What is the RCC?
The RCC is a private cloud platform provided by central IT for UC researchers.
Who can use it?
All UC researchers and post-graduate students at the present time.
How do I get access?
There is a form in ServiceNow to request projects. But you can contact the consultants helping with the RCC
- Dr François Bissey (formerly from BlueFern and UC HPC)
You can consult the formal (boring) document on condition of access on this wiki.
What do I get?
One or more virtual machine(s) (VM) tailored to your needs following a discussion with the consultants. At the present time the supported operating systems are linux [Red Hat (7), Ubuntu (LTS), arch linux - other flavor may be added on requests] and windows 10 (Long term service branch/channel).
Why should I use it?
- You get access to potentially better hardware than your current desktop/laptop at no extra cost
- Your desktop is not necessarily the best place to run compute jobs. It impacts your ability to use your desktop to do other, usually office related, tasks
- Helps you develop a reproducible computing environment without having to share resources for other tasks.
What kind of hardware is it using?
See the following page on this wiki. We also have one node with 2 TB of RAM for high memory job. We also have a few GPUs.
People seeking a big GPU machine should look at our other resource here.
What are the limitations?
- You still have to respect UC general IT policies (don't use it to send spam, mine bitcoins or do something illegal)
- This is not a HPC platform or a replacement for NeSI.
- Because, unfortunately users don't always tell us when they are finished, the machine come with a time lease of 12 months by default. Other durations can be negotiated upfront. Extension are trivially granted. Please don't just keep a machine just to have one at hand when you need it once in a blue moon.
Any strings attached?
You have to acknowledge the use of the RCC in publication.