FY 2001 User Survey Results


NERSC extends its thanks to the 237 users who participated in this year's survey; this compares with 134 respondents last year. The respondents represent all five DOE Science Offices and a variety of home institutions: see User Information.

Your responses provide feedback about every aspect of NERSC's operation, help us judge the quality of our services, give DOE information on how well NERSC is doing, and point us to areas we can improve. Every year we institute changes based on the survey; some of the changes resulting from the FY 2000 survey are:

  • We increased the SP home inode and disk quotas as well as the SP scratch space. SP disk configuration satisfaction was higher this year and only one user requested more inodes on this year's survey.
  • Last year one of the two top SP issues was that the "SP is hard to use". Based on comments we received in last year's survey we wrote more SP web documents and made changes to the user environment.. This year only 12% (compared with 25% last year) of the comments reflected that the SP is hard to use.
  • We added resources to the T3E pe512 queue and created a new long64 queue: satisfaction with T3E turnaround time improved this year.
  • Last year we moved PVP interactive services from the J90 to the SV1 architecture and provided more disk resources. Overall PVP satisfaction was rated higher in this year's survey.

Users rated us on a 7-point satisfaction scale, with 7 corresponding to Very Satisfied and 1 to Very Dissatisfied. Based on responses from the Overall Satisfaction with NERSC questions, we are doing as well as or better than last year. Two areas showed significant improvement:

  • available computing hardware
  • allocations process
The areas of most importance to users are:
  • available computing hardware
  • overall running of the center
  • network access
See Overall Satisfaction and Importance.

The average satisfaction scores from the questions about specific NERSC resources ranged from a high of 6.6 to a low of 4.5. Areas with high user satisfaction include

  • HPSS reliability, performance and uptime
  • Consulting responsiveness, quality of technical advice, and follow-up
  • Cray programming environment
  • PVP uptime
  • Account support
Areas with lower user satisfaction include
  • Visualization services
  • Batch wait times on all platforms
  • SP interactive services
  • Training services
  • SP performance and debugging tools
The largest increases in user satisfaction came from the PVP cluster: four PVP ratings increased by 0.3 to 0.8 points. This was true last year as well (where the increase in satisfaction from 1999 was even greater). Other areas showing a significant increase in satisfaction are
  • T3E and SP batch wait times
  • SP disk configuration
  • SP Fortran compilers
  • HPSS
  • allocations process
Several scores were significantly lower this year than last:
  • training scores
  • SP uptime
  • SP interactive resources
  • PVP Fortran compilers
See All Satisfaction Questions and Changes from Previous Years.

When asked what NERSC does well, 35 respondents pointed to our stable and well managed production environment, and 31 focussed on NERSC's excellent support services. Other areas singled out include well done documentation, good software and tools, and the mass storage environment. When asked what NERSC should do differently the most common responses were to provide more hardware resources, and to enhance our software offerings. Of the 49 users who compared NERSC to other centers, 57% said NERSC is the best or better than other centers. Several sample responses below give the flavor of these comments; for more details see Comments about NERSC.

  • "NERSC makes it possible for our group to do simulations on a scale that would otherwise be unaffordable."
  • "The availability of the hardware is highly predictable and appears to be managed in an outstanding way."
  • "Provides computing resources in a manner that makes it easy for the user. NERSC is well run and makes the effort of putting the users first, in stark contrast to many other computer centers."
  • "Consulting by telephone and e-mail. Listens to users, and tries to setup systems to satisfy users and not some managerial idea of how we should compute"
  • "The web page, hpcf.nersc.gov, is well structured and complete. Also, information about scheduled down times is reliable and useful."

Some of the suggestions for improvements:

  • "Don't become oversubscribed. I'm worried that SciDAC will push for oversubscription, please don't go there."
  • "Get more hardware. DOE is falling way behind NSF."
  • "Install zsh, please."
  • "more debugging and optimization support for MPP platforms like seaborg"
  • "I want something 10 times faster than Killeen but not MPP".
  • "More access to capability machines that let long jobs of 32-64 pes go for 8 hours or more. Although many applications can use a lot of processors, science studies often ramp up and down in size as one walks through parameter spaces. Having a complement of smaller parallel machines to match the big one is very useful. These smaller machines do not need to scale much past 64 pes."
  • Better indexing of the sprawling website. Finding, e.g. compiler options or queue limits takes some knowledge."

Below are the survey results. You can also see the survey text.

