Science Clouds provide compute cycles in the cloud for scientific communities using Nimbus.
The Nimbus cloud client allows you to provision customized compute nodes (that we call "workspaces") that you have full control over using a leasing model based on the Amazon's EC2 service.
The Science Clouds have two objectives: (1) to make it easy for scientific and educational projects to experiment with cloud computing and (2) to enable us to learn how to make cloud computing a useful tool for the scientific community.
If you use any of these clouds, and have requests, comments, or suggestions please send them to us at workspace-user@globus.org (subscribe). We will very much appreciate your feedback.
To obtain access to a cloud, please contact the administrators of the clouds below. Read cloud configuration notes carefully to ensure that you end up with the right software and configuration.
To get started follow the instructions in the cloud client quickstart guide. Please subscribe to workspace-user@globus.org for updates on cloud status (subscribe).
Use the science clouds as a client: In a typical session you will make a request to deploy a workspace based on a specified VM image. You can either use one of the VM images already available on a cloud (the workspace cloud client provides a command that allows you to see what's already there) or upload your own VM image. On deployment, the image will be configured with an ssh public key you provide -- in this way once the workspace is deployed, you will be able to ssh into it and configure it further, upload data, or run your applications. Follow the quickstart for specific instructions.
Launch one-click, auto-configuring clusters: Once you have gotten a feel for things with one VM, head over to the clusters page. Launch virtual clusters with one command! And no need to go configure anything: cluster configurations are automated with the workspace context broker. Each VM launches a very lightweight agent that greatly simplifies dealing with changing cluster topologies, identities, and credentials (no secrets need to reside on the image before booting). Useful sample clusters await you.
Build your own EC2-like cloud using the workspace service: Download the workspace service to configure your own resources into a cloud. It accomodates a wide range of pre-existing cluster and network setups. See the current version's Cloud Guide.
Be aware: Science clouds are a beta project deployed on a modest allocation of resources. Over the next few months we will be evolving the software in response to your requests and comments.
Therefore, be aware that the client code may change frequently as new features, services and clouds become available.
Each change will be announced on workspace-user@globus.org (subscribe) and via RSS: keep an eye on those announcements to ensure that your client is up-to-date.
