The HDF Virtual Organisation (VO) Concept#

Virtual Organisations (i.e. groups) are the key element of the authorisation in HDF.

The Virtual Organisation (VO) concept was established long before HDF and it applies to HPC but also to the grid world:

• VOs consist on one hand of services that support a given VO, and of users (members) of the VO on the other hand.

• VOs are managed by VO administrators (aka Principal Investigators). Administrators of Virtual Organisations are responsible for services into their VO (e.g. by writing proposals for HPC computing time, or by otherwise obtaining quotas on specific pieces of infrastructures).

• VO administrators are also responsible for managing the users that are members of a Virtual Organisation, using the Group Management interface of unity

In HDF AAI we maintain a List of VOs, indicating who is the contact person and which assurance is required to join.