The Melbourne Research Cloud (MRC) is a suite of on-demand virtualised computing resources (desktops, workstations and servers) that you can use to store, manage, process and compute your research data. You can scale up your computational power, from a single server to hundreds of servers, whenever you need and leave the underlying maintenance to us, Research Computing Services (RCS). We operate the MRC as a central service for all UoM researchers, and run it on infrastructure hosted at the University.
The MRC provides comparable functionality to commercial cloud providers like AWS (Amazon Web Services), Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud Platform. But the key difference is that the MRC is free of charge to the researcher (with costs charged back to faculty budgets on a per usage basis).
Please see our website for more information on:
MRC’s technical specifications, including its general flavors and premium resources (bigger sizes, Big Memory, and GPUs)
Infrastructure
The Melbourne Research Cloud comprises almost 20,000 virtual cores, available across a range of virtual machine sizes. It also includes specialist resources such as GPGPUs, private networking, load balancing, and DNS. It is located within the University of Melbourne's Queensberry Hall data centre.
Choose your cloud
The Melbourne Research Cloud has a range of services and products to suit different researcher needs and preferences, and varying degrees of expertise
MRC Managed Cloud
Products: Researcher Desktop, Research Server
Access: Follow the steps on the Research Computing Portal to self-serve Researcher Desktops and Research Servers
Great option if: You don't want to set up and manage the machines yourself
Best for: Ease of use
With our managed cloud products, you don’t have to set up or maintain the environment. The configuration is all standardised to what most people will need, and we look after all the maintenance for you. Accordingly, there’s very little upskilling required to launch and start using these products.
MRC Unmanaged cloud
Products: MRC IaaS
Access: Start an account in the MRC Dashboard and request a project
Great option if: You want to manage your whole environment and have the skills to do so
Best for: Flexibility and control
With our unmanaged cloud product, you can build and maintain the environment to your own custom needs. You have full control over the configuration and operation, but this comes with the added responsibility of having to look after the machine yourself – you have to install your own security patches and software updates, set up your own security groups, maintain your own backups and so on. Crucially, you have to actively safeguard the machine’s cybersecurity so that it can’t be hacked and used as a backdoor into the University’s systems.
Getting Help
A brief tutorial is available to help you get started with the research cloud, as well as the FAQs and guides. Nectar cloud training is also available externally from ARDC.
If you have technical questions, or would like to discuss your needs with us, you may request help or further hands on help here:
Terms of Service
Please read our Terms of Service