February 2023
Jupyter Notebook workspaces by default offer a Python3 kernel to run notebooks with.
We have added an "example custom" kernel that also offers numpy, matplotlib, pandas and scipy.
In the user's home-directory there is a notebook "KERNEL-README.ipyn" that explains how to modify an existing kernel and how to create your own.
The plugin that is used to create a custom kernel can also be used with other Ubuntu-based apps in ResearchCloud. Not only Jupyter.
November 2022
Flavours are split in 'os' and 'size' part
Earlier, workspace flavours on Research Cloud defined
- OS-type (Ubuntu, CentOS, Windows, ...) and
- sizes (number of cores, RAM-size, ...).
Now there are two separate types of flavours: "OS" and "size"
This makes catalog item creation and catalog choice easier.
The flavours for public clouds will also bear the cloud provider's native flavour name.
Admin only workspaces
You can create an application that only a collaboration's admin can log in to.
Overwriting the parameter "co_admin_user_only" with "true" sets a catalog item to admin-login only.
This means that only members of the collaboration's group "src_co_admin" can log in to the workspace.
iRods storage connection integration
On the portal's profile tab, you can add your iRods information to any of your collaborations.
Your storage will be mounted and your iRods will be linked to the workspaces of the collaboration.
Please refer to this documentation page for details.
October 2022
"Basic Cluster" workspace
The basic cluster is a workspace that contains multiple VMs.
The number of worker VMs can be set by the user during the workspace creation in the workspace wizard.
Restricted Remote Desktop Protocol for Windows workspace
If you create a catalog item for Windows, you can enforce a stricter security policy for the RDP client.
By overwriting the parameter "co_rdp_secure" with "true" data transfer through the RDP connection is disabled.
Copy/paste and mounting local drives will not work anymore, though.
Catalog item access restriction
The choice in the catalog can be confined to explicitly whitelisted applications.
Collaboration-administrators can place users in the collaboration group "src_no_ext_apps".
Members of this group can only start applications that have been allowed explicitly for this collaboration.
Plugin creation wizard
We wanted to make the creation of plugins more user friendly.
So we now have a wizard-style workflow for creating new and editing existing plugins.
The changed user interface is documented here.
User notification on full System disk
When 80% of the system disk is full, an automatic warning mail is sent to the workspace owner.
Budget warning for contract administrator
When 80% of a budget has been spent, an e-mail will be sent to the contract administrator.
The contract administrator is the person who is listed in our Central Budgeting and Accounting service for this contract.
Workspace owner e-mail available in workspace
Inside Research Cloud workspaces, an e-mail mechanism is used to send notification e-mails to the workspace owner.
This API is now also available for your own plugins.
Please contact us if you want to use this feature in your plugins.