Skip to content

🚀 Quick Setup

This guide will walk you through the complete process of getting started with CANFAR, from account setup to your first analysis session.

Step 1: Get Your CADC Account

First time user? You need a Canadian Astronomy Data Centre (CADC) account:

🔗 Request CADC Account

Account Processing Time

CADC accounts are typically approved within 1-2 business days.

Step 2: Join or Create Your Research Group

Once you have a CADC account:

Ask your collaboration administrator to add you via the CADC Group Management Interface

Email support@canfar.net with:

  • Your research project description
  • Expected team size
  • Storage requirements
  • Timeline

Step 3: First Login and Setup

  1. Login to CANFAR - Visit canfar.net with your CADC credentials
  2. Accept Terms of Service - Complete the initial setup
  3. Access Image Registry - Login to images.canfar.net (required for private containers)

Pro Tip

Ask your group administrator to grant you read access to private container images if your collaboration uses custom software.

Step 4: Launch Your First Session

Try launching a Jupyter notebook to start analyzing data:

  1. Click Science Portal from the main menu
  2. Use the default settings as is
  3. Click Launch
  4. Wait ~30s and click to open your session

🎉 You're ready to go! Your session includes Python, common astronomy packages, and access to shared storage.

Recommended Starting Point

Start with the default astroml container - it includes most common astronomy packages and is regularly updated with the latest software.

📁 Understanding Your Workspace

Now that you're logged in, here's how CANFAR organizes your data:

Location Purpose Persistence Best For
/arc/projects/yourgroup/ Shared research data ✅ Permanent, backed up Datasets, results, shared code
/arc/home/yourusername/ Personal files ✅ Permanent, backed up Personal configs, small files
/scratch/ Fast temporary space ❌ Wiped at session end Large computations, temporary files

🤝 Collaboration Features

Session Sharing

Share running sessions with collaborators:

  1. In your session, copy the session URL
  2. Share with team members (must be in same group)
  3. They can view and interact with your work in real-time

Storage Sharing

All group members have access to /arc/projects/yourgroup/ - perfect for:

  • Sharing datasets and results
  • Collaborative analysis scripts
  • Common software environments
  • Project documentation

🔗 What's Next?

Ready to dive deeper?

💬 Need Help?