  1. User Information
  2. Overall Satisfaction and Importance
    All Satisfaction Questions and Changes from Previous Years
  3. NERSC Information Management (NIM)
  4. Web and Communications
  5. Hardware Resources
  6. Software Resources
  7. Training
  8. User Services
  9. Comments about NERSC


1. User Information


Number of responses to the survey: 237


Respondents by DOE Office and User Role:

Office Number Percent
ASCR18 8
BER37 16
BES69 29
FES38 16
HENP70 30
guests5 2
User Role Number Percent
Principal Investigators 46 19
Repo Managers 49 21
Users 141 60
DOE Managers 1 -


Respondents by Organization:

Org Type Number Percent
Universities 134 57
DOE Labs 92 39
Industry 5 2
Other Govt Labs 3 1
Private Labs 2 -
DOE 1 -
Organization Number Percent
Berkeley Lab 36 15
UC Berkeley 28 12
Livermore 14 6
Argonne 7 3
Brookhaven 7 3
PPPL 6 3
Oak Ridge 5 2
PNNL 5 2
Los Alamos 4 2
U. Maryland 4 2
Organization Number
Florida State 3
NREL 3
New York Univ 3
Ohio State 3
U Arizona 3
U Colorado 3
U Georgia 3
U Michigan 3
U Montana 3
U Washington 3
UCLA 3
Vanderbilt 3
other universities 69
other gvt labs 8
industry 5
private labs 2
DOE 1


Which NERSC resources do you use?

ResourceNo. of
Responses		 Responses to
this Section
Later in Survey
T3E12092
SP11584
HPSS94149
PVP7669
NIM74159
Consulting70177
HPCF Website57185
Account Support50158
PDSF19-
Computer Operations and Network Support14 -
Newton815
Escher813
Alvarez2-
FTG PC cluster1-


How long have you used NERSC?

TimeNumber Percent
6 months or less 51 22
6 months - 3 years 92 40
more than 3 years 87 38


What desktop systems do you use to connect to NERSC?:

Operating System TypeNumber
Unix309
PC114
MAC40
Other   3
Individual SystemsNumber
UNIX-linux134
UNIX-solaris73
PC-win200062
PC-win9841
UNIX-irix37
MAC-macos33
UNIX-tru6421
Individual SystemsNumber
UNIX-aix18
UNIX-hpux15
UNIX-other10
PC-win9510
MAC-OSX7
PC-OS/21
Digital Alpha1
Open VMS1
PalmOS1
Digital UNIX1
NCD X terminal1

Web Browser Used to Take Survey:

BrowserNumberPercent
Netscape 418879.3
MS Internet Explorer 54920.7
Mozilla 516 6.8
MS Internet Explorer 67 3.0
MS Internet Explorer 42 0.8
Netscape 31 0.4
Netscape 61 0.4
Opera 51 0.4


2. Overall Satisfaction and Importance


Legend:
SatisfactionAverage Score
Mostly Satisfied5.5 - 6.4
Somewhat Satisfied4.5 - 5.4
ImportanceAverage Score
Very Important2.5 - 3
Somewhat Important1.5 - 2.4
Significance of Change
significant increase
significant decrease
not significant


Overall Satisfaction with NERSC:

Topic No. of
Responses		  Average
Score		 Std. Dev. Change
 from 2000 
Account Support Services1856.430.930.04
Consulting Services1776.301.07-0.09
Overall satisfaction with NERSC2196.251.020.10
HPCF Website1846.180.960.05
Available Computing Hardware1786.111.070.21
Mass Storage Facilities1486.051.170.02
Network Connectivity1766.031.190.02
Allocation Process1506.001.100.21
SW maintenance and configuration1445.921.15-0.16
HW management and configuration1595.821.25-0.18
Available software1795.811.21-0.17
Software documentation1575.601.20-0.02
Training774.921.26-0.21
Visualization Services684.511.20-0.16


Importance to Users:

Topic No. of
Responses		  Average
Score		 Std. Dev. Change
 from 2000 
Overall satisfaction with NERSC1982.820.41-0.03
Network Connectivity1652.820.400.02
Available Computing Hardware1652.810.41-0.10
Allocation Process1372.670.50-0.03
Consulting Services1742.640.59-0.03
HW management and configuration1402.620.53-0.04
SW maintenance and configuration1362.600.56-0.01
Available software1672.560.59-0.03
Software documentation1482.500.57-0.01
HPCF Website1712.490.600.06
Mass Storage Facilities1402.480.68-0.08
Account Support Services1722.440.560.06
Training891.800.770.05
Visualization Services861.710.760.06

