Researchers can request storage on the School's storage cluster if the University's provision does not suit their needs.

There are 3 primary servers and the storage is backed up weekly to a remote location on campus. Data can be accessed via Samba/SMB (normally using Windows Explorer or other file manager). It would only be accessible whilst on the campus network or via the VPN.

The cluster capacity is approx 150TB, some of which is already in use, so there is not unlimited capacity but up to 10 terabytes can be allocated initially and might be able to be increased later. If you wish to make an informal enquiry then you are welcome to email com-sysadmins@sheffield.ac.uk with your proposed requirement and we can advise you.

Assuming there is space available, then please submit a TopDesk ticket with the following information:

1) Amount of storage requested (Terabytes).

2) Which research group it is for.

3) A proposed name for the share (so it can be addressed in the URL used to access it)

4) How long is it required for. An end date is necessary so that storage can be reclaimed at some point; however, this can be extended when necessary. When the end date approaches, the owner of the share will be contacted.

It can be accessed via a UNC path, on Windows like

\\comstore[123].dcs.shef.ac.uk\<sharename>

..or..

SMB://comstore[123].dcs.shef.ac.uk/<sharename>

on Linux or Mac.

The name of the server be provided to you once is has been set up.

When accessing the share, it will ask for your username, which is your School username, not the University one. It will ask also for the domain, which is COMSCIAD.

Also, it can be accessed via the stafflogin.dcs.shef.ac.uk Linux server. From the command line, cd into /share/<sharename>.