request user accounts and group access through the relevant ICDS processes and in compliance with ICDS access policy ICDS-P030-Access-Control.
- Request service and support through the Client Support Center.
- Routinely check for information on the ICDS website regarding scheduled outages and respond appropriately and in a timely manner to ICDS Client Support notifications and queries regarding system status.
- PI shall promptly notify ICDS of any PI organizational changes made by the PI that differ from the SLA, including changes of name, ownership, and institutional affiliation.
- Recognizing that ICDS resources are shared resources, users shall ensure that every effort is made to follow recommended guidelines for code and workflows to allow optimal use of the ICDS systems.
- For custom SLAs that include ICDS managing infrastructure on users’ behalf, the scope of work of such an SLA shall at a minimum include a clear costing structure, a clear delineation of assigned responsibilities, and a detailed decommissioning plan.
5.0 Users Responsibilities – Software Stack
Users use of the ICDS software stack is contingent on adherence to the provisions of the ICDS Software policy in ICDS-P040-Software-Policy.
6.0 Technical Support
ICDS will provide best effort support through the Client Support Center. Information regarding the Client Support Center is found at the ICDS website.
7.0 Force Majeure
ICDS or Users shall not be liable for any failure to perform due to any cause beyond their reasonable control and without their fault or negligence. Such causes include, but are not limited to, acts of God, fires, floods, quarantine restrictions, strikes, and unusually severe weather. In the event that performance of this SLA is hindered, delayed or adversely affected by causes of the type described above, the party whose performance is affected may terminate the SLA for convenience.
8.0 Privacy and Security
- Personal Information such as name, title, work e-mail address, work phone number, and mobile number may be collected through various forms, including account registration forms, contact forms, or during interaction with ICDS. ICDS will keep and maintain all personal information in strict confidence, using such degree of care as is appropriate to avoid unauthorized access, use or disclosure.
- In recognition of the foregoing, ICDS shall adhere to privacy and security protocols in accordance with University policies. University privacy and security specific policies include :
- Penn State Policy AD53 Privacy Statement
- Penn State Web Privacy Statement. Information regarding the Web Privacy Statement is found at the PSU website www.psu.edu/web-privacy-statement
- Penn State Policy AD95 – Information Assurance and IT Security
- Penn State Minimum Security Baseline
- Penn State Policy RA40 Compliance with Federal Export Regulations
- Penn State Policy RAG40 Guidelines for Ensuring Compliance with Export Control Policy RA40
- Penn State Policy AD89 University Export Compliance Policy
- Penn State Policy ADG09 Export Compliance Definitions, Procedures and Implementation Guidelines
- ICDS-P020 Data Protection and Retention
9.0 Quality of Service (QoS)
- ICDS will be maintained as a highly available resource to Users.
- ICDS reserves the right to shut down any or all of its systems for unscheduled maintenance/upgrades and will only exercise this option when necessary. Examples of such circumstances include:
- Unplanned system outages due to facility issues, including, but not limited to, power, HVAC, external-system network;
- Emergency maintenance on systems and facilities;
- System downtime to address computer security incidents.
- ICDS will provide as much advance notice as possible related to system outages with a minimum of two (2) weeks’ notice for planned outages. Check the ICDS website for planned outage schedule.
- ICDS will always make a best effort to meet the T&C except in cases of Force Majeure.
- ICDS will conduct updates of systems for maintenance/upgrades in order to minimize total system downtime.
- User jobs in the job queue will be limited to the following maximum durations:
- For systems with usage-based allocations all jobs will have a maximum duration of 48hours.
- For systems with fixed resource allocations all jobs will have a maximum duration of 336 hours by default
- ICDS will apply system software patches on Tuesdays from 5am to 8am eastern time, as necessary. Also, ICDS may apply security patches, as necessary, at any time. Components of ICDS may be unavailable during these periods.
- ICDS will announce full and partial, planned and unplanned outages.
- In the event of an immediate unplanned outage where no prior notice could be given, ICDS will provide a post-outage announcement regarding details as to the cause and effects of the outage.
10.0 Disaster Recovery
Under this agreement, all parties understand and agree that the ICDS infrastructure may not be operational during or after a site failure at computer hardware-hosted facilities. In the event of such a failure during the term of this agreement, ICDS will coordinate restoration of services in accordance with the ICDS Disaster Recovery Plan.
11.0 Obsolescence
ICDS will decommission system components that are obsolete or unsustainable due to technological or performance deficiencies and excessive maintenance costs.
12.0 Termination for Convenience
- Either party may terminate this agreement for convenience and without cause, in whole or in part, at any time by providing written notification to the other party thirty (30) days in advance of termination.
- In the event of termination, all equipment will remain the property of ICDS unless the equipment is expressly specified in the SLA as property of the PI.
- PI equipment will be identified and physically marked to indicate PI ownership.
- PI will be responsible for compliance with University Property Inventory requirements for PI equipment.
- In special circumstances, the PI may transfer any part of the fully executed SLA to another Penn State PI. ICDS will facilitate the transfer of the SLA to the new PI. In the event of partial termination or transfer, ICDS is not excused from performance of the transferred and non-terminated portions of the SLA.
Data that is stored within the Home, Work, and Group Storage directories will be retained as per ICDS Policy ICDS-P020 Data Protection and Retention and other policies identified in Section 8 of this document for more information.
13.0 Exceptions and Disputes
- ICDS will maintain an Exceptions Process for User requirements that differ from operational parameters as defined in the SLA. All exceptions will follow the Exceptions Process.
- Any controversy or claim that may arise out of or in connection with an SLA shall be submitted in writing to senior management representatives of the parties for resolution. Pending resolution or settlement of any dispute arising under the SLA, the PI will proceed as directed by ICDS within the performance parameters of this SLA.
14.0 Changes
ICDS shall have the right by written notice to suspend or terminate work or make changes in services to be rendered. If such suspension, termination, or changes cause an increase or decrease in the cost of performance of this SLA or in the time required for its performance, an equitable adjustment shall be negotiated promptly, and the SLA shall be modified in writing accordingly.
All T&C are subject to change by the ICDS Leadership without notice. Updates with dates of revision are available on the ICDS website.