General Information
Browser Requirements
The Nimbix Cloud requires Internet Explorer 10 or later on Windows, as well as the latest versions of Chrome and Firefox on all platforms. While other browsers may work, please use a supported web browser to ensure the best experience possible.
Signing up for Service
You'll first need to request access by filling out this form. Once this is submitted, you will be contacted by our team to learn more about goals and get you set up with an account. Once you receive the invitation to the Nimbix Platform, click the link in the invite to complete the registration and create your account.
Logging into Nimbix Cloud
Once you’ve created your account, visit the Nimbix Cloud Login page to log in to your dashboard and start using the platform. If at any time you forget your password or would like to change it, simply click the Forgot Password? link at the bottom of the login page to reset it.
Uploading and Downloading Data
You can upload and download your data at any time whether you are running jobs or not. We have have a few different ways to upload. Here are 3 different ways to transfer data on Nimbix:
- Using Vaults over HTTPS (recommended)
- Secure FTP protocol (SFTP)
- Nimbix File Manager
We will go over using Vaults in this quick start guide. If you'd like to use a different method, check out our article where we walk you through each method: How to Transfer Files to and from Nimbix Cloud?
In order to access Vaults click here: vaults.nimbix.net
Log in using your Nimbix Cloud username and your API key as your password.
Once you're logged in, you'll see your Dashboard:
The Home directory is where your Elastic_File folder will live. If you've purchased a Performance_SSD, you'll see that in your Home directory as well.
The Elastic_File and the Performance_SSD folders contain all of your Nimbix files and are the only locations you can save files. You cannot drag and drop files between the Elastic_File and Performance_SSD, you'll have to upload to them directly.
Upload Files
Managing files is easier with Vaults, not to mention much faster than SFTP and the Nimbix File Manager when downloading/uploading files.
You can drag and drop files from your computer into the specific folder you'd like to upload to or you can click on the Upload button to navigate to a file on your computer to upload.
Download Files
You can click on the Gear Icon to select the given file/folder and it will give you some options, one of which is Download.
If you're looking to download a single file, you can simply click on the file name and it will start downloading automatically.
If you'd like to read more about this and other methods, please visit the article mentioned above.
Account Management and Inviting Users to your Team
There are several admin functions for managing your team. In this quick start guide, we'll just talk about inviting team members to your team. If you're interested in setting up team permissions, promote team members to admins, impersonate team members and more, please check this section of our help center: Account Management
Inviting Team Members
- Click "Nimbix" in the top right to expand the menu.
- Click "Account"
- Click "Account on the top left to expand the menu.
- Click "Team"
- Click "INVITE" and fill out the email and name of the user you want to invite.
Here's an image of these steps:
Once team members complete their registration, you can see team billing statistics on the dashboard, and run either summary or itemized billing reports showing activity for the entire team at any time.
Ready to run Workflows
Selecting Workflows or Applications
Nimbix is constantly updating our Hyper Hub with new workflows and applications, both free and commercial. Once you log into the portal, you can access this catalog of applications by clicking Compute at the very top right of the page next to Dashboard. Once there, you can sort by application category as well as applications that require leased licenses versus ones you can run on demand. For licensed applications, you should contact support@nimbix.net to connect your license server or key to your account.
Clicking on an application will expand a menu of “commands”. Commands typically correspond to specific workflows. Here is an example below after click on the ANSYS Platform app card:
Once you click on the command you want to run, you’ll be brought to the Task Builder shown below.
Here you will enter required and optional workflow-specific parameters including the number of cores you'd like to run on by clicking on the General, Optional, Storage, and Preview Submission tabs. If the workflow requires data, you will be able to select input file(s) from your storage vault directly in the Task Builder.
Submitting Jobs
Once you finish entering the required/optional parameters, click the green Submit button at the bottom of the page. If you'd like, you can check the API call in "Preview Submission" tab before you submit. Clicking Submit will bring you to your Dashboard where you will see your job start, along with all of your other running jobs, if you have any.
As shown above, your job will also have a Job Status. Here are the different job statuses and what they mean:
Starting: The job is allocating the resources needed to run the job.
Processing: The job is currently running and you can now connect to it
Queued: The job is waiting for the resources required in order to run the job. It will automatically start once those resources are available.
Billing does not start until the job moves to Processing state, so you are not billed while the job is either Queued or in the Starting phase.
Connecting to, Monitoring, and Controlling Jobs
Once a job is running (in Processing state), you can simply click on the blue "Click here to connect" and you will connect to the job directly inside the browser. If you'd like to connect via SSH or VNC you can click on the Information button (the "i" with a circle around it) on that particular job to get the information needed to do so. Here is some more information on connecting through SSH and VNC.
You can shut down jobs by clicking the red Power button on that job inside the Dashboard. Jobs will not shutdown when your processing is complete unless you are running a Batch job. Keep this in mind when running jobs to avoid unwanted costs.
Getting Additional Help or Providing Feedback
For additional help, please reach out to Nimbix Support by contacting support@nimbix.net at any time.
We are also delighted to hear your feedback on the quality of service, product features, and anything else you’d like to tell us. Please do not hesitate to contact us at any time and we’ll gladly take all your comments into consideration.
Thank you for choosing the Nimbix Cloud!