ColdFront¶

ColdFront is an open source resource allocation management tool built for high performance computing centers that allows the management of Center resources and user allocations to those resources. CCR developed this tool to allow our users the opportunity to request and manage the access they and their students or collaborators have to the many resources in CCR's data center. In order to obtain access to any CCR services, you must be on an active allocation for the resource. Research faculty, principal investigators, and teaching faculty are able to create projects in ColdFront and request allocations to CCR resources for themselves and their group members or students.

Getting started with ColdFront is easy and all you need is a CCR user account. Don't have one yet? see here. Faculty members and principal investigators (PIs) can use ColdFront to:

• Request an Allocation
• Add or Remove users
• Complete yearly project review

If you're not a faculty member or a PI you can still login to ColdFront and view information about the projects you're on and what resources you have access to but you will not be able to request allocations.

Request an Allocation¶

Access to CCR resources is managed in ColdFront using Projects and Allocations.

Projects capture information about your research including your group members and any allocations to resources. Most PIs have a single project which best describes their research performed at CCR. After logging into ColdFront for the first time, you should see the Add a project button to create a new project for your group. This is required before requesting allocations. Once your project has been created take a moment to add any publications, grants, or research output which helps us keep track of the scientific impact of our center. You can also add users to your project.

To request an allocation to a CCR resource follow these easy steps:

1. Login to ColdFront
2. Create a project or select an existing project
3. Under the Allocations section click on the Request Resource Allocation button
4. Select the desired resource from the drop down
5. Select the users who should have access to this allocation. To add users to your project see here
6. Enter a justification and click submit

Once you submit your allocation request it will be reviewed by center staff members and you will receive an email confirmation when it's approved. At this point, you will have access to the resource.

Not sure what to request an allocation for? Check out this for more information

Add or Remove users¶

Users can be added to or removed from your project in ColdFront. To add a user to your project they must already have a CCR account. Please direct them to these instructions to create their own CCR user account.

To add users to your project, follow these steps:

1. Login to ColdFront
2. Click on your project
3. Under the Users section click the Add User button
4. Enter in the users' UBIT username or first/last name or email address (be sure to select All Fields radio button)
5. Click the Search button and a list of users will be displayed
6. Select the users by checking the box next to their name and click Add selected users to project button.

You can also remove users from your project by clicking on your project and under the Users section click on the Remove User button.

Notifications - all users on a project will receive notifications about allocations including reminders of upcoming expiration dates and status changes. Users may uncheck the box next to their username to turn off notifications. Managers and PIs on the project are not able to turn off notifications.

Allocation Change Requests¶

To purchase addition project storage, cloud storage or cloud compute time, please use the allocation change request feature in ColdFront. Navigate to your active allocation for the resource you want to purchase more of, then click on the Request Change button. Enter the amount you'd like to increase your allocation to: project storage is sold in 1000GB increments (1TB), cloud storage is in 1TB increments, and cloud compute is in increments of 8,760 CPU hours. In the box labeled justification for changes please enter:

• How many years do you want to purchase this for? We can bill annually or may be able to bill for multiple years (depending on funding source - see below) The project storage retires in 2026 so we can not bill passed that point.
• What type of account are you paying with? This determines the cost:
  • UB internal funds: State, RF, UBF, FSA
  • Other internal funds
  • External funds

Click the Submit button and CCR staff will provide the appropriate payment paperwork and instructions via email.

Multiple Year Payments:
It may be possible for you to pre-pay for multiple years, if desired, and the allocation will show the expiration date that you are paid through. We are able to bill State Sponsored accounts for more than one year at a time; however, you should verify the funding and any requirements prior to submitting the request to CCR. SPS will not allow us to bill RF accounts for more than one year at a time. We are also not allowed to bill an RF account if the award expires within the year. For example, we can not bill for a year of storage if your award ends in 6 months.

This can be complicated so please contact CCR Help if you have questions.

Date Extension Requests:
This should be used for short term extensions such as scratch storage extensions or class access beyond the end of a semester. If your allocation is up for renewal, please use the allocation renewal process instead.

Complete yearly project review¶

CCR requires the annual review of all projects. We ask that PIs or project managers update the project description and field of science, if necessary, and remove any users that should no longer have access. During this review we ask that you update your grant and publication information to ensure it is up-to-date. This information is used in reports CCR provides to UB's administration demonstrating the research and work CCR's resources enable each year.

When your project review is required, you will see a banner at the top of the project detail page that includes a link to the project review process along with You need to review this project