Appendix: Using CIDeR to manage resources

Owned by David Hart
Last updated: Mar 19, 2024
4 min read

The Cyberinfrastructure Description Repository (CIDeR) is used to manage the resources that you make available for allocations. You must have an ACCESS login to access the site and edit your resources, even if you’re using your local user accounts in XRAS.  If you don’t already have an ACCESS login you can create one at the ACCESS Allocations Service site. You will also need permission to edit resources for your organization in CIDeR. The XRAS team will help you get set up to manage resources in CIDeR as part of your initial setup. 

Adding a Resource

Before adding a resource make sure your allocations process has been created in XRAS and that at least one allocation type has been entered into XRAS for your allocations process.

  1. Log into CIDeR and click the “Add Resource” button.

  2. When filling in the “Add a Resource” form, the fields have tool tips to explain their purpose; hover over each field to see the tip. The most important sections on the page for XRAS are “Resource Project Affiliations” and “Resource Description Publishing.” 

    • In the “Resource Project Affiliations” section, select your allocations process and provide a unique resource ID.  For ACCESS, these IDs have the form machine.service_provider.access-ci.org—e.g., anvil.purdue.access-ci.org. Outside of ACCESS, these IDs are not used, but you must provide a value here. An example of a non-ACCESS resource ID is derecho.ncar.ucar.edu.

    • The “Resource Description Publishing” section allows CIDeR to provide a public page describing your resource. CIDeR can create a public page for you, or you can enter another persistent, resolvable link (such as a DOI link). You must permit this option if you are using XRAS to post allocation awards to ORCID.

  3. After submitting the “Add a Resource” form you are taken to the edit resource form.  Note that on this form you can see the XRAS Resource Repository Key which is used to identify resources in the XRAS APIs.

    • In the left column on this page click Allocations. This brings you to the forms that determine how the resource is displayed and available in XRAS.

    • Fill in the form appropriately. If there is not an appropriate allocable resource type or unit type for your resource, contact allocations@access-ci.org.

    • The “Allocations Description” field is the content displayed as part of the XRAS Submit interface. Basic HTML—including links, boldface, and italics—can be included in the description.

  4. Finally after submitting the form, you can scroll down and view links to add/edit allocation type info for your resource. This is where you can associate the resource to your allocation types and actions. You can also declare if other resources must also be requested along with this resource. For example, a compute resource might also require that the submitter request a storage resource.

You have completed adding the resource for XRAS availability.

Editing a Resource

All of the information entered when adding a resource can later be edited.

Edit a resource by clicking the edit link next to it in the list of resources on the CIDeR front page or accessed by clicking the Resources link. If you do not see your resource listed click the ‘View all resources’ link. Only resources considered active based on the Resource Status dates are displayed by default.

Public Page Details

Most of the information on the first resource data entry page is displayed on the CIDeR-hosted public page for a resource. You must fill in these fields if you are connecting XRAS to ORCID. You are strongly encouraged to complete these fields, even if you are not using ORCID.

  • Organization logo, which can be added on your organizational details page in CIDeR

  • Resource Type

  • User Guide URL

  • Resource Description

  • Recommended Use

  • Latitude & Longitude

  • Production Dates

Allowed Allocations by Allocation Type

Over the course of a resource’s lifetime, you will likely adjust how it is displayed to researchers as part of your allocations process. In the Allocations section for each resource, the “Allowed Allocations by Allocation Type” selectors allow you to control when and what actions are available for a resource. The following options are available to you.

  • None specified. The resource has never been available for that Allocation Type

  • None. The resource was once available for some actions in that Allocation Type, but is no longer available.

  • Unavailable. Similar to None.

  • (pre-production). If the resource is in pre-production status, based on the Resource Dates, it will appear as an option for the listed actions for the given Allocation Type.

  • (production). If the resource is in production status, based on the Resource Dates, it will appear as an option the listed actions for the given Allocation Type.

  • (post-production). If the resource is in post-production status, based on the Resource Dates, it will appear as an option the listed actions for the given Allocation Type.

  • (decommissioned). If the resource is in decommissioned status, based on the Resource Dates, it will appear as an option the listed actions—typically transfers only—for the given Allocation Type.