Platform transition: UMP → Waldur (from April 1, 2026)

CSCS has migrated from the User