Getting Started

Using INFN Cloud

You can use INFN Cloud for:

  • access a centralized service, directly managed by the INFN Cloud team;
  • access a service that someone else has deployed and enabled the access for you;
  • create one or more services on the INFN Cloud infrastructure. You will then be responsible for the administration of such services for your own use or for a group of users that you’ll enable.

Prerequisites for using INFN Cloud resources

In order to be able to use INFN Cloud resources, the following mandatory conditions need to be fulfilled:

Note

At this point you may use INFN Cloud by accessing a centralized service or a service created and administered by another person, who has been nominated to be system administrator.

If you need to instantiate custom services on top of virtual machines on the INFN Cloud infrastructure there are two possibilities:

  1. Deploy your instance on a private network and use the private IP address assigned to it by connecting to a VPN.

    In this case you don’t need to be system administrator. You can skip to the Registration in the INFN Cloud IAM section.

  2. Deploy your instance on a public network, accessible from the Internet, and use the public IP address assigned to it.

    In this case you need to be system administrator. To do this you must receive the “nomination to be system administrator” from the Director of your reference INFN Section or Laboratory, mentioning the following scope of operation: “INFN-CLOUD (as administrator user)”. For more details on how to obtain the nomination please follow the procedure described in How To: Request the “nomination to be system administrator”.

    At the moment, this nomination can be released only for staff and associated personnel of an INFN Section or Laboratory.

Registration in the INFN Cloud IAM

Once you meet the requirements stated above you need to apply for an account in the INFN Cloud IAM available at https://iam.cloud.infn.it, stating in the Notes the reasons of your request.

For this you need to:

  • Sign in with your institutional account (DO NOT “Apply for an account” !!!!).
../../_images/img_fig2.png

INFN Cloud IAM

../../_images/fig4.png

Sign in with your institutional credentials

  • The form will be autocompleted with your information as registered in INFN AAI. Please use the Notes field to explain in a few words what are the reasons of your request and, eventually, if you belong to a specific research group.
users_guides/getting_started/../img/register/img_fig5_1.png users_guides/getting_started/../img/register/img_fig5_2.png
  • After compiling and sending the registration form, a verification e-mail is send to your e-mail address.
../../_images/img_fig6_1.png

Registration done

../../_images/img_fig7.png

Confirmation e-mail

  • You will be contacted by the the INFN Cloud Support team in case more details regarding your registration are needed.
  • After the successful verification of the prerequirements you will be notified about the approval of your request and more information will be provided regarding the conditions of use of the INFN Cloud resources and solutions.

SSH Keys

SSH keys allow you to establish a secure connection between your computer and your virtual machines. One public key has to be provided in order to be able to access the resources deployed in the INFN Cloud infrastructure.

After your INFN Cloud IAM registration is approved, you can manage the SSH key associated with your account. For further information, please refer to the dedicated guide.

Once you finish managing your key, create or upload, you can continue to the “INFN Cloud Dashboard” tab and enjoy the solutions offered:

../../_images/img_fig14.png

INFN Cloud Service Catalogue

To understand how to use the solutions present in the Service Catalogue, please first have a look at their respective guides present here.