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What is the difference between the home drive usage and the memory usage in the VM panel?

Principle​

Memory usage allows for computation power while home drive usage allows for drive space.

Imagine a library with many books, where you need a desk to collect the right books, open them, and read them.

The home drive usage (persistent storage) is your data library, while the memory usage (ephemeral storage) is your desk.

While most operations happen in the memory (your desk), where you can access files faster, you must pick up the files from the home drive (your library).

When you leave the session, everything goes away from your desk back to the library.

Role of the Virtual Machine​

Your Virtual Machine pairs the computational ability of the home drive with the memory.

It acts as the brain of usage management. As a result, the CPU becomes indispensable.

tip

To keep the home drive usage and memory usage in balance, you should ask your research group what they need most for their projects.

You have the following rights:

  • Control the usage balance upon setup.
  • Demand the correct memory and hard disk space for your research team.
  • Adapt the memory and hard disk usage to your current research software.

Practice​

To view the stats of memory and home drive usage, navigate to the tab in the section.

  • Select the virtual machine you want to view the stats of.
  • Click the Connect button located in the top center.
  • View the core, memory, home drive, network in & out usage on the right panel.
caution

Operating at maximum memory will crash your VM.