Access to the VSC Cloud#

Access to the VSC Cloud is linked to the central VSC account system (account.vscentrum.be), so you do not need a separate login or password.

In order to use the cloud services:

  • you need an active VSC account and

  • you must accept the invitation to the Tier-1 Cloud project in VSC hub and

  • your account must be a member of one or more Tier-1 Cloud groups in VSC hub

New users can obtain a VSC account by following the procedure described here.

Once you have a VSC account, contact us via cloud@vscentrum.be if you want to start a new Tier-1 Cloud project, or join an existing one.

Components of the VSC Cloud#

The VSC Cloud consists of three components:

VSC hub#

VSC Hub (https://hub.vscentrum.be) is used for:

  • viewing VSC Tier-1 Cloud projects

  • viewing allocated VSC Tier-1 Cloud resources

  • managing project membership (project managers only)

VSC Cloud Dashboard#

The VSC Cloud Dashboard (https://cloudpr4.ugent.be) is the web interface to the OpenNebula cloud platform. It is used to:

  • view Tier-1 Cloud resources

  • manage virtual machines

  • manage networking and storage resources

  • generate login tokens for OpenTofu and OpenNebula

OpenTofu and the OpenNebula CLI#

OpenNebula is the cloud platform that provides and manages the virtual machines, networking and storage resources used by the VSC Tier-1 Cloud.

OpenTofu (a fork of Terraform) is the recommended way to deploy and manage cloud resources in the new OpenNebla cloud platform.

Both OpenTofu and the OpenNebula CLI use authentication tokens generated from the VSC Cloud Dashboard.

Changes for existing Tier-1 Cloud users#

If you previously used the Tier-1 Cloud OpenStack environment, there are some important changes in the new OpenNebula-based platform.

New project identifiers#

To provide a clean transition to the new platform, all projects receive a new identifier.

For example:

Previous platform

New platform

VSC_2026_001

Tier-1 Cloud - project 10001

gpr_cloud_2026_001

gpr_cloud_10001

The new project identifier should be used in future communication with the Tier-1 Cloud support team.

Membership management#

Project membership is now managed through the VSC Hub for projects on the new OpenNebula-based Tier-1 Cloud platform.

For existing OpenStack projects, the corresponding VSC accountpage groups remain active and can continue to be used to manage access to OpenStack resources for as long as those projects remain operational.

For projects on the new OpenNebula platform, project membership is managed exclusively through the VSC hub. Adding or removing members in the VSC accountpage will not affect access to OpenNebula resources.

In summary:

  • OpenStack projects: manage membership via the existing VSC accountpage groups

  • OpenNebula projects: manage membership via the VSC Hub

IP addresses#

In the previous OpenStack environment, public IPs (and optionally also VSC IPs) were assigned to projects in advance.

In the OpenNebula environment, projects receive an IP quota instead. IP addresses are assigned only when resources are deployed.

As a result, migrated projects will receive new IP addresses. You can read more in the section on Networking.

Accessing the VSC Cloud#

You can interact with the VSC Cloud in several ways:

  • via the VSC hub for project and membership management

  • via the VSC Cloud Dashboard, a web interface based on OpenNebula

  • via the OpenNebula command line interface (one)

  • via OpenTofu

You can log in to the VSC hub, as well as the VSC Cloud Dashboard using your VSC account using your home institution’s single sign-on system.

To access the OpenNebula CLI or to use OpenTofu, you will need a login token, as explained in the section Login token. Such a login token is only required for users who need to manage cloud resources. Users who simply need access to an existing virtual machine do not need to interact with OpenNebula or OpenTofu themselves.

The OpenTofu CLI can be installed locally (recommended) but is also available on the HPC-UGent Tier-2 login nodes at login.hpc.ugent.be. More details can be found in the section on OpenTofu.

Optional: Advanced users can also interact directly with OpenNebula using the one command line interface (CLI), which needs to be installed locally. More information can be found in the sections on Creating VMs and Advanced usage.

Managing project membership#

When you are added to a Tier-1 Cloud project, you will receive an automatically generated invitation email from the VSC hub.

Note

Invitation emails from the VSC hub originate from support@vscentrum.be. If you do not see the invitation, please check your spam folder.

After accepting the invitation, always log in to the VSC hub using your VSC account.

The Project manager can add other users to the project via the VSC hub.

  1. Log in to the VSC hub with your VSC account.

  2. Open your project and go to its Team tab.

  3. Click Add and select either Member (if the user has already logged in to the VSC hub before) or Invite by email (if the user has never logged in there yet).

  4. Choose a Role for the new member. A Project member can only consult the project’s resources whereas a Project managers can also invite additional members to the project.

Note

The VSC Hub interface contains a Support button, but this currently redirects to a different support system. For all Tier-1 Cloud questions during the pilot phase, please continue to contact: cloud@vscentrum.be.

VSC Cloud Dashboard login#

You can access the VSC Cloud Dashboard via cloudpr4.ugent.be.

To log in, choose the (default) authentication method VSC Accountpage and click “Connect”.

image

From here on, follow the standard procedure to log in to your VSC account, using your home institution’s single sign-on system.

Warning

Only users with an active Tier-1 Cloud project in the VSC Hub, and a corresponding group in OpenNebula, will be able to log into the VSC Cloud Dashboard.

The following chapters explain how to accomplish basic tasks using the VSC Cloud Dashboard.

Login token#

If you want to interact with the OpenNebula API (with OpenTofu, for example), or if you want to use the OpenNebula CLI (one), you need a “Login token”. To obtain a Login token, follow these steps:

  1. Log in on cloudpr4.ugent.be

  2. Click on your username in the bottom lef corner

  3. Click “Profile Settings”

  4. In this new screen, click “Security”.

  5. Scroll to the bottom, to the “Login Token” section.

  6. Fill in an expiration time in seconds, and select the group for which this token should apply

  7. Click “Get a new Token”

The token will now appear on this page until it has expired. Proceed with instructions on where to store the token.