Virtual Desktops at the EMBL BIA Support Team

Welcome to the documentation for our cloud-based virtual desktop platforms. This site provides guides, references, and best practices for working with our two virtual desktop platforms.

Available Platforms

We maintain two distinct platforms.

BARD A containerized environment where all applications run as Docker containers, backed by a Kubernetes cluster infrastructure at EMBL. We currently support two instances:

• Internal Instance for EMBL staff.
• External Instance for external users and courses.

BAND An Openstack-based environment where applications are deployed as Singularity containers, backed by a virtual Slurm cluster. We currently support:

• Tuebingen Instance supported by de.NBI Tuebingen node.
• CESNET Instance supported by Euro-Bioimaging, EGI and CESNET.

What You'll Find Here

This website serves end users running their analyses using the virtual desktops. You'll find:

• User guides for accessing and using the virtual desktop platforms
• Quick reference for supported software on the virtual desktop platforms
• Organising course for using the virtual destop platforms for courses
• Resource for knowing the compute resources available for the virtual desktop platforms

Choosing Your Environment

Select BARD if you need Docker-based GUI applications, newer and more powerful hardware. Select BAND if you need HPC-like workloads or Apptainer-based applications.

Navigate through the menu to explore platform specific details.