All Satisfaction Questions Ranked:


Legend:
SatisfactionAverage Score
Very Satisfied6.5 - 7
Mostly Satisfied5.5 - 6.4
Somewhat Satisfied4.5 - 5.4
Topic No. of
Responses		 Average Score
HPSS: Reliability  83 6.63
 
Consulting: Timely response 155 6.56
 
Software: T3E Fortran Compilers  59 6.53
 
HPSS Overall 101 6.50
 
Software: PVP Fortran Compilers  54 6.48
 
Software: PVP Programming Libraries  36 6.47
 
Consulting: Quality of Technical Advice 151 6.46
 
PVP: Uptime  64 6.45
 
Account Support Overall 185 6.43
 
Consulting: Followup 125 6.37
 
HPSS: Performance  89 6.36
 
HPSS: Uptime  88 6.33
 
Consulting Overall 177 6.30
 
Software: PVP User Environment  57 6.28
 
Software: SP Fortran Compilers  65 6.26
 
Overall satisfaction with NERSC 219 6.25
 
Consulting: Response to Special Requests 113 6.23
 
T3E Overall  92 6.23
 
T3E: Uptime  81 6.22
 
HPCF Web Site Overall 184 6.18
 
Software: SP Programming Libraries  53 6.15
 
Web: Accuracy 142 6.15
 
PVP Overall  69 6.14
 
Available Computing Hardware 178 6.11
 
Software: PVP Local documentation  44 6.09
 
Web: Timeliness 132 6.08
 
Software: PVP Application software  33 6.06
 
Mass Storage Overall 149 6.05
 
Software: T3E Programming Libraries  53 6.04
 
Network Connectivity 176 6.03
 
NIM: User Management 117 6.03
 
HPSS: User Interface  92 6.02
 
NIM: Ease of Obtaining Account Info 138 6.02
 
Allocations Process Overall 150 6.00
 
Software: SP User Environment  71 6.00
 
PVP: Disk configuration and I/O performance  52 6.00
 
Software: T3E User Environment  73 6.00
 
PVP: Ability to Run Interactively  60 5.98
 
Training: Online Tutorials  75 5.97
 
Software: SP Local documentation  59 5.97
 
Software: SP C/C++ Compilers  35 5.97
 
Software: PVP General tools and utilities  37 5.97
 
NIM: Performance 140 5.96
 
Web: Getting Started Guide 108 5.94
 
Software: PVP Bug resolution  30 5.93
 
NIM: Allocations Request Interface 111 5.92
 
Web: NERSC-specific Info 126 5.92
 
Software Maintenance and Configuration 144 5.92
 
NIM: Ease of Use 159 5.91
 
NIM: Functionality 137 5.91
 
Web: T3E Section  97 5.90
 
Software: T3E Local documentation  57 5.88
 
Web: Ease of navigation 166 5.88
 
Software: PVP C/C++ Compilers  23 5.87
 
Software: T3E C/C++ Compilers  36 5.86
 
Hardware Management and Configuration 159 5.82
 
SP Overall  84 5.82
 
Available software 179 5.81
 
Web: File Storage Section  78 5.79
 
Web: SP Section  96 5.78
 
Software: PVP Performance and Debugging Tools  36 5.78
 
Web: Programming Info 131 5.72
 
NIM: Ability to Find Info 151 5.68
 
SP: Disk configuration and I/O performance  54 5.67
 
Web: PVP Section  69 5.64
 
T3E: Ability to Run Interactively  74 5.64
 
Software: T3E Performance and Debugging Tools  52 5.63
 
Software: PVP Vendor Documentation  32 5.62
 
Software Documentation 157 5.60
 
T3E: Disk Configuration and I/O Performance  63 5.60
 
Software: T3E General tools and utilities  47 5.55
 
Web: Searching 130 5.55
 
Software: SP Application software  38 5.55
 
Training: Classes  24 5.54
 
SP: Uptime  77 5.53
 
Software: T3E Bug resolution  29 5.52
 
Software: SP General tools and utilities  46 5.52
 
Math Server: Newton  15 5.47
 
Software: SP Bug resolution  34 5.44
 
Software: T3E Vendor Documentation  37 5.41
 
PVP: Batch Queue Structure  54 5.41
 
Software: T3E Application software  31 5.39
 
T3E: Batch Queue Structure  75 5.36
 
Software: SP Vendor Documentation  47 5.32
 
SP: Batch Queue Structure  68 5.19
 
Training: Online Class Slides  33 5.15
 
Training: Teleconference Lectures  19 5.11
 
Visualization Server: Escher  13 5.08
 
Software: SP Performance and Debugging Tools  53 5.00
 
T3E: Batch Wait Time  80 4.97
 
Training Overall  77 4.92
 
SP: Batch Wait Time  76 4.92
 
SP: Ability to Run Interactively  68 4.71
 
PVP: Batch Wait Time  59 4.56
 
Visualization services  684.51
 



2000 to 2001 Changes:

