Benefits of submitting jobs via a CLC Server
Working with a CLC Server brings several benefits when interacting with a CLC Genomics Cloud setup, including:
- Audit trail Jobs submitted to the cloud are logged, just as other jobs sent to the server. The audit log contains details of the job such as who submitted it, to which AWS Batch queue, whether the job succeeded and failed, etc. Further details are provided in Using a CLC Server to monitor and review cloud jobs.
- User management A single set of AWS IAM credentials can be entered in an AWS Connection in the CLC Server, instead of configuring credentials in each individual CLC Workbench. All jobs sent to the cloud will use those AWS credentials. The CLC Server user that submitted a job is recorded in the server audit log. CLC Server user management supports connections to LDAP or Active Directory, as described at https://resources.qiagenbioinformatics.com/manuals/clcserver/current/admin/index.php?manual=Authentication_options.html.
- Access control Access to an AWS Connection can be limited to certain groups, allowing fine control over access to particular accounts or resources. In addition, access to AWS Batch queues is specified in CLC Genomics Cloud presets, configured in the CLC Server web administrative interface. Access to cloud presets can also be limited to specified groups.
- Extend functionality using external applications Non-CLC tools can be launched using CLC software by configuring them as external applications. Following the steps described in Integrating third party tools into CLC software,
external applications can be launched directly from a CLC Workbench, via the Toolbox or in a workflow context, to run on the cloud.
- Control over software versions used When submitting jobs via a CLC Server, the version of the CLC software used for the cloud job is the same as the CLC Server version. When submitting jobs that include tools provided by a plugin, the plugin version used in the cloud is the same as that installed on the CLC Server. See the appendix for further details.
- Close the CLC Workbench after job or data transfer has started When launching analyses on the cloud using data from a CLC Server import/export area, you close down your CLC Workbench, or disconnect from the CLC Server, and transfers to S3 associated with the job (e.g. the workflow, parameter settings and any data held on the CLC Server or in import/export directories) will continue to be transferred. If submitting directly from a CLC Workbench, the process must proceed beyond data transfer steps before it can be closed.