It was announced that the Pawsey Nimbus Cloud is being decommissioned by the end of 2024. The ARDC Nectar Research Cloud was suggested as an option for Nimbus users.
Below we have broken down the options for current users of Nimbus as well as researchers looking to use the Nectar Research Cloud for the first time.
Eligibility
Whether you have an existing project on Nimbus, or were planning to, to get started on Nectar you will need to apply for a project allocation. This can be done via our allocation form on the Nectar Cloud Dashboard. Note - when you log in for the first time, this will create a project trial for you to try out Nectar with a small amount of resources.
If you fulfil the following criteria below, you will be eligible for a national project allocation (which means you can launch resources in any of our zones):
currently funded through a national or international research grant;
funded by, or supports, a National Collaborative Research Infrastructure Strategy (NCRIS) capability, including ARDC (e.g. an ARDC Research Data Commons project);
grants from federal or state government departments or agencies for research projects that support industry, or university research that is directly or jointly funded by industry;
approved by the Nectar Allocation Committee as warranting a nationally prioritised allocation.
You may also be eligible for local allocation if collaborating with members of one of our node partners.
Interim support
If you do not fit into the above categories, we will provide interim resource support for existing projects on Nimbus Cloud.
Managed Services
If you do not fulfil the criteria, and do not have an existing project on Nimbus, you are not eligible to use the Nectar Cloud via the Dashboard at this time**.
However, there are managed services with limited resources available to use, for anyone with an AAF (University/Institutional login). These include:
Below are useful support resources for Nectar:
ARDC Nectar Research Cloud website
Support site (submit help desk tickets, view knowledge base articles)
Tutorial site (practical how-to tutorials)
Migrating to Nectar from Nimbus (Users with existing Nimbus projects)
If you applied for a Nectar project allocation and received approval, you would then need to migrate your project across to Nectar. For more detail and technical support for the transition, contact the Pawsey helpdesk.
For migration timelines, it is preferred that projects coming to Nectar start doing this in August 2024*, when the supporting infrastructure is ready. However, if a project requires to complete the transition before this, and they fulfil the national project criteria above, they may be accommodated on existing infrastructure.
*This timeline is subject to change
**There may be support available in late 2024 for non-national projects when there is further capacity on ARDC infrastructure.
