Zones

For instructions on how to connect to a closed zone, see here.

What is a closed zone?

GenomeDK is divided into zones. The open zone resembles traditional high-performance computing systems where data can be moved freely in and out of the system.

For projects with additional security or legal requirements, GenomeDK provides closed zones. A closed zone is an additional layer of security on top of our existing security solutions.

A zone is not a “cloud” (we’re not even sure exactly what that means). Cloud solutions are flexible, but most users don’t need that flexibility. The flexibility also comes at a cost: very bad efficiency. With most cloud solutions, you will have to allocate a specific amount of resources up front. If you don’t need all of those resources all of the time, they will be wasted, but you will still have paid for them.

A closed zone provides:

  • Isolated networking. Users and compute nodes that are not part of the closed zone cannot access or even see nodes that are in the closed zone.
  • Data access limitations. Users in the zone cannot directly move data in or out of GenomeDK. Instead, data must be imported and exported. Exporting requires approval from the owner of the closed zone. All exports are logged.
  • Access through a virtual desktop. Users must access the cluster through a special virtual desktop which disallows copy-paste. This means that users cannot leak data by copy-pasting it out of the closed zone.
  • No node sharing. In the open zone, jobs from multiple users can run on the same compute node. In a closed zone, only jobs started by users in the same zone can share a compute node.
  • Limited or no Internet connectivity. The owner of the zone can choose how “open” the zone should be. For example, connections to specific websites can be allowed, or Internet connectivity can be cut completely.
  • User management. The owner of a zone controls who is given access to the zone.

This comes with the same benefits as using the open zone:

  • No need to pre-allocate resources.
  • No waste of resources, you use what you use and pay for only that.

A closed zone is not tied to a single project – one or more project folders belong to the zone, so users in a zone can still organize and share their data via project folders inside the zone.

Users will need a separate account/user for each closed zone they need access to.

If you think that you need a closed zone for your projects, feel free to get in touch.