Accessing IDAS for Research Use
To request an IDAS account for research use, please fill out the following Workflow form: https://workflow.uiowa.edu/form/idas-account.
Please also see our policies for IDAS account requests in Requesting An IDAS Account.
In this page:
Accessing Jupyter Lab for Python, R, and Julia
Once you receive an email confirming that your IDAS account is ready, follow the steps below to spawn an instance and start using IDAS.
1. Open any web browser.
2. Go to https://idas.uiowa.edu/research/hub/home.
3. Log in using your HawkID and password.
4. Authenticate the login with Duo. More information about Duo can be found here.
5. Click the blue button "Start My Server".
6. Fill out the "Server Options" form, using the instructions on the form. Please also see the notes below.
a) CPU Cores: Fill in the number of CPU cores you want to use in IDAS, with 2 as the minimum and 32 as the maximum.
If left blank, the default 2 will be used.
b) Memory Limit: Fill in the amount of RAM (GB) you want to use in IDAS, with 4 as the minimum and 512 as the maximum.
If left blank, the default 4 will be used.
c) GPU:
If you are not using GPU, choose "None". This is the default selection.
If you have GPU-enabled code, select the type of GPU that you want to use. For more information, please see Using GPUs on IDAS.
GPUs are a finite resource on IDAS and assigned on a first come first served basis. Please request a GPU only if you need to use it and shut down your IDAS server when you are finished so that other users can share the resources.
d) Mount HPC Home:
If you do not have an Argon (HPC) account, choose "No". This is the default selection.
Only if you have an Argon account and want your Argon home directory to be accessible from IDAS, choose "Yes".
If you select "Yes" but don't have an Argon account, your IDAS instance might fail to spawn.
After the IDAS instance spawns, your Argon home directory will be available in IDAS in the "hpchome" directory.
e) LSS Shared:
If you have Large Scale Storage (LSS) shares that you want to use with your IDAS instance, enter their paths under "LSS Shared" or "LSS Dedicated". Leave these fields blank otherwise.
Please check that the share names are correct.
f) LSS Dedicated:
If you have Large Scale Storage (LSS) shares that you want to use with your IDAS instance, enter their paths under "LSS Shared" or "LSS Dedicated". Leave these fields blank otherwise.
Please check that the share names are correct.
g) IDAS Image:
Under "IDAS Image", choose the programming language that you want to use with IDAS. For example, to start an IDAS instance with Julia, please select one of the options for Julia.
If you are not using GPUs, you do not need to choose a CUDA image. The CUDA images are for use with GPUs. For more information, please see Using GPUs on IDAS.
7. Click the "Start" button. A new IDAS instance will be created. This may take several seconds.
8. After the instance has been created, you will see your IDAS home directory. If this is your first time accessing IDAS and you haven't uploaded any files, your home directory will be empty.
9. More information on using IDAS can be found here.
10. Once you finish your job with the IDAS instance, please shut down the instance, so that resources could be used by other IDAS users. More information on shutting down an IDAS instance can be found here.
Your session will automatically end after being idle for 18 hours. The session will not end if being active.
Accessing RStudio for R
Once you receive an email confirming that your IDAS account is ready, follow the steps below to spawn an instance and start using IDAS.
1. Open any web browser.
2. Go to https://notebooks.hpc.uiowa.edu/research-interactive/hub/home.
3. Log in using your HawkID and password.
4. Authenticate the login with Duo. More information about Duo can be found here.
5. Click the blue button "Start My Server".
6. Fill out the "Server Options" form, using the instructions on the form. Please also see the notes below.
a) CPU Cores: Fill in the number of CPU cores you want to use in IDAS, with 2 as the minimum and 32 as the maximum.
If left blank, the default 2 will be used.
b) Memory Limit: Fill in the amount of RAM (GB) you want to use in IDAS, with 4 as the minimum and 512 as the maximum.
If left blank, the default 4 will be used.
c) GPU:
If you are not using GPU, choose "None". This is the default selection.
If you have GPU-enabled code, select the type of GPU that you want to use. For more information, please see Using GPUs on IDAS.
GPUs are a finite resource on IDAS and assigned on a first come first served basis. Please request a GPU only if you need to use it and shut down your IDAS server when you are finished so that other users can share the resources.
d) Mount HPC Home:
If you do not have an Argon (HPC) account, choose "No". This is the default selection.
Only if you have an Argon account and want your Argon home directory to be accessible from IDAS, choose "Yes".
If you select "Yes" but don't have an Argon account, your IDAS instance might fail to spawn.
After the IDAS instance spawns, your Argon home directory will be available in IDAS in the "hpchome" directory.
e) LSS Shared:
If you have Large Scale Storage (LSS) shares that you want to use with your IDAS instance, enter their paths under "LSS Shared" or "LSS Dedicated". Leave these fields blank otherwise.
Please check that the share names are correct.
f) LSS Dedicated:
If you have Large Scale Storage (LSS) shares that you want to use with your IDAS instance, enter their paths under "LSS Shared" or "LSS Dedicated". Leave these fields blank otherwise.
Please check that the share names are correct.
g) IDAS Image:
Under "IDAS Image", choose one of the RStudio options. The version number is the R version. For example, the selection below will start RStudio with R version 3.6.1.
If you are not using GPUs, you do not need to choose a CUDA image. The CUDA images are for use with GPUs. For more information, please see Using GPUs on IDAS.
7. Click the "Start" button. A new IDAS instance will be created. This may take several seconds.
8. After the instance has been created, you will see an RStudio session.
9. (optional) IDAS users can quickly switch between RStudio, Jupyter Notebook, and Jupyter Lab by changing the end of the URL in their web browser.
a) To access RStudio (fill in your HawkID):
https://notebooks.hpc.uiowa.edu/research-interactive/user/HAWKID/rstudio/
b) To access Jupyter Lab with R (fill in your HawkID):
https://notebooks.hpc.uiowa.edu/research-interactive/user/HAWKID/lab/
c) To access Jupyter Notebook with R (fill in your HawkID):
https://notebooks.hpc.uiowa.edu/research-interactive/user/HAWKID/tree/
10. More information on using IDAS can be found here.
11. Once you finish your job with the IDAS instance, please shut down the instance, so that resources could be used by other IDAS users. More information on shutting down an IDAS instance can be found here.
Your session will automatically end after being idle for 18 hours. The session will not end if being active.
Contact
If you have any questions or comments, please contact research-computing@uiowa.edu.