Use RT Projects to request and manage access to specialized Research Technologies resources

• Overview
• Projects and resource allocations
• Set up a new project
  • Create a project
  • Request an initial allocation
  • Add users to a project
• Search for a project
• Manage your projects and allocations
• Submit jobs on an allocated resource
• Renew a project or allocation

Overview

For more, see About RT Projects at IU.

Projects and resource allocations

RT Projects assigns each project a Slurm Account Name that users must include when submitting batch or interactive jobs to allocated HPC resources.

Once a Slurm Account Name is assigned and resource allocations are approved, your project's users can use the assigned Slurm Account Name to submit jobs.

Set up a new project

An RT Projects project contains a short description of your research or intended coursework and a list of participants that will need access to the RT Projects-managed system. Once your project request is submitted, you can submit allocation requests for the cyberinfrastructure resources your project will use.

Project titles and their corresponding Principal Investigators (PIs) will be viewable via the search function in RT Projects. Students can search for the indicated PI's username, and then request to be added to that course's project and allocation. Project descriptions and allocation request submissions are visible only to Research Technologies staff (to facilitate system and user support).

The PI of a given project owns that project and all allocations under that project. The PI also controls access to compute and storage resources for everyone in the project.

Create a project

1. Go to RT Projects and select Log in.
2. On the Home page, select Add a Project. Alternatively, select Projects >>, and then, on the Project List page, select Add a project.
3. Fill out the Create Project form as follows:
   • Title: Enter a brief title for your project.
   • Description: Enter a brief description of your project, including:
     • The applications or workflows you intend to use
     • How you intend to use the system
     • Whether PHI will be stored
     • Your area of research (if applicable) and department
     • Approximate class size (if applicable)
   • PI Username: Enter the PI's IU username.
     Note:

     The PI must be IU faculty or staff. The indicated PI will need to log in to RT Projects at least once prior to creating a project.
   • Type: Use the drop-down to select Class or Research to indicate whether your project is intended for teaching or for research.
     Note:

     • If you create a "Class" project, students will be able to use RT Projects to find your project (by searching the indicated PI's username) and request access.
     • "Research" projects must be renewed annually; "Class" projects must be renewed at the end of each semester.
4. Select Next.

Request an initial allocation

To request an allocation for your project:

1. On the "Request New Allocation" page, select the resource you want to access.
2. Depending on the requested resource, you will need to answer a few additional questions about how you intend to use the resource. If a requested resource is dependent on access to a specific system, a small note about this requirement will also appear.
3. You will be added to the allocation by default. Users already added to your project may be added to the allocation via the "Users" field; select individual usernames or use the Select All Users checkbox.
   Note:

   Adding users to resources that require specific accounts will require that the users have accounts on the respective system before to being added as a user of the allocation. They will not be able to be added to the allocation without an account on the system.
4. Select Next.

You will receive follow-up communications concerning your submission status within two business days.

Add users to a project

To add research collaborators and/or students to a project:

1. On the "Add users to project" page:
   1. Under "Search String", enter a single IU username, or enter multiple IU usernames separated by single spaces or new lines.
   2. Under "Search by", select whether to search by Exact Username Only or All Fields.
   3. Select Search.

   Alternatively, to submit your project request now and add users later, select Skip This Step and Submit.

2. Select the corresponding checkbox for each desired user, or select the checkbox above the first row of usernames to select all users in the table.
   Note:

   Users added during this step are assigned the User role by default. The project requester and the identified PI have the Manager role, which permits management of the group. To permit another user to manage your project, use the drop-down in the "Role" column to select Manager for that user. Users with the Manager role can update user project membership, request allocations for the project, and assist in the renewal process.
3. Select Add Selected Users to Project and Submit. You can add more users after your project is added.

Search for a project

1. Go to RT Projects and select Log in. If prompted, log in with your IU username and passphrase.
2. On the "Home" page, select Projects >> and then, under "PI Search", select Expand.
3. Enter the project PI's IU username into "PI Username", and then select Search.
4. Under the project you'd like to join, select Request Access. RT Projects will send an email to the PI with instructions on how to add you to the project.

Manage your projects and allocations

The RT Projects Home page provides a brief view of your most recently submitted projects and allocations. To see a complete list of your submitted projects and associated allocation requests, from the Project drop-down in the top menu bar, select Projects. At the top of the page, you'll see the project's title, PI, description, project type, and status. Under "Users", you'll see a list of your project's current users. Under "Allocations", you'll see the type, status, and other relevant information displayed for the project's allocations.

From this page, you can:

• Add or remove users for the project or individual allocations:
  • Select Add Users in the "Users" heading to access the "Add users to project" page.
  • Select Remove Users in the "Users" heading to access the "Remove users from project" page.

  These pages also allow you to add or remove users from the allocations associated with the project.

• Submit a new allocation request. Select Request Resource Allocation on the "Allocations" heading to access the "Request New Allocation" page for submitting a new allocation request for the project.

Submit jobs on an allocated resource

When an allocation is activated for your project, a corresponding Slurm Account Name is generated automatically.

To run batch and interactive jobs on an allocated resource, you must include your allocation's Slurm Account Name in your Slurm job submission scripts and commands.

The "Home" page also includes examples to use in your batch and interactive job submissions.

For more about Slurm, see Use Slurm to submit and manage jobs on IU's research computing systems.

Renew a project or allocation

"Research" projects must be renewed annually; "Class" projects must be renewed after the semester concludes. The requester and PI of an expiring project will be notified via email 30 days prior to the expiration date and will be guided through a brief renewal process to indicate that the project is still actively using resources.

To renew a project:

1. On the RT Projects "Home" page, select Projects >>; alternatively, from the Projects drop-down in the top menu, select Projects. Projects eligible for renewal will have a status message "Needs Review - click to review". (You'll also see this status message at the top of the page when you select an individual project.) Select the status message to proceed with the renewal process. Alternatively, follow the link provided in the expiration notification email.
2. On the "Reviewing Project" page:
   1. Use the first link to confirm that your project description is still accurate or to update the text as needed, and then select Save.
   2. Use the second link to verify which users are still active in your project.
3. Under "Allocations", select the allocations you would like to renew. If users need to be removed from specific allocations, select Remove Users.
4. In the "Project Updates" field, indicate any progress in your research over the past year that was facilitated by using Research Technologies resources. Research Technologies uses this information to determine the research impact of these systems. If your project has no updates to report, select No new project updates.
5. At the bottom of the page, select acknowledgment, and then select Submit.

Your project and allocation renewals will be reviewed by the relevant Research Technologies teams within two business days.