1 The IFB cloud?
The IFB (Institut Français de Bioinformatique) cloud enables powerful computers to be shared between all users. Each user can use one of these computers, called instances, and configure it as he or she sees fit.
The configuration of an instance includes:
- content (pre-installed softwares, operating system, etc.)
- computing power (CPU and RAM)
- storage
To access it, go to: https://biosphere.france-bioinformatique.fr
When the user shuts down one of his instances, any modifications made to the instance (installed software, etc.) are lost, as is any data that has been added to the hard disk.
The IFB principle is to use computation resources shared by all users (instances). So remember to:
- Store your data on your own hard disk before shutting down your instance.
- Switch off instances that you are not using, so as not to block the computation resources that other other users can use them.
Warning: do not switch off your instance without consulting the TP supervisors!
We will connect to the virtual machines via your web browser. Disconnecting to your VM from your web browser will not shut it down. It will continue to run.
2 Create your own account on the IFB cloud
To create your IFB cloud account:
- go to https://biosphere.france-bioinformatique.fr/
- at the top right, click on login.
- click again on login
- click on accept conditions
- select ENS de Lyon
- identify yourself with your ENS login and password
- Fill in your name, first name, city and postal code, leaving all other information as default and accept.
- You’ll get a new page. In the top right-hand corner, click on the little man icon, then on group.
- Click on Join a group in the tabs at top left.
- Search for the group UE ENS-Lyon NGS 2023 (COURS Master Biologie ENS-Lyon - UE Practicals in next generation sequencing 2023) and click on the + button to apply.
- and you’re all set! Now we (trainers) need to validate your application
3 Connecting to the IFB cloud
To connect to the IFB cloud, go to https://biosphere.france-bioinformatique.fr and click on connect.
Choose the ENS de Lyon from the list of institutions, then use your ENS login and password.
NB: Your cloud login is your e-mail address.
4 Create your own instance
- To start an instance, go to the RAINbio catalog (top left), select it and click on “Configure” (wrench symbol / icone clef à molette).
For the practical work, you will use the “UE NGS-ENS Lyon” image. Select it.
When you click on “Configure”, you have 4 fields to fill in:
- Name: TP_prénom_groupe
- Group: UE ENS-Lyon NGS 2023
- Cloud : ifb-core-cloudbis
- Template: Ask supervisors
Then click on “launch”.
The machine will be deployed on the cloud and you’ll be able to access it when it’s ready.
You can retrieve the login information in the “access” column of the “myVM” panel when it’s ready (green light 20 min) by clicking on Params.
Click on https to be redirected to your machine. - If your machine deployment encounters an error, try again.
5 Connecting to an instance
To connect to an instance, you need 3 pieces of information:
- A login: “rstudio
- A password: to be retrieved from the biosphere portal (specific to each instance) by clicking on Params ex: o6l5gPYkxMrt5
- An ip address: retrieved from the biosphere portal (specific to each instance) by clicking on https ex: 134.214.213.63
Click on https on the biosphere portal (or copy the IP address into your browser’s URL bar) and enter your login and password. :::{.callout-warning} # Warning n°1 - You must accept the security warning to access the machine. - If you’re using firefox, firefox may not want to override the security warning, so you’ll need to use another browser, e.g. Chrome. :::
Work only in the mydatalocal folder, which contains the storage associated with your machine
