A guide to creating an account on JASMIN for our hackathon

You can take part in the hackathon whether or not you have your own JASMIN account.

  • If you have an account already, then please ensure you have access to the services below, before the start of the hackathon
  • If you do not have an account, then you will be allocated a temporary account (called a training account) to be used for the duration of the hackathon and you do not need to follow this guide

If you are a project lead, or intend to work on the hackathon outputs after the event has finished, then we do ask that you create your own JASMIN account.

Overview

In this guide we’ll cover:

The JASMIN team have also created an excellent workshop and associated training content that give an excellent overview of JASMIN.

These materials include:

There are also support videos and cheat sheets available through these guides.

If you are not familiar with JASMIN we suggest you will also find these very helpful. We did!

Applying for a user account

The JASMIN website has instructions on applying for an account, including the eligibility criteria.

In summary:

Getting access to the right services

Once activated, you can use your JASMIN account to access numerous different services.

The accounts portal will show you which services you have been granted access to.

Please ensure you have been granted user-level access to:

  • jasmin-login – the ability to login via SSH, access scientific analysis servers, transfer servers and the LOTUS job scheduling system
  • jupyter-notebooks – the ability to use the Jupyter Notebooks service that we will be using throughout the hackathon
  • xfer-sp – the ability to transfer data in and out of JASMIN if your institution does not provide a VPN for access to JASMIN
  • cop26_hackathon_bristol – the ability to access and write data within a shared storage area for the duration of the hackathon

Ensuring you have SSH access

You can access the Jupyter Notebooks service through a web browser just using your JASMIN password, however to be able to login via SSH you will need to set up an SSH public/private key pair.

If you’re not sure how to do this, consult the JASMIN documentation on SSH key pairs.

Once you have an SSH key pair, you need to:

  • Enter your SSH public key into the JASMIN Accounts Portal

  • Check that you can login to one of the scientific analysis servers using SSH agent-forwarding

    In order to SSH to most of the JASMIN login servers, you will normally need to be located within a UK academic network, or be logged on to an academic VPN that will forward connections to JASMIN via the academic network. The University of Bristol F5 VPN, for instance, should meet this criteria.

    If this is not the case, you should still be able to access JASMIN as long as you login via login2.jasmin.ac.uk.

    From your personal computer, you will run a set of commands similar to the following:

    • For Windows (if you’re using MobaXterm): 
      ssh-add -l  # Check that your SSH private key is listed
ssh -A USERNAME@login2.jasmin.ac.uk
    • For Max/Linux: 
      eval $(ssh-agent)
ssh-add ~/.ssh/id_rsa_jasmin
ssh -A USERNAME@login2.jasmin.ac.uk

    Then from the JASMIN login server that you have just logged in to:

    ssh -A sci1  # (or one of the other sci servers listed when you log in)

    If the above command was successful, you are now inside on of the scientific analysis servers.

Ensuring you have Jupyter Notebook access

Check that you can login to the JASMIN Notebook Service, create a new notebook and execute some Python code.

There will be a two-step verification process using your institution email address.

Ensuring you have access to the hackathon Group Workspace

Check that you can access the directory /gws/pw/j05/cop26_hackathons/bristol, either using the Notebook Service or a Scientific analysis server.

For example, in a Jupyter Notebook you could execute a cell containing:

!ls -al /gws/pw/j05/cop26_hackathons/bristol

Or if connecting via SSH, you could type the following at the command line:

cd /gws/pw/j05/cop26_hackathons/bristol
ls -al

Note that you will not be able to access the upper level cop26_hackathons directory, only the bristol directory beneath this.

Ensuring you have access to the CMIP6 data

Check that you can access the directory /badc/cmip6/data/CMIP6, either using the Notebook Service or a Scientific analysis server.

For example, in a Jupyter Notebook you could execute a cell containing:

!ls -al /badc/cmip6/data/CMIP6

Or if connecting via SSH, you could type the following at the command line:

cd /badc/cmip6/data/CMIP6
ls -al

If you can access the CMIP6 data, then should see output similar to the following:

total 0
drwxr-x--- 1 badc open 0 May 26  2020 .
drwxr-x--- 1 badc open 0 Aug 27  2020 ..
drwxr-x--- 1 badc open 0 Jul 22  2020 AerChemMIP
drwxr-x--- 1 badc open 0 Mar 16  2020 C4MIP
drwxr-x--- 1 badc open 0 Mar 16  2020 CDRMIP
drwxr-x--- 1 badc open 0 Jan 18 03:16 CFMIP
drwxr-x--- 1 badc open 0 Sep 18  2020 CMIP
drwxr-x--- 1 badc open 0 Apr  8 09:16 DAMIP
drwxr-x--- 1 badc open 0 May  7  2020 DCPP
drwxr-x--- 1 badc open 0 Mar 29 16:36 FAFMIP
drwxr-x--- 1 badc open 0 Mar  9  2020 GeoMIP
drwxr-x--- 1 badc open 0 Mar  9  2020 GMMIP
drwxr-x--- 1 badc open 0 Mar  9 15:11 HighResMIP
drwxr-x--- 1 badc open 0 Mar  9  2020 ISMIP6
drwxr-x--- 1 badc open 0 Aug  6  2020 LS3MIP
drwxr-x--- 1 badc open 0 Feb 18 18:16 LUMIP
drwxr-x--- 1 badc open 0 Feb 18 22:26 OMIP
drwxr-x--- 1 badc open 0 Sep 10  2020 PAMIP
drwxr-x--- 1 badc open 0 Jan  5 14:46 PMIP
drwxr-x--- 1 badc open 0 Jan 15 14:51 RFMIP
drwxr-x--- 1 badc open 0 Nov 27  2020 ScenarioMIP

However, if you get an error message similar to:

ls: cannot open directory /badc/cmip6/data/CMIP6: Permission denied

then you will need to ensure you have a CEDA account that is linked to your JASMIN account. A CEDA account will allow you to access data in the CEDA Archive, which includes the CMIP6 data:

  • Go to the CEDA Archive website and click My Account from the top bar, followed by Register for an account! on the right-hand side

  • Once you have registered for a CEDA account, go to your JASMIN profile and link the two together:

    Screenshot of CEDA account linking on JASMIN profile

Note that your JASMIN and CEDA usernames might not be the same.

There is more detailed guidance on the linking of accounts in the JASMIN documentation.