ARCHIVED: Getting started on the IU Research Database Complex
On this page:
- Introduction
- Requesting an account
- Your database login
- Connecting to your database
- Storing data
- Support
- Documentation
Introduction
The Indiana University Research Database Complex (rdc.uits.iu.edu) supports research-related databases and
data-intensive applications that require databases. The RDC supports
Oracle and MySQL databases, and provides an environment
(rdcweb.uits.iu.edu) for database-driven web applications
focusing on research.
The RDC is strictly devoted to supporting research; it is not an instructional or classroom environment. If you need to use Oracle or Microsoft SQL Server in an instructional environment, please see Instructional resources: Database and web server access for instruction.
Requesting an account
Access to the RDC is available to all Indiana University graduate students, faculty, and staff. Undergraduates and non-IU collaborators must have IU faculty sponsors. For information about user responsibilities and security issues, see Research Database Complex (RDC) usage policies.
-
IU researchers: To obtain an account on the RDC,
visit the Account Management Service at:
https://itaccounts.iu.edu/
After you log in (using your Network ID), click
create more accounts. Follow the instructions to create your RDC account. - Non-IU researchers: Affiliate accounts on the research systems are available for non-IU researchers. For more, see About sponsored computing accounts for IU affiliates.
Note: Accounts remain valid only while the account
holder is a registered IU student, or an IU faculty or staff
member. On Big Red, Quarry, Mason, and the Research Database Complex,
accounts are disabled during the semester following the account
holder's departure from IU, and then are purged within six months. To
exempt a research systems account from disabling, email a request to
the Support Center's Academic Accounts team
( valid@indiana.edu ). If the request is
approved, the account will remain activated for one calendar year
beyond the user's departure from IU. Then, at the end of the year, the
account will be purged. Extensions beyond one year for research
accounts are granted only for accounts involved in funded research and
having an IU faculty sponsor, or with approval of the Dean or Director
of Research and Academic Computing.
Your database login
If you don't have an account on the RDC, visit the Account Management Service (AMS) to request one:
https://itaccounts.iu.edu/See How do I get my first computing accounts at IU? If you don't see RDC as an option on the AMS web page, email High Performance Systems (HPS).
If you already have an account on the RDC, email HPS to request an Oracle or MySQL database. After UITS staff create your database, you will receive a Welcome letter via email that contains information about your database username and password.
If you have an account on the RDC and an Oracle or MySQL database login but don't recall the database password, refer to the database Welcome letter that was emailed to you. If you need help, email HPS.
Connecting to your database
Oracle
For instructions on how to connect to your Oracle database on the RDC, see:
- On the Research Database Complex at IU, how do I access my Oracle or MySQL database?
- How do I access my database on the IU Research Database Complex using the Oracle client for Windows XP?
- How do I access my Oracle database on the IU Research Database complex using Aqua Data Studio?
- In Windows, how do I set up an ODBC source to access my Oracle database on the IU Research Database Complex?
MySQL
For instructions on how to connect to your Oracle database on the RDC, see:
- On the Research Database Complex at IU, how do I access my Oracle or MySQL database?
- At IU, how do I use the phpMyAdmin web interface to administer my MySQL database on the Research Database Complex?
- On the RDC at IU, how do I stop or start my MySQL database?
Storing data
Your home directory resides on a NAS storage device. You have a 10 GB disk quota that is shared with Big Red and Quarry, if you have accounts on those systems.
Scratch file systems are available, but are not backed up to tape. Any data purged from the scratch file systems cannot be recovered. You are responsible for making your own data backups in case of disk failure or purging to free disk space. No disk quotas are enforced on these scratch file systems:
-
Local scratch: Scratch disk space is available
locally on each node in
/tmp(1 GB), and an additional large scratch file system named/scr(10 GB). Files in/tmpare automatically deleted when they are 24 hours old. Files in/scrare deleted when they are 30 days old.
-
Shared scratch: Shared scratch space is hosted on
the Data Capacitor. The path to your scratch space is
/N/dc/scratch/username(replaceusernamewith your username). Files older than 60 days are periodically purged, following user notification.
Support
The UITS High Performance Systems (HPS) group supports and administers the RDC; if you have questions about the system, email HPS. If you have questions about compilers, programming, scientific or numerical libraries, or debuggers, email the UITS High Performance Applications team. If you have questions about statistical and mathematical software, email the UITS Stat/Math Center.
Documentation
Oracle
For further documentation, see the Oracle Database Documentation Library, 10g Release 2 (10.2) and the following online guides:
- New Features Guide
- Concepts
- Master Glossary
- Application Developer's Guide - Fundamentals
- Reference
- SQL Reference
- PL/SQL User's Guide and Reference
MySQL
For further documentation, see the MySQL Reference Manual.
Last modified on June 06, 2012.







