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RONIN Research Cloud
What is it
RONIN is an interface for creating virtual machines in the AWS cloud. The simplified user interface allows you to quickly turn-on new machines that are appropriate for your workload, use them, and destroy them when you are finished. The agile workflow allows you to accelerate your time to research and help observe costs. Research Cloud is ideally suited to research projects where demand for computing resources in intermittent.
Sydney University users can read more at the knowledge hub: Home>Knowledge>Technology (Knowledge Base)>Research services>What is Research Cloud?
Prefer to learn this via video? Here is a ~45 minute demo:
How to get an account
Contact ICT to discuss access options. We have a strict user license limit which are given out on a merit based system. You can buy additional resources as required.
The following steps are normally involved is setting up a new research project:
Initial consultation will outline the capabilities of Research Cloud and determine whether it may be suitable
Four-week trial to validate technical and financial aspects
Continue if technically / financially viable
How much does it cost
Cost depends on the processing + storage resources consumed.
Processing charges range between 5c/hr (1cpu,2gb RAM) up to $39.00/ hr (64cpu/8gpu/768gb RAM). Note: charges only apply when the machines are turned on.
Storage charges vary from 5c/gb/month -> 19c/gb/month depending to type of storage used
Copying data from the research cloud to the University RDS (data regress) costs ~15c/gb (i.e. $150 per terabyte)
Note that research projects may qualify for research credits awarded by AWS, these applications are assessed each quarter. Contact sih.info@sydney.edu.au
How to access your account
You must be logged into the University VPN or on the University network to access VMs created in Ronin and to access the Ronin dashboard.
You can log in to the Ronin dashboard with your unikey and password at:
https://ronin.sydneyuni.cloud/login.php
Usage
All of the following is covered in great and advanced detail over at the RONIN blog page.
Here we list some of the basic connection use cases.
https://sydneyuni.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/RC/pages/1156153809 Learn how to create new virtual machines, turn them off, and destroy them.
https://sydneyuni.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/RC/pages/1156219019 Learn how to connect to your machine and interact with it.
https://sydneyuni.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/RC/pages/1156284544 Learn tips and tricks to minimise cloud costs.