User guide for the access to Aragon Supercomputing Center (CESAR) Services

Introduction

This document explains how to proceed to apply for the creation, activation or vinculation of projects and users in the Aragon Supercomputing Center (CESAR) located in the Institute for Biocomputing and Physics of Complex Systems (BIFI) of the University of Zaragoza. This information is suitable for Principal Investigators (PI) of any research project or group, in or outside the University of Zaragoza, and users related to them. The corresponding application forms are available at:

https://soporte.bifi.unizar.es/forms/form.php

There are four types of application forms corresponding to different objectives:

  • Project creation form (to be filled by Principal Investigators)
  • Account creation form (to be filled by users in general)
  • Account activation form (to be filled by users in general)
  • Account - project vinculation form (to be filled by Principal Investigators)

This document will guide through the process to fill in each of them. The main concepts are the following. Any person (in general, a researcher from a research center or company) willing to use CESAR services will need a user account. A typical service is the use of the computing infrastructure, but these user accounts can also grant access to data storing or to some web services provided by the datacenter, among others.

However, the use of these services has to be somehow organized and, in some cases, paid for. In this sense, the Project creation form, when filled, provides the necessary information about the objectives of the research as well as about the person (PI) that takes the responsibility for the correct use of the service and/or infrastructure (that will also be assumed by the users) and for the corresponding payment when necessary.

1.- Project creation form

https://soporte.bifi.unizar.es/forms/form.php?idForm=1

This form is intended to be filled in by the Principal Investigators. When approved, a new project will be registered in the CESAR system. The fields of this form are:

  • Researcher e-mail: Contact email of the PI or main responsible of the project/group.
  • Telephone: Main contact telephone.
  • Project title: Title of the project to be registered.
  • Project ID: Unique identifier of the project (it can be chosen by the PI, but the system will verify that it does not exist yet)
  • Research project reference: Reference given by an official institution (it can be the reference provided by a granting entity or an internal code of the University, for example; please inform which is the case)
  • Research proposal: Main explanation, goals and research track that will tackle the project, why the need or wish to use CESAR services...
  • Comments: Further comments complementing the previous information. software needed or any other peculiarity to be taken into account.

After these fields are filled, the Principal Investigator will download the agreement document by clicking the blue button "Download document for signing", then s/he has to sign this document, upload it and press the "Request project" button.

The lack of information in any field could invalidate the request; please make sure you send all the information needed.

The CESAR access committee will manually review the request and they will give an answer according to the provided information.

2.- User account creation form

https://soporte.bifi.unizar.es/forms/form.php?idForm=2

This form can be used by anyone that needs a new account to access CESAR services. The fields for this request are:

  • Name: Person who makes the request.
  • Email: Person contact email to communicate the final response.
  • Telephone: Contact phone of the current person that makes the request.
  • Desired username: Username to access the CESAR system (computing and storing infrastructures, etc.). This username must be plain text without special characters (like @ # ~ $).

After these fields are filled, the user will download the agreement document by clicking the blue button "Download document for signing", then s/he has to sign this document, upload it and press the "Request creation" button.

The lack of information in any field could invalidate the request; please make sure you send all the information needed.

The IT team will contact the user to bring the response to the request on the given email address.

The creation of a user account does not automatically allow the user to access CESAR services, as some of them (in particular those subject to payment) will require their vinculation to a Project.

3.- User account to project vinculation form

https://soporte.bifi.unizar.es/forms/form.php?idForm=4

This request has to be performed by the Principal Investigator of a Project already existing in the CESAR system. This is intended to add a new member (user) into the Project which, in this way, will grant access to the CESAR services associated with the said Project.

  • Principal researcher name: Principal Investigator of the research Project already existing in the CESAR system.
  • Email: Contact email of the PI.
  • Username to vinculate: Username to be vinculated to the Project.
  • Project ID to vinculate to: ProjectID of the Project.
  • Project title: Title of the Project.

After these fields are filled, the Principal Investigator will download the agreement document by clicking the blue button "Download document for signing", then s/he has to sign this document, upload it and press the "Request vinculation" button.

With this vinculation, the PI will take the responsibility for the correct use of the service and/or infrastructure (that will also be assumed by the users) and for the corresponding payment when necessary.

The lack of information in any field could invalidate the request; please make sure you send all the information needed.

The CESAR team will review the request and they will give an answer according to the provided information.

This document is subject to change. We are committed to updating it in case the registration process varies.

4.- Account activation (OPTIONAL)

https://soporte.bifi.unizar.es/forms/form.php?idForm=3

The following form will provide the information needed to activate an account that is inactive (due to different reasons, the passing of time, existing accounts still not activated, etc.). You must bear in mind that accounts will be temporarily suspended if there is a lack of activity during a long time.

  • Name: Name of the person that makes the request.
  • Email: Contact email to dispatch the final response over this request.
  • Username: Currently suspended username that should be activated.

After these fields are filled, the user will download the agreement document by clicking the blue button "Download document for signing", then s/he has to sign this document, upload it and press the "Request activation" button.

The lack of information in any field could invalidate the request; please make sure you send all the information needed.

The IT team will contact the user to bring the response to the request on the given email address.