Chapter 18 Setup AnVIL Account
The following instructions will walk you through setting up an AnVIL account so that you can carry out data analysis in the cloud.
In order to run your analyses, you will use the AnVIL cloud computing platform. The AnVIL (Analysis Visualization and Informatics Lab-space) platform is specially designed for analyzing biological data, and is used by scientists doing all sorts of biological research.
AnVIL in a nutshell
- Behind the scenes, AnVIL relies on Google Cloud Platform to provide computing infrastructure. Basically, AnVIL lets you “rent” computers through the internet. The analysis is run on the rented computer. AnVIL lets you see the results in your browser.
- AnVIL uses Terra to provide many computational tools useful for biological data analysis, such as RStudio, Galaxy, and Jupyter Notebooks. Terra takes care of installing these tools so you can use them right away.
18.0.1 Create Google Account
First, you will need to set up a (free) Google account.
A Google account usually looks like “myname@gmail.com”. Alternatively, you can enable Google for an existing non-Gmail email address using these instructions.
If you do not already have a Google account that you would like to use for accessing AnVIL, create one now.
18.0.2 Log In to Terra
Next, make sure you can log in to Terra – you will use Terra to perform computations on AnVIL.
You can access Terra by going to anvil.terra.bio. Open Terra, and you should be prompted to sign in with your Google account.