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Rapid Access Service

Our Rapid Access Service (RAS) allows Principal Investigators (PIs) to request a modest amount of storage and cloud resources without having to apply to the Resource Allocation Competitions (RAC). Many research groups can meet their needs by using the Rapid Access Service only.

Compute resources are available only for opportunistic use (no priority) to anyone with an active CCDB account. If you need a CPU or GPU allocation (priority), or require larger quantities of storage and cloud resources than what is available via RAS, you must apply to one of our Resource Allocation Competitions. (See additional information about Allocations and compute scheduling).

PIs with a current RAC allocation are still able to request resources via RAS.

Please consult the Technical Glossary if you have questions about any of the terminology used in the page below.

General questions can be emailed at any time to support@tech.alliancecan.ca.

Storage resources available via RAS

CCDB users have access to different storage resources on most national systems without a RAC application. Visit this page for details about quotas available via RAS.

Please note:

  • Storage resources are only accessible with an active CCDB account.
  • /HOME and /SCRATCH storage are not allocated through RAC.
  • For details about cloud storage available via RAS, visit this page.
How to request RAS storage resources

PIs can request storage resources available via RAS by sending an email to support@tech.alliancecan.ca.

Cloud resources available via RAS

PIs may request access to modest amounts of cloud resources at any time and allow others with CCDB accounts to access these resources. To see resource limits that can be requested through RAS see the cloud RAS documentation on our technical wiki. For details on how to make a request for new, or access to, existing resources see the cloud documentation on our technical wiki.

If you have questions or need help, please contact support@tech.alliancecan.ca.