Technology Troubleshooting Tips

ACCESS

The ACCESS platform is the first stop for new people in The Data Mine.

Any users who would like to log-in to Anvil (students and mentors) will need to setup an ACCESS ID.

When creating an ACCESS ID, users will sometimes have an error with the ID creation. When that happens, students can submit a ticket to ACCESS Support to request assistance.

The Data Mine can help to submit tickets as well.

If you need assistance with an ACCESS ticket, submit the issue information and a screenshot of the error to datamine-help@purdue.edu and the data science team will work with you to submit a ticket to ACCESS.

Forgot ACCESS ID

Forgot ACCESS Password

After the ACCESS ID is setup, the steps below need to be completed:

  1. The ACCESS ID needs to be added to The Data Mine’s allocation.

  2. After the ID is added to the allocation, the ID also needs to be added to the security group for the team project directory on Anvil.

    • This should happen automatically within 24-hours. If there is an issue, submit a ticket to datamine-help@purdue.edu with the information below:

      • User’s ACCESS ID

      • Student team name

Anvil

Anvil is a high performance computing (HPC) cluster at Purdue University. The system is maintained by the Rosen Center for Advanced Computing.

Once the ACCESS setup above is complete, users can log-in to ondemand.anvil.rcac.purdue.edu. The OnDemand Anvil platform provides the users access to common applications like Jupyter Lab, VSCode, R-Studio, and SAS.

A few important notes about the Anvil platform:

  • Be sure to use the applications under The Data Mine section of OnDemand.

    • These are setup by The Data Mine for users.

  • When running code in an environment the seminar kernel is most commonly used.

    • This kernel has many coding packages preloaded.

  • By default, The Data Mine’s apps limit the number of resources that can be requested for a session.

  • Similarly, The Data Mine does have GPU resources, but these require approval.

  • When users first connect, they may not see their project directory.

    • The helpful tips section shows how to setup a link to the project directory.

  • Users aren’t able to install their own packages. When a package is needed, there are two options:

    1. Contact datamine-help@purdue.edu and we’ll add the package for you.

    2. Setup a custom environment on Anvil.

Custom environments allow students to install packages at will.

However, if they break, they are not supported by The Data Mine.

This means that if your team is working in a custom environment and it stops working, The Data Mine won’t be able to help.

GitHub

GitHub is installed by default on Anvil. It is strongly encouraged that teams use GitHub for version control and documentation.

Each student team will have a GitHub repository setup by default.

If you aren’t sure of the repo’s name, email datamine-help@purdue.edu.

The Data Mine has a GitHub on Anvil guide that helps team’s with their initial repo setup and interaction.

It’s helpful to review the GitHub guide above and test it out before your team starts using GitHub.

This way you can troubleshoot any issues and help lead the team through their setup.

It’s also common for teams to see permission issues when first using GitHub.

If anyone has a permissions issue, send their GitHub ID to datamine-help@purdue.edu. The team will add them to The Data Mine’s GitHub organization and the permissions group for the repo.

If the user has trouble finding the GitHub invite, check: github.com/orgs/TheDataMine/invitation

Windows Servers

Specific applications, like Power BI, Tableau, or ArcGIS Pro, may require a Windows Server.

If your team needs a Windows environment, the first step is to email datamine-help@purdue.edu.

When submitting a ticket, be sure to include:

  • Your team’s name

  • The email of each student that will need access to the server

Once the server is ready, The Data Mine team will walk you through the Windows server connection process.