Europractice Cloud Design Environment
CHAAPS - Cloud Host Access and Provisioning System, allows Europractice members to build a secure IC design environment hosted on your own organisation's AWS cloud. The aim of CHAAPS is to give Europractice members an option for using EDA tools in the cloud where on premise compute is insufficient.
Easy
Pre-configured Europractice design tool installed in one click. No need for complex installs or length user configuration.
Simple user account setup including MS EntraID integration offering the option for authentication against your corporate Active Directory.
Scalable
Launch and scale instances for your current needs.
Easily create pop-up classrooms for large classroom teaching.
Ability to harness considerable cloud compute for demanding IC design tasks e.g. simulation or sign-off verification.
Secure
CHAAPS runs on your own AWS cloud and therefore with your own organisations security policies.
Custom interface that allows the control of the features that are available to individual users (i.e. easy to lock down undergraduate accounts while allowing more features for trusted researchers).
CHAAPS is built within your own organisation’s AWS environment and it is owned and controlled by you. It is built via scripts within your own cloud and is therefore secure and unique to your organisation. Europractice provides the scripts but does not have access to your environment. CHAAPS provides access to configured and pre-installed EDA tools (that the Europractice member licenses) via a simple interface avoiding lengthy and complex installation steps. EDA tools that your organisation licenses can be installed by one-click.
Through an intuitive graphical web interface, CHAAPS makes managing EDA tools and PDK entitlements straightforward. CHAAPS allows users to provision graphical Linux desktop environments with direct access to their installed tools, home user areas, and project spaces. These desktop environments are pre-configured based on a RHEL machine image configured for microelectronic design flows but can be further customised and tailored to your institution's individual needs.
Via a user and group management dashboard, nominated local CHAAPS administrators within Europractice members can create users with different role types including full administrator, research user, and basic user. The basic user type being ideal for undergraduates where use is restricted to the machine instance you allocate and the EDA tools you allow them to access. CHAAPS allows more flexibility for advanced research users to leverage the benefits of cloud computing for microelectronic design flows, including the ability to select multiple appropriately sized compute instances based on project needs and the specific design challenge.
CHAAPS is now available to early adopters. If you would like to be considered and have a genuine current application need then please email MicroelectronicsCentre@stfc.ac.uk with details of your need and application.
Key Aspects of CHAAPS:
CHAAPS is built via Europractice developed configuration scripts within the Europractice member’s own AWS cloud.
Secure. Europractice will help you with issues but does not have default access to your data – it is your organisations own AWS cloud with your organisations security policy and can only be accessed by Europractice for support when invited.
Allows Europractice members to lever any computing credits or discounts it has from AWS. Costs are paid directly to AWS by your organisation.
Access to configured and pre-installed EDA tools (that the Europractice member licenses) via a simple interface avoiding lengthy and complex installation steps.
Option for Europractice members to upload PDKs into their CHAAPS environment.
Easy mechanism to launch pop-up classrooms, ideal for undergraduate teaching labs.
System monitoring reports which ensuring unused desktop instances are terminated as part of an automatic clean-up process.
Local user accounts or optional MS EntraID integration offering authentication against your organisation’s Active Directory accounts.
FAQ:
Members can use the Europractice developed CHAAPS deployment
scripts to create an IC design environment within their own AWS cloud.
Yes, your project data and PDK (where the NDA allows) can be uploaded into your CHAAPS environment.
You can use your existing on-premise licenses to enable EDA tools in the CHAAPS cloud or create a new license server in the CHAAPS cloud.
AWS costs will depend on the amount and size of the instances
running. To help reduce costs, CHAAPS has a dedicated dashboard
for tracking costs and a System Monitor process that ensures
unused desktop instances are paused/terminated as part of an
automatic clean-up process.
Yes! CHAAPS is running within your own AWS Cloud all costs
are paid directly by your organisation, where any discounts or
credits can be applied.
