Terms & Conditions

These Terms and Conditions govern the use of the High-Performance Computing (HPC) resources provided by the Supercomputing Facility for Bioinformatics & Computational Biology (SCFBio) at the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi (IITD). Access is granted exclusively for academic research and educational purposes. By submitting an application and using the facility, you ("the User") agree to be bound by these terms.

• Eligibility: Access is granted to students, postdoctoral fellows, faculty, and scientists from recognized academic and research institutions worldwide, subject to approval.
• Principal Investigator (PI): Each project must be supervised by a PI (e.g., faculty member, senior scientist) who is ultimately responsible for the activities of all users under their project.
• Account Security: Users are responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of their login credentials. Sharing of accounts is strictly prohibited. All activities conducted through an account are the responsibility of the account holder.
• Account Duration: Accounts are typically granted for a period of one year and are subject to renewal based on resource availability and project progress.

Use of SCFBio HPC resources is a privilege. Users must adhere to the following policies:

• Prohibited Activities: Any activity that is illegal, malicious, or violates the IT policies of IIT Delhi or the laws of India is strictly forbidden. This includes, but is not limited to, attempting to gain unauthorized access, disrupting service for other users, and network scanning.
• Commercial Use: The facility is for non-commercial, academic research only. Use for proprietary projects, commercial product development, or any for-profit activity is prohibited without prior written consent.
• Resource Management: Users must use resources efficiently and responsibly. Running computationally intensive jobs on login nodes is forbidden. All jobs must be submitted through the designated batch scheduling system. SCFBio reserves the right to terminate jobs that are deemed to be consuming excessive resources or causing system instability.

• Data Ownership: Users and their respective institutions retain ownership of the data they generate.
• No Backup Guarantee: SCFBio does not provide routine backups of user data. Users are solely responsible for backing up their critical data to a separate, external storage system. SCFBio is not liable for any data loss.
• Data Retention: Data may be stored on the system for the duration of the project. Upon project completion or account expiration, users are given a 30-day grace period to retrieve their data, after which it may be permanently deleted.
• Sensitive Data: The storage of personally identifiable information (PII), patient data, or any other legally protected sensitive information is strictly prohibited unless explicitly approved in writing as part of a formal data management plan.

As a condition of use, all publications, presentations, or other research outputs that result from computations performed on SCFBio resources **must** include the following acknowledgment:

Failure to include this acknowledgment may result in the termination of access.

• Disclaimer of Warranty: The HPC resources are provided "as is" without any warranty of any kind, express or implied. SCFBio and IIT Delhi do not guarantee uninterrupted service or the suitability of the resources for any particular purpose.
• Limitation of Liability: In no event shall SCFBio or IIT Delhi be liable for any direct, indirect, incidental, or consequential damages resulting from the use or inability to use the HPC facility.
• Termination of Access: SCFBio reserves the right to monitor user activity and to suspend or terminate any user's access at any time, without prior notice, for any violation of these terms and conditions or for any activity that adversely affects the system's performance or security.