Intro to ACCORD

Overview

ACCORD is a web-accessible secure platform which allows researchers from Virginia public universities to analyze their sensitive data in a central location

ACCORD projects

  • ACCORD is project-based:
    • Investigators can have multiple projects
      • Example: kidney research and an RNA-seq study
    • Projects are isolated, you cannot transfer or access data between them
  • Invite co-investigators

Storage on ACCORD


  • ACCORD projects come with:

    • Home directory of 50GB
    • Project directory of 1TB
    • Additional storage can be purchased. Please submit a request here

Data on ACCORD

  • ACCORD supports:
    • De-identified PII
    • FERPA
    • Business Confidential
    • Other types of sensitive data

  • ACCORD does not support:
    • Identifiable HIPAA
    • CUI
    • FISMA
    • PCI

Questions about whether your data is suitable for ACCORD? Submit a support ticket here

Data retention

  • Data is stored on the system for 6 months.
  • To extend your project, please fill out a request

Globus data transfer

  • Data transfer is processed through Research Computing staff for the time being.
  • Please fill out a request here for data transfer

Requirements to access ACCORD

  • To access ACCORD, you need:
    • A modern web browser such as Chrome, Firefox, Safari, or Edge
    • You must be logged into your institution’s VPN
      • If you have a sponsored account or are a UVA researcher, you will need the HSVPN
    • Install and register OPSWAT, a posture-checking client

ACCORD Portal


Logging into ACCORD

  • To access ACCORD, you need to log in through InCommon

  • Select your home institution from the dropdown menu (or UVA if you have a sponsored account)

Logging into ACCORD

  • Login using your home institution’s credentials

  • In this example, UVA will ask you to login using NetBadge. If you're from another institution, this will be different

ACCORD dashboard

  • Once you log in, you will see the ACCORD dashboard
  • Your name will appear in the top right corner, along with any recent or currently running sessions

Start a new session

  • A session is an individual instance running one of the available containers (RStudio, JupyterLab, etc.)
  • To create a new session, click on the “Start A New Session” button in the top right

Select a project

  • To create a new session, you need to select a project
  • Projects are isolated. You can only access data you’ve uploaded to the project you’ve selected

Select an environment

  • After selecting a project, select the environment you want to use
  • To start your new environment, click on the “Start” button

Connecting to a session

  • Your new session will be in the “Current Sessions” section
  • Note: Your session may show pending as the system waits for resources to become available
  • Once your session is ready, click the “Connect” button to launch your session

Stopping a session

  • When you’re finished working in a session, always click on the “Stop” button to delete it. This will free up resources for the system
  • Failing to delete sessions will slow down the system and create long wait times for researchers

Recent sessions

  • After stopping a session, it will be moved to the “Recent Sessions” section
  • You can re-launch any session by clicking the “Launch” button

Want to learn more?