Cannot start RCE job - You're using too many CPUs

If you are running into an error starting a new RCE job due to too many CPU's in use, you need to terminate your jobs that were tied to an old nx session. The commands that are highlighted below should enable you to remove these old jobs.

  1. Run this command to see your jobs:
    condor_q -pool cod6-head.priv username
    job_id  username  date_&_time   run_time   R  0   0.0  application_name

  2. Remove your job, using the job_id:
    condor_rm -pool cod6-head.priv -name HMDC.interactive@cod6-head.hmdc.harvard.edu job_id

What is the cost to use the RCE?

The RCE is free to use for qualified individuals in the pursuit of social science research, within certain limits.

If your needs exceed the capacities of the shared RCE environment, we can work with you to establish dedicated RCE resources for your exclusive use. If you are planning a large project, please contact us prior to your grant application so that we can assist in budgetary estimation.

The standard limits and costs of allowances in excess are outlined in the RCE Service Level Agreement (SLA).

How do I get an account, or get help?

For all inquiries related to the HMDC RCE, please contact our support helpdesk.

For fastest service, please email directly support@help.hmdc.harvard.edu. Or, you may also call 617-495-4734 (x54734) from 9AM-5PM weekdays.

If your question is not answered here on our RCE support website, you may also find the information you need on our User Services website, which covers topics relating to the HMDC RCE and other services provided by the IQSS Technology Services group.

For a list of all IQSS services, including statistical Research Technology Consulting and Public Computer Labs, please visit http://www.iq.harvard.edu/services.

Will MPlus be available on the RCE?

Unfortunately, licensing for MPlus is complex, and places an undue financial burden on HMDC. From the MPlus developers:

Mplus was not developed for more than one analysis to be run on the same computer at the same time.

This is the exact opposite behavior of what the RCE is designed for, so at this time we cannot offer MPlus on our research cluster.

Is there temp or scratch storage available?




Please note:

  • Do not store any Confidential Information in scratch/temp.
  • Do not use the scratch space for permanent storage.

How do I use compressed data with R?

R supports two primary ways of accessing compressed data. This allows you to keep your data files on disk compressed saving space, and often time (since the file I/O saved by compression is often more expensive than the cpu cycles it uses).

If you are storing your data in native format, simply use the compress option of save:

tst.df=as.data.frame(cbind(1:10,2:11)) # just some testing data save(tst.df,file="test.Rbin", compress=T) # save a compressed R file

You can use load as normal, to read the compressed files:


To access any other kind of file with compression, simply use gzfile("") around the file name:

write.table(tst.df,gzfile("test.dat.gz")) # write a compressed file read.table(gzfile("test.dat.gz"),row.names=1)# read it back in

Files compressed using the gzfile method can also be compressed and uncompressed using the UNIX gzip and gunzip commands (respectively).

My Stata batch job keeps running even after a fatal error!


The command line below runs Stata with the example file my_dofile.do:


How do I automate actions when connecting to the RCE?





Your script is run every time you connect to the RCE.