The following are statistically significant changes for responses to questions common to the 2000 and 2001 user surveys.

Topic2001
Satisfaction		 2000
Satisfaction		 Change
PVP Software Bug Resolution 5.935.10+0.83
PVP Programming Libraries 6.475.81+0.66
T3E Batch Wait Time 4.974.33+0.64
SP Disk Configuration and I/O Performance 5.675.20+0.47
PVP Queue Structure 5.415.03+0.38
SP Batch Wait Time 4.924.54+0.38
PVP Overall 6.145.86+0.28
SP Fortran Compilers 6.265.96+0.30
HPSS Reliability 6.636.39+0.24
HPSS Overall 6.506.26+0.24
Allocations Process 6.005.79+0.21
T3E Overall 6.236.01+0.22
Available Computing Hardware 6.115.90+0.21
PVP Fortran Compilers 6.486.66-0.18
NERSC Online Tutorials 5.976.22-0.25
SP Ability to Run Interactively 4.715.51-0.80
NERSC Teleconference Lectures 5.116.00-0.89
SP Uptime 5.536.52-0.99
NERSC Training Class Slides 5.156.13-0.98
NERSC Training Classes 5.546.71-1.17


1999 to 2001 Changes:

The following are statistically significant changes for responses to questions common to the 1999 and 2001 user surveys.

Topic2001
Satisfaction		 1999
Satisfaction		 Change
PVP Overall 6.145.05+1.09
PVP Ability to Run Interactively 5.985.18+0.80
PVP Batch Wait Time 4.563.95+0.61
PVP Vendor Documentation 5.625.03+0.59
PVP Programming Libraries 6.475.94+0.53
HPSS Performance 6.365.90+0.46
PVP Application Software 6.065.54+0.52
PVP Disk Configuration and I/O Performance 6.005.56+0.44
PVP Fortran Compilers 6.486.02+0.44
PVP Local Documentation 6.095.68+0.41
HPSS Overall 6.506.12+0.38
PVP Batch Queue Structure 5.415.03+0.38
T3E Disk Configuration and I/O Performance 5.606.23+0.37
HPCF Website Overall 6.185.87+0.31
T3E Fortran Compilers 6.536.20+0.33
HPSS Reliability 6.636.46+0.17
Web: Ease of Finding Information 5.885.70+0.18
Available Software 5.815.99-0.18
Consulting Overall 6.306.58-0.28
T3E General Tools and Utilities 5.555.91-0.36
T3E Programming Libraries 6.046.42-0.38
NERSC Teleconference Lectures 5.115.78-0.67
NERSC Training Classes 5.546.19-0.65
NERSC Training Class Slides 5.155.95-0.80



3. NERSC Information Management (NIM) System


Legend:
SatisfactionAverage Score
Mostly Satisfied5.5 - 6.4

Satisfaction with NIM:

Topic No. of
Responses		  Average
Score		 Std. Dev.
User management1166.021.01
Ease of obtaining account info1366.011.20
Performance1385.961.27
Allocations request interface1095.911.08
Ease of use1575.901.16
Functionality1365.900.95
Ability to find desired info1495.671.18


What are the most useful features of NIM for you?   56 responses

26   Usage information
12   Account management
11   Web interface / easy to access / complete info
8   Allocations process
8   Don't use
1   Don't like

Comments and suggestions regarding NIM   37 responses

14   Would like additional functionality
9   Web interface is complex - hard to understand at first
7   Problems with logging in / passwords
6   NIM is fine / no suggestions
5   Poor performance

Comments and suggestions regarding GETNIM   19 responses

12   Don't use it (much)
4   Improve / expand it
2   It's useful


4. Web and Communications


Legend:
SatisfactionAverage Score
Mostly Satisfied5.5 - 6.4
Significance of Change
not significant

Satisfaction with the Web:

TopicNo. of
Responses		 Average
Score		 Std. Dev. Change
from 2000
Accuracy1426.150.94-0.07
Timeliness of info1326.080.970.08
New Users Guide1085.941.10-0.02
NERSC-specific info1275.931.050.02
T3E Pages975.900.97-0.10
Ease of finding info on web1665.880.960.10
File Storage Pages785.791.100.01
SP Pages965.781.110.03
General programming info1315.721.050.09
PVP Pages695.641.080.08
Search facilities1305.551.31-0.06

Comments and suggestions concerning the HPCF web site:   29 responses

11   Good website
7   Provide additional or clearer information
7   Problems navigating / better organization
3   Improve searching


How useful are these for keeping you informed?

Question No. of
Responses		 Average
Score		 Std. Dev. Change
from 2000
Email1452.430.64-0.01
MOTD1382.180.80-0.09
Announcement web archive1262.020.81-0.03
Phone calls1121.790.91-0.02

Question No. of Yes
Responses		 No. of No
Responses		 Percent Who
Said Yes
Do you feel you are adequately informed? 16010 94
Are you aware of major changes at least 1 month in advance? 119 28 81
Are you aware of software changes at least 7 days in advance? 110 26 81
Are you aware of planned outages 24 hours in advance? 135 14 91

Comments regarding how NERSC keeps you informed of changes 13 responses



5. Hardware Resources


Legend:
SatisfactionAverage Score
Very Satisfied6.5 - 7
Mostly Satisfied5.5 - 6.4
Somewhat Satisfied4.5 - 5.4
Significance of Change
significant increase
significant decrease
not significant


Satisfaction - Compute Platforms:

Topic No. of
Responses		Average
Score		 Std. Dev. Change
from 2000
PVP Uptime646.450.830.04
T3E Overall926.230.960.22
T3E Uptime816.221.110.13
PVP Overall696.141.060.28
PVP Disk Configuration and I/O Performance526.001.030.23
PVP Ability to Run Interactively605.981.05-0.13
SP Overall845.821.39-0.06
SP Disk Configuration and I/O Performance545.671.350.47
T3E Ability to Run Interactively745.641.30-0.07
T3E Disk Configuration and I/O Performance635.601.250.25
SP Uptime775.531.71-0.99
PVP Queue Structure545.411.380.38
T3E Queue Structure755.361.310.09
SP Queue Structure685.191.41-0.03
T3E Batch Wait Time804.971.480.64
SP Batch Wait Time764.921.650.38
SP Ability to Run Interactively684.711.85-0.80
PVP Batch Wait Time594.561.650.30


Max Processors Used and Max Code Can Effectively Use:

Processor TypeNo. of
Responses		Average No.
of Processors		 Std. Dev. Change
from 2000
Max SP Processors Used72202326+61
Max SP Processors Can Use56751994+160
Max T3E Processors Used73133151-13
Max T3E Processors Can Use54356529+56
Max PVP Processors Used461021+0.8
Max PVP Processors Can Use363093+20


Satisfaction - HPSS:

Topic No. of
Responses		Average
Score		 Std. Dev. Change
from 2000
Reliability836.630.620.24
HPSS Overall1016.500.740.24
Performance896.360.920.16
Uptime886.330.910.02
User Interface926.021.22-0.12


Satisfaction - Servers:

Topic No. of
Responses		Average
Score		 Std. Dev. Change
from 2000
Newton155.471.19-0.08
Escher135.081.04-0.17

Comments on NERSC's IBM SP: 43 responses

14   provide more interactive services
13   good machine / useful features
7   stability problems
6   provide longer queues
5   hard to use/software problems
4   don't like charging structure
3   improve turnaround time
3   slow communications
1   more inodes
1   remove small jobs

Comments on NERSC's Cray T3E:   26 responses

11   good machine / useful features
4   provide longer queues
3   improve turnaround time / obsolete
2   hard to use/software problems
2   more inodes / more disk
2   stability problems
1   provide better interactive services
1   remove small jobs

Comments on NERSC's Cray PVP Cluster:   18 responses

6   too slow / obsolete
5   good machine / useful features
3   provide longer queues / fewer checkpoints
2   improve service for big memory jobs
2   improve turnaround time
2   more inodes / more disk

Comments on NERSC's HPSS Storage System:   29 responses

10   good system
4   hard to use / software problems
3   authentication / password issues
3   need expanded functionality
3   don't like the down times
1   don't like the SRU accounting
1   performance improvements

Comments about NERSC's auxiliary servers:   5 responses



5. Software


Legend:
SatisfactionAverage Score
Very Satisfied6.5 - 7
Mostly Satisfied5.5 - 6.4
Somewhat Satisfied4.5 - 5.4
Significance of Change
significant increase
significant decrease
not significant

Satisfaction with Software:

TopicNo. of
Responses		 Average
Score		 Std. Dev. Change
from 2000
T3E Fortran Compilers596.530.570.13
PVP Fortran Compilers546.480.61-0.18
PVP Libraries366.470.770.66
PVP User Environment576.280.880.03
SP Fortran Compilers656.260.990.30
SP Libraries536.150.990.15
PVP Local Documentation446.091.03-0.29
PVP Applications336.060.970.23
T3E Libraries536.041.07-0.14
SP User Environment716.001.08-0.07
T3E User Environment736.001.14-0.18
PVP General Tools and Utilities375.971.040.04
SP C/C++ Compilers355.971.100.25
SP Local Documentation595.971.00-0.08
PVP Bug Resolution305.931.280.83
T3E Local Documentation575.880.87-0.12
PVP C/C++ Compilers235.871.22-0.13
T3E C/C++ Compilers365.861.22-0.07
PVP Performance and Debugging Tools365.781.05-0.28
T3E Performance and Debugging Tools525.631.310.07
PVP Vendor Documentation325.621.21-0.07
T3E General Tools and Utilities475.551.10-0.10
SP Applications385.551.25-0.12
SP General Tools and Utilities465.521.13-0.20
T3E Bug Resolution295.521.33-0.18
SP Bug Resolution345.441.21-0.01
T3E Vendor Documentation375.411.32-0.18
T3E Applications315.391.43-0.39
SP Vendor Documentation475.321.20-0.18
SP Performance and Debugging Tools535.001.690.31


Comments about Software:   13 responses

17   Tools, utilities, and bug resolution
6   Compilers
5   Libraries
4   General software comments


7. Training


Legend:
SatisfactionAverage Score
Mostly Satisfied5.5 - 6.4
Somewhat Satisfied4.5 - 5.4
ImportanceAverage Score
Very Important2.5 - 3
Somewhat Important1.5 - 2.4
Significance of Change
significant decrease
not significant

Satisfaction with Training:

TopicNo. of
Responses		Average
Score		 Std. Dev. Change
from 2000
NERSC Online Tutorials755.971.04-0.25
NERSC Classes245.541.32-1.17
Slides from classes335.151.37-0.98
NERSC Teleconferences195.111.24-0.89

How Useful are these resources for training in HPC?

TopicNo. of
Responses		Average
Score		 Std. Dev. Change
from 2000
Online Tutorials662.550.68-0.07
Slides from classes402.100.81-0.33
Classes412.070.82-0.60
Teleconference classes311.610.76-0.52

Comments about training:   25 responses

11   Haven't used
5   Offer more training in general
4   Offer more online tutorials
4   Satisfied / online documentation is adequate


8. User Services


Legend:
SatisfactionAverage Score
Very Satisfied6.5 - 7
Mostly Satisfied5.5 - 6.4
Significance of Change
not significant

Satisfaction with User Services:

TopicNo. of
Responses		 Average
Score		 Std. Dev. Change
from 2000
Timely response1556.560.81-0.07
Account Support services1586.530.890.00
Technical advice1516.460.81-0.03
Followup to initial questions1256.371.00-0.05
Response to special requests1136.231.100.07


Comments about Consulting and Account Support:   24 responses

15   Good service
4   Improve follow-up / speed of response
1   Mixed evaluation


9. Comments about NERSC


What does NERSC do well?   69 responses

35   Stable, well managed production environment / good hardware
31   User support
10   Documentation announcements
9   Everything
6   Software, tools
4   Storage environment
3   Other

What should NERSC do differently?   50 responses

10   Provide more cycles / improve turnaround time
9   Software enhancements
8   Provide different hardware / keep PVP cluster
6   Better documentation
5   Provide more training
4   File storage improvements
3   Manage systems differently
3   Better interactive services
3   Longer batch queues
3   No need for change
2   Accounting / allocations improvements
2   Authentication / password improvements
2   Networking improvements

How does NERSC compare to other centers you have used?   49 responses

28   NERSC is the best / better than
8   NERSC is the same as / mixed response
5   NERSC is good / only use NERSC
4   NERSC is less good
4   No comparison made