Get a CSC account and a project

This document includes the information required when starting to use CSC supercomputers and other services. This document is a simplified version of the accounts and projects guide in docs.csc.fi.

Create a CSC account

💬 Every user needs a project and user account for using CSC services.

💬 For registration, you will need a mobile device that has an authentication app for setting up multi-factor authentication (MFA).

  1. Go to MyCSC
  2. Click Login or Create account.
  3. Click Virtu or Haka depending on which federation your home organization is a member of.
  4. Select your home organization and log in to their identity service.
  5. Fill in your information on the Sign up page.
  6. You will receive an email message containing a link to MyCSC where you can set your CSC account password.
    • Use 12 characters or more, containing both upper and lowercase letters and at least one number. No special characters are allowed.
  7. If you are signing up with Virtu you will be prompted to set up your CSC MFA after setting your CSC accounts password. If you are signing up with Haka, you might already have a working MFA login integrated with your Haka login, and you will be asked to sign in with the Haka MFA. If your home organisation doesn’t provide Haka MFA, you will be guided to set up CSC MFA.
  8. You will receive a confirmation via email after successfully registering your CSC user account.

Project

💬 To use CSC supercomputers every account has to be a member of a project. Access to a supercomputer (service) and computing time are tied to projects.

☝🏻 The default project called “Personal group of N.N.” is not meant for submitting jobs!

  1. Join a project
    1. via invitation link (ask the Project Manager to invite you)
    2. or by creating a new project
  2. Note that there are different CSC project types:
    1. Academic projects – The default type for academic research. Read the prerequisites for and responsibilites of a project manager. Reserved for free-of-charge use cases.
    2. Course projects – Designed for delivering a course using CSC services once. Fixed time and resources. Reserved for free-of-charge use cases.
    3. Student projects – Designed to support students’ work with courses and thesis work. Fixed time and resources. Reserved for free-of-charge use cases. Read more about getting started with student projects.
    4. LUMI – Projects restricted to LUMI environment. Fixed time and resources. Read the prerequisites for and responsibilites of a project manager.
    5. Commercial – Reserved for projects outside of CSC’s free of charge use policy. Only available through CSC Service Desk.

💡 A summary of CSC project types you are entitled to create based on your Haka affiliation is available in Docs CSC.

Add services to your project

💡 The Project Manager must have applied for the services for the project first. Here, you accept the Terms of Use and activate them.

  1. Login to MyCSC
  2. Click Projects and select a project
  3. In the bottom right corner you see the Services section. Click the Add services button there.
  4. Select Puhti, (Mahti) and Allas, approve the terms of use and click Add selected services

More information

💭 Docs: User account at CSC

💭 Docs: Project access to CSC services

💭 Research: Project Manager