The Users Bulletin provides a summary of new policies, procedures, and events of interest to MSI users. It is published quarterly.
To request technical assistance with your MSI account, please contact help@msi.umn.edu.
1. User Accounts: MSI is making changes that will consolidate user accounts and integrate them with the University's Office of Information Technology (OIT) central system. All users will have a single MSI account with a username that matches their UMN Internet ID (formerly called X.500). This account will have the same password as the UMN Internet ID, and passwords will be managed by the UMN OIT (including password resets and expirations). This will increase security and simplify systems access.
During 2016, MSI will gradually migrate all existing user accounts to centrally authorized accounts. Users will be notified prior to their account migration.
Please visit the MSI FAQ to learn more about these changes.
Users who currently have multiple accounts:
Users with multiple MSI accounts will have these accounts merged into a single account that matches their UMN Internet ID. See more information at the FAQ.
Non-UMN users:
MSI is transitioning from using sponsored accounts for non-UMN affiliated users to a “Person of Interest (POI)” designation. This change will create a greater level of security for accounts. Existing sponsored accounts are being converted to POI.
As of September 1, 2016, MSI will no longer accept sponsored accounts as valid UMN Internet IDs. PI groups who have users with sponsored accounts will need to convert the accounts to POI in order to renew the account. PI groups will need to get POI status for any external user they wish to add to their group.
The MSI Tech Support staff (help@msi.umn.edu) has converted existing non-University affiliated PI groups to POIs. University-affiliated PIs are authorized to set up POIs with the University.
2. Lab Queue Transition in June: The Lab Queue will be transitioned in June 2016. Batch workflows should be migrated to HPC resources (e.g. Mesabi), and interactive workflows should transition to our other interactive resources. More information will be posted when available; in the meantime the contents of our Interactive Computing tutorial may be useful.
3. Hadoop Cluster: MSI is offering a Hadoop Cluster as a new MSI Beta service, replacing the experimental Red nodes. Information can be found in the Storage section of the MSI website. Please request access by contacting MSI at help@msi.umn.edu.
4. Spring and Summer Tutorials: The tutorial schedule for the rest of the Spring semester is posted on the MSI website. The Summer tutorial schedule will be added to this list shortly. The Summer tutorial series will begin in late June.
5. 2016 MSI Research Exhibition: MSI’s annual Research Exhibition will be held on April 26, 2016, in Walter Library. The event includes a judged poster session with prizes (travel awards) awarded to the finalists. There is still time for MSI users to submit proposals to participate in the competition. Please see the 2016 MSI Research Exhibition page on the MSI website for complete information on how to submit a poster. Proposals are due on March 23; PDFs of the posters, for judging, will be due April 6.
6. Jobs at MSI:
b. Clinical and Research Genomics Analyst
7. Useful Webpages: Looking for help with using MSI? One of these pages may have the information you need:
b. Getting Started (includes Quickstart Guides)
c. MSI Systems
e. Staff Listing and Areas of Expertise
f. Upcoming Events and Tutorials