In NeSI’s July webinar, Tom Harrop from the University of Otago and Genomics Aotearoa fellow Joseph Guhlin will demonstrate why researchers should use containers in their workflows.

Tom and Joseph will work through a genome assembly, gene prediction, and a comparative genomics pipeline while explaining what benefits containers can provide. Specifically, Tom and Joseph will cover:

• What containers are,
• Why you would want to use containers for research, and
• How you go about using them

What are containers?

Containers can be thought of as a computer within a computer. They allow you to run software without installation making it much easier to use software with heavy dependencies. They save time, effort, and can be packaged up and redistributed– easing the path to reproducible and portable research.

Who is this webinar for?

This webinar is an introduction to containers for researchers who want to know what containers are, why they may be interested in using them, and how to get started. This is an introductory level 'show and tell'-style webinar and researchers from all domains are welcome to attend.

You are welcome to observe the webinar as a seminar or follow-along with the presenters as they walk attendees through an interactive tutorial. To actively follow along, you will need access to a computer or HPC with particular software tools installed (please see setup instructions below).

Prerequisites:

We recommend that you have basic familiarity with the command line (bash). This short refresher course will be sufficient for our training.

Setup:

While not required, we strongly encourage you to follow along on your own machine if possible. In order to do that, you need to have one of the following setups:

• Already have an active account on NeSI (Please note: NeSI will provide access to attendees who apply before the webinar but will not be able to provision new accounts at short notice, e.g., on the day of or during this webinar);
• OR have Singularity set up on an accessible machine

More Information

If you have any questions or would like more information about this session, please email training@nesi.org.nz.