Research Infrastructure

IT Services Research Infrastructure Team

The RI Team administer IT infrastructure for computationally-intensive research (CIR), including facilities for parallel and high-throughput computing and data storage. We also administer supporting infrastructure including an SSH gateway for off-campus access, a virtual-desktop service and dedicated virtual machine infrastructure.

Accessing from Off Campus

Effective 2023 June 14 the University VPN (GlobalProtect) has been shutdown as part of the University’s response to the ongoing cyber incident:
https://www.manchester.ac.uk/cyber-incident/

This will affect access to Research IT platforms as follows:


Compute Platforms — CSF3, CSF4, iCSF and the Condor Pool

Without GlobalProtect, access to these compute platforms will be possible only if you are on campus.


x2go virtual desktops (often used by iCSF users)

Without GlobalProtect, access to this platform will be possible only if you are on campus.


Research Data Storage (RDS, aka Isilon)

Without GlobalProtect, access to Isilon-based storage will be possible only if you are on campus.

This restriction also applies to P-drives.


Research Virtual Machines Service (RVMS)

Without GlobalProtect, SSH access to these VMs will be possible only if you are on campus. Other access, e.g., to Web servers (HTTPS), will continue as before.


If you have any questions not answered by the above, please email the Research Platforms and Infrastructure Team at
its-ri-team@manchester.ac.uk or complete the Support Portal form.

Contact Info

We may be contacted at:


Support Portal: https://ri.itservices.manchester.ac.uk/hpc-help (preferred)
Email: its-ri-team@manchester.ac.uk

IT colleagues are welcome to re-assign Support Centre tickets related to the services detailed on this website to the ‘IT Research IT’ group.

Courses and Training

We offer regular training courses for users of the CSF and our other platforms. Please visit StaffNet to find details.

Services Managed and Owned by the RI Team — The CIR Ecosystem

Please see a description of our services in the Computationally Intensive Research Ecosystem for more info.

Last modified on June 30, 2023 at 9:16 am by George Leaver