CloudBank Classroom

RP account needed

CloudBank Classroom is a cloud-hosted JupyterHub for teaching, consisting of a Kubernetes-based hub and an assignment server that give each student a browser workspace with persistent storage and a modest share of memory and CPU. It is particularly well suited for courses whose assignments are Jupyter notebooks, and is often used for data-science, statistics, and introductory programming classes that would otherwise ask students to install software on their own machines. It includes a great deal of open-source data-science tooling - JupyterLab and Notebook, RStudio, and VS Code, with Python, R, and C++ - plus nbgitpuller for distributing materials and grading extensions such as Otter Grader. It is available to U.S.-based educators through an Explore ACCESS allocation.

Submitting Jobs

CloudBank Classroom has no batch scheduler, no queues, and no wall-clock limits, and it is not an allocation on a commercial cloud platform. Students and instructors work interactively in the browser: you open a notebook in the hub and it runs there, in a container sized by the course's configuration, with nothing to submit and no queue to wait in.

Each student gets their own persistent workspace, so files survive between sessions. Instructors distribute materials into student environments with nbgitpuller links and collect and grade work with extensions such as Otter Grader.

Course environments are set up with CloudBank rather than self-service; to arrange a course, or to ask which configurations are currently available, [email CloudBank support]. For what the platform provides and how to request it, see [ACCESS CloudBank for Classroom] and [CloudBank For Educators].

Storage Documentation

CloudBank provides no storage of its own and no shared filesystem: there is no home, scratch, or project directory, no CloudBank-set quota, and nothing to mount from an ACCESS login node.

Storage is whatever the cloud platform you are allocated on offers - object, block, and file services that you create and size yourself inside your own cloud account. Storage counts as usage against your CloudBank allocation, and CloudBank monitors usage and sends automated spend alerts. Compare the storage services each platform offers in the [CloudBank Catalog].

File Transfer Documentation

CloudBank has no data transfer node, no Globus endpoint, and no scp or sftp host - there is no CloudBank-side machine to transfer to or from. You move data with the tools of the cloud platform you are allocated on, through its own web console, command-line client, or API. The services each platform offers are listed in the [CloudBank Catalog].

Login to CloudBank Classroom Documentation

2FA/MFA required for login

You need an active ACCESS or NAIRR Pilot allocation on CloudBank. Awards are made in dollars and are spent as you use resources.
Sign in with an identity provider account you already have, not with a CloudBank username and password - CloudBank issues none. The portal authenticates through CILogon, and ACCESS CI (XSEDE) is one of the identity providers it lists; the sign-in steps for each provider are in [Logging into the CloudBank Portal].
A CloudBank account is required. CloudBank creates it, and the cloud accounts that go with it, during onboarding once your allocation is awarded; there is no self-service signup.
Multi-factor authentication is required on the CloudBank User Portal, so the identity provider account you sign in with must have MFA enabled.

There is no SSH access and no shell, no login node, no Open OnDemand, no scheduler, and no CloudBank-managed filesystem. Once you are signed in, everything else happens in the cloud platform's own web console, command-line client, or API.

CloudBank Classroom

Get Support

GET AN ACCOUNT ON CLOUDBANK CLASSROOM

Submitting Jobs

Storage Documentation

File Transfer Documentation