Archer:Global

From Grid-Appliance Wiki

Contents 1 Archer Global tutorial 2 First things first: Archer Express 3 Registering with Archer 3.1 Create an account with the Grid appliance portal 3.2 Register as Archer user with your Grid appliance account 4 Connecting to Archer Global

Archer Global tutorial

First things first: Archer Express

This tutorial assumes you got to know the basics of the Grid Appliance already, so it's important that you first follow the Archer Express tutorial. If you haven't yet, take your time to go through the Archer Express tutorial before continuing.

Registering with Archer

In order to use Archer Global, we ask that you register with our system. This is important so we can ensure we have contact information for all users of the system. The registration process is simple and takes only a few minutes.

Create an account with the Grid appliance portal

First, you need to create an account with the Grid appliance portal. This account will let you log in to the Grid appliance portal and to add content to the Archer Wiki.

1. Click on the create an account link at the bottom left of the Grid appliance portal.
2. Fill in the information as shown in the screenshot below.
   1. Double-check that your email address is correct - you will receive a confirmation link in this address.
   2. The password you type will be sent to you in the confirmation email; you'll be able to change it later, so if you prefer you may use a temporary password at this point.
      
3. Click on Register.
4. An email will automatically be sent to you with a registration confirmation link.
   
5. Check your email client for the registration confirmation email from the sender Grid Appliance User Interface; click on the activation link and your registration will be completed.
   
6. If you'd like to change your password, log in and click on the "Your details" link under "User menu"

Register as Archer user with your Grid appliance account

Once you have the Grid appliance account set up, the next step is to register it as an Archer account. This step requires that you provide additional information about your usage of Archer, agree to our terms of use, and describe the project you are planning to work on.

1. Log in to the Grid appliance portal with your account
2. Under "User menu", select "Archer User Panel". You will be asked to provide additional information and agree to our terms of use.
   
3. The Team entry allows you to specify that you belong to a team of users. We will use this information as part of our scheduling policy to encourage users to join the system with many resources - jobs from your team will have priority in your team resources. If you do not belong to any team, simply enter "archer" as your team. Contact us if you would like to register a team name for your institution or group.
4. Enter the requested information and click on "I agree".
5. Your request will need to be approved by the Archer administration before you can proceed using Archer Global. You will be notified by email.

Connecting to Archer Global

One your request to become an Archer Global user has been approved, you can go back to the Grid Appliance portal and click on "Archer User Panel". The interface now allows you to download a virtual floppy disk image that will be necessary to connect to the Archer Global pool.

1. Download and/or uncompress the .zip Grid appliance image, as you did for the Archer Express tutorial
2. Obtain the Archer Global virtual floppy
   1. In the Archer user panel of the Grid appliance site, click on the "Create floppy" link
   2. This will initiate the download of a zip file containing a virtual floppy image
   3. Save this file and unzip this file to extract the virtual floppy image. The extracted file is named fdb.img
3. Setup the Grid appliance with the Archer global floppy
   1. Replace the fdb.img file in the grid_appliance folder with the fdb.img image you downloaded/unzipped from the Archer user panel
4. (Optional) setup the appliance with the Simics module
   1. Contact Archer administrators to download the Simics virtual disk module
   2. Replace the opt.vmdk file in the grid_appliance folder with the Simics module image
5. Turn on the appliance, as described in the Archer Express tutorial. The appliance will work the same way as in that tutorial, but now you are connected to a larger, private pool of registered Archer users where all communication is authenticated and encrypted.