KB013: CephRDS Onboarding & Access Guide

Scope: UCR Researchers, External Collaborators Audience: All Users Last Updated: March 20, 2026

1. What is CephRDS?

Ceph Research Data Service (CephRDS) is UCR’s premier on-premise object storage cluster, funded by the NSF CC* program. It provides over 2 PB of highly resilient (6+3 Erasure Coded), S3-compatible storage designed specifically for active research data and large-scale computational workflows.

Benefits:

• High Performance: Direct connection to the campus Science DMZ and HPCC for rapid data transfer.
• Resiliency: Can survive multiple simultaneous drive or node failures without data loss.
• S3 Compatibility: Works natively with standard tools like rclone, Python (boto3), and visual clients (Cyberduck, Universal S3 UI).
• Sustainable Pricing: Built-in hardware refresh cycles via a $40/TB/Year rental rate or a $200/Usable TB one-time permanent purchase.

2. Naming Conventions & Account Structure

To clearly distinguish on-premise Ceph storage from other cloud offerings, CephRDS utilizes a standardized naming convention based on the Principal Investigator’s (PI) NetID:

• Lab Account Name: ucr-rds-[pi-netid]-lab
• Storage Buckets: ucr-rds-[pi-netid]-lab-hdd (for standard storage) or ucr-rds-[pi-netid]-lab-ssd (for high-performance NVMe storage).

Access Strategy: The storage buckets belong to the Lab. If a PI wishes to grant access to a student or collaborator, Research Computing will create a unique account for that individual using their NetID, and grant them specific access permissions (ACLs) to the main Lab bucket. This ensures a clear audit trail for data management.

3. Getting Started & Provisioning

A. UCR Faculty & Internal Labs

1. Request Access: Submit a BearHelp ticket to Research Computing requesting CephRDS storage. Include your requested quota (in TB) and your Chart of Accounts (COA) if exceeding the initial subsidized allocation.
2. Provisioning: Our team will provision your ucr-rds-[pi-netid]-lab account and establish your strict hardware quotas.
3. Credential Delivery: You will receive your S3 Access Key and Secret Key securely.

B. Lab Members & External Collaborators

1. PI Approval: The UCR PI must submit a ticket explicitly requesting access for the individual to their lab bucket.
2. Provisioning: Our team will generate a unique set of Access/Secret keys for the user, scoped strictly to the UCR PI’s bucket.

Security Warning: Treat your Secret Key like a password. Never commit it to GitHub or share it in plaintext.

4. Connecting to CephRDS (rds.ucr.edu)

CephRDS uses the S3 API Protocol. The official connection endpoint is: https://rds.ucr.edu

For specific configuration guides and code examples, please see:

• KB018: Accessing CephRDS with Python (boto3)
• KB019: Accessing CephRDS via Graphical S3 Clients

5. Troubleshooting & FAQ

Q: I got a “403 Forbidden” error when trying to upload. A: You have likely hit your assigned storage quota for your bucket. Please contact Research Computing to request a quota increase.

Q: Can I use FileZilla? A: We recommend FileZilla Pro (which supports S3), Cyberduck, or Universal S3 UI. The free version of FileZilla does not natively support the modern S3 protocols required for CephRDS.

Q: I lost my Secret Key. A: Secret Keys cannot be recovered, only regenerated. Contact support to generate a new key pair. You will need to update all your scripts and clients with the new key.