Accounts

While there is no cost for UB faculty groups to use CCR compute resources, queue priority is based on contribution level.   At a minimum, faculty using CCR resources are required to:

1. Acknowledge CCR support in publications,
   
2. Include a percent credit to CCR (at least a 5%) on the Sponsored Programs Approval Form (though this can be larger for grants requiring significant CCR resources).  NOTE:  Clicking the "use CCR" box on the Sponsored Programs Approval Form is not the same as including a percent credit to CCR.
   
3. Communicate with CCR about the nature of your research, publications and any funding that you have.  The ability to provide this information to us is handled by the resource allocation management portal, Coldfront, and you will be required to update this info once per year.  

• UB faculty new to CCR:  Faculty account creation is a three step process.  Step-by-step instructions can be found here
  NOTE:   This is for UB faculty only!  Students, staff, and external collaborators must get the support of a UB faculty member to receive access to CCR!
  1. Please use the identity management portal to create a CCR account and enable two factor authentication*.  Step-by-step instructions can be found here.  
  2. Once account is created & activated, request an account upgrade to change your account status to a PI.
  3. When your status is upgraded to 'PI,' you must create a new project in the allocation management portal, Coldfront*, and request an allocation to the resources (clusters, storage, servers, etc) you want access to:
     1. How to Create a New Project
     2. How to Request a New Allocation 

* Connection to the UB VPN is required from off-campus

• Industry Partners:  Please send an email to ccr-help @ buffalo.edu requesting a new group account.  You will be contacted when the initial account is setup and you'll be required to provide information about your project at that time.  You can also use the red support tab on the left of the browser window to submit a help ticket.  Please list your full name, email address, and company address, and phone number.
  
  
• Current CCR Users (Faculty members or managers of industry/business projects with existing CCR accounts): To add or modify accounts for your staff and students, please use the allocation management portal, Coldfront*.  Instructions can be found here  New CCR users must create themselves an account first, following the instructions here.  Once created, you will be able to search for their username in Coldfront and add them to your project.
  

• Non-UB Researchers: You must be affiliated with a current UB faculty or receive special permission from the CCR Director in order to receive a CCR account. If you are affiliated with a UB faculty member, they will request an account on your behalf.  If you are not, please contact CCR Help and include your contact information, a description of your research, and the reason(s) why you require access to CCR resources.  Access is granted on a case-by-case basis.
  
  
• UB students must be working for a UB faculty member that will sponsor them for a CCR account or be taking a class that requires use of the CCR resources.  If you qualify for an account, please use the identity management portal* to create one for yourself.  Step-by-step instructions can be found here.  Once you've completed the account creation process, please contact the faculty member or course instructor who is sponsoring your account.  He/she should utilize the allocation management portal, Coldfront*, and add you to their project.  Instructions can be found here.  Although we now offer users the ability to create a CCR account for themselves, we must verify a new user's status before allowing them access to CCR resources.  This is done when a faculty member adds the user to a project and gives them access to a resource allocation.  It is your responsibility to contact your sponsor and request that he/she adds you to their project. 

* Connection to the UB VPN is required from off-campus

All users must comply with the UB Computing Usage Policy.

In order to receive a priority boost in your jobs, you must have a funded grant that meets the criteria above and includes direct funds to CCR.  At minimum, you should budget $2,600 per year (approximately 40 hours/year of CCR support staff time at the SPS approved rate of $65/hour for typical projects - higher amounts as appropriate for projects that are expected to more heavily utilize CCR services).  Note that these rates are generally updated annually, so please contact us or SPS for current values.  Boosting your group's priority will substantially increase your job throughput.  Please update your project in Coldfront and notify CCR Help with your grant information so we can provide you with the boost in queue priority.

Before you submit a grant, we are happy to work with you on the budget to help ensure that we can best support your project. 

Acknowledging CCR in publications and grant proposals is important because it provides a metric by which the university can gauge the utility and impact that CCR resources (hardware, software, and personnel) have on externally funded research at UB.

Feel free to use the information in the CCR Facility Description for PIs as reference material for your proposals.  Also, if you would like a letter of support for your proposal, please contact us

Thank you for your support!

Please acknowledge resources provided by CCR in publications as follows:

Support provided by the Center for Computational Research at the University at Buffalo [1].

and cite as (using the appropriate citation format):

[1] Center for Computational Research, University at Buffalo, http://hdl.handle.net/10477/79221.

If you still have questions, check out our account knowledgebase dedicated to account questions.

If you have questions or need assistance, please contact CCR Help.