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Support

Ask for help or tell us what happened. You do not need to identify the component responsible or prepare a complete bug report first.

Give feedback or ask a question

Use Q&A for questions, Feedback for your experience, and Ideas for improvements. The issue forms accept problem reports and documentation corrections. Start in Feedback if you are unsure. Read the community guidelines for the roadmap, voting, and what happens after you post.

Clients from v1.5.0 onward provide canfar feedback, which prints the reporting URL without opening a browser or collecting information. It does not require authentication or a working configuration.

The team reviews feedback weekly and summarizes progress in the platform release notes every three months with the new release. Individual conversations receive updates when decisions or release availability change. Email remains available if you prefer not to create a GitHub account.

Troubleshooting guides

  • Getting started covers login, server selection, and a first Session.
  • Storage covers Storage Identifiers, /arc, /scratch, and Python filesystems.
  • Batch processing explains Pending, queueing, creation output, and headless troubleshooting.
  • Permissions explains identity, project groups, images, and access-denied errors.
  • FAQ collects short answers and command examples.

Fast checks

Login or server selection

canfar login cadc
canfar server ls
canfar server use SERVER_NAME
canfar config get active.server -o json

Use the Identity Provider (IDP) and Server Name supplied by your platform operator. Do not paste certificates, tokens, or passwords into a support request.

A Session is not ready

Pending means the platform accepted the request but has not made the Session ready. It can include admission, resource, image-pull, or initialization work. Inspect the Session and its events before changing the request:

canfar ps --all
canfar info SESSION_ID
canfar events SESSION_ID
canfar stats

canfar logs SESSION_ID is useful after the container has started. A Pending Session may not have application logs yet. See batch troubleshooting.

Message or symptom Meaning Next step
has reached the maximum of N active sessions You are at the per-user limit for interactive Sessions Delete one you no longer need; headless Sessions do not count
image not in a trusted repository The image is on a registry this Server does not trust Use an image from canfar image ls
No authentication provided for unknown or private image The image is private, or not yet labelled and listed Supply registry credentials
Process Killed, exit code 137, or No space left on device A Session limit was reached See Session limits
sudo or a package install is refused Sessions never run as root Install the software in the Container Image

A data operation fails

Confirm the identifier and path, then check group membership with the project administrator:

canfar data ls -lh IDENTIFIER:/path
canfar data info IDENTIFIER:/path/to/file
canfar data stat IDENTIFIER:/path/to/file

Use /scratch for temporary staged data and /arc or a persistent VOSpace Service for outputs that must survive a Session. See data transfers.

A browser Session does not open

Confirm that the Session is ready with canfar ps --all and canfar info SESSION_ID. Then retry the link in a current browser or private window. If the Session is Running but the endpoint remains unreachable, report the Session ID, Server Name, timestamp, and browser error to support.

Contact CANFAR support

Email support@canfar.net for account access, project membership, persistent data errors, service outages, or a Session that remains Pending after the platform's normal queue interval. Include:

  • the Server Name and Identity Provider (IDP);
  • the command or UI action, with paths and image references redacted as needed;
  • the Session ID and status, if applicable;
  • the time and timezone;
  • exact error text; and
  • relevant info, events, or stats output.

Send security vulnerabilities privately; see the security policy. Do not include passwords, tokens, certificates, or private data in email or public issues.

Community and bug reports

Use the CANFAR Discord for community chat and Discussions for questions, feedback, and ideas. The bug reporting guide explains what helps a report. Commands, versions, and reviewed error excerpts are useful when available, but are optional. Maintainers can help clarify a report and coordinate with upstream projects.