Access to many of the BEAR Services require that a BEAR project has first been created. Principal Investigators are able to create BEAR Projects. We require that all changes are done via the IT Service Desk, so that we have an audit trail to track requests for changes to access.
Request a BEAR Project
A BEAR or CaStLeS project must be requested by a member of academic staff. If you are a research student you should have your supervisor register a project.
Registering a project is done via the IT Service desk - simply select Request a New BEAR Project and complete the form. You can also request access to other resources.
The following is a short video that goes through how to fill out this form.
BEAR resources are typically allocated to research projects. Advanced Research Computing take a fairly broad view on what constitutes a research project; it does not need to be funded by an external body to qualify e.g. a PhD student who is self-funded or a Assistant Professor who is funded by their School. Essentially a project revolves around an intellectual endeavour to answer a core research question. For Frequently Asked Question's related to storage see Storage & Archive FAQ.
BEAR Services
BEAR Projects provide access to the following services:
- BlueBEAR is the University, Linux-based, supercomputer for batch processing high performance computing (HPC) or high throughtput computing (HTC).
- BEAR Research Data Store (RDS) provides storage for ‘research-in-progress’ data, including a facility for groups with exceptionally large requirements to purchase extra capacity.
- BEAR Gitlab is an on-campus software repository that supports academic programmers through the whole software lifecycle.
Can I delegate permissions?
Once a PI has registered a BEAR project, they may delegate some permissions to other members of their group. Typically this might be:
- Data Manager - someone who acts on behalf of the PI to make changes to a specified BEAR Project;
- PI Delegate - someone who acts on behalf of the PI to make any changes to the PI's BEAR Projects or create new ones in their name.
To do this please log this via the IT ServiceDesk, Other BEAR requests.
In both cases, the PI remains responsible for the BEAR Project.
Managing BEAR Projects
You can check which projects you own or have access to by logging into the BEAR Identity Database at BEARAdmin: https://bearadmin.bham.ac.uk with your University username and associated password. Just click on the project code to see information about that project such as:
- Who has access to the project
- Which service(s) does the project have access to eg. BlueBEAR
- How much quota is being used and when data was added to the project
- The paths to map the Research Data Store onto Windows, Mac and Linux
Changes to a BEAR Project
There are several options available for requesting changes or additions to BEAR Projects:
Project re-registration
BEAR projects need to be re-registered by the PI or PI Delegate every two years. You will also receive an automated email every six months confirming the project membership and facilities. See the re-registration process page for more information.