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Frequently Asked Questions

Who is eligible for a WestGrid account?

In general, any academic researcher from a Canadian research institution who requires significant high performance computing resources to support his or her research may apply for an account on WestGrid. WestGrid resources must be used exclusively for research projects that fit into one of the following categories:

  1. Research projects that are supported by a recognized funding agency
  2. Research projects that are eligible for funding from such an agency
  3. Industrial research projects
  4. Research under contract

WestGrid systems may be used for...

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How do I get started using WestGrid?

Please see the QuickStart Guide for New Users.

What is Collaboration?

The process of working together to accomplish a task. From a WestGrid standpoint, when we talk about collaboration we really mean DISTRIBUTED, SYNCHRONOUS collaboration. The goal of the WestGrid collaboration infrastructure is to support researchers by bringing the right people together, with the right data, at the right time.

What do you mean by Distributed Collaboration?

By Distributed Collaboration, we mean collaborating with colleagues at a distance. WestGrid provides researchers with access to a range of tools to help them work with colleagues at remote institutions, whether across town or around the world.

What do you mean by Synchronous Collaboration?

By Synchronous Collaboration, we mean collaborating with colleagues at the same time. The WestGrid collaboration technologies are targeted at supporting remote research meetings, seminars, and training.

Why do I need collaboration support?

You might not. With that said, if you are working with researchers at other institutions the WestGrid collaboration infrastructure might be able to help you. Our goal is to help you perform your research more effectively by helping you to communicate with remote colleagues more effectively, create more effective distribtued research groups, and helping to build new research relationships.

What collaboration technologies do you support?

We support a number of technologies, including Vidyo, H323 and AccessGrid video conferencing, and VRVS collaboration tools. In addition, we support an instant messaging server that uses the Jabber protocol.

How do I find out more about collaboration?

We have an extensive set of web pages that provide details on the technologies we support. Please refer to the Collaboration support web page for more details.

I've forgotten my password, can someone send me/reset my password?

For security reasons, no one at WestGrid knows your password.

If you are sure that you have forgotten your password, we need to relay a temporary password to you by telephone. Send an email to accounts@westgrid.ca and we will give you appropriate telephone numbers that you can use to contact a WestGrid account administrator.  When you phone you will be given a temporary password that you use to log in to

https://...

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I'm having problems connecting to one of the WestGrid resources

If you are having connection issues, first check the WestGrid System Status page for any known issues/outages that may be affecting your connection.

First-time WestGrid users should read the section on connecting in the QuickStart Guide for New Users.

If there are no known issues, your connection problem may be related to Domain Name System (DNS). To successfully connect to WestGrid systems, your computer's IP address must be correctly...

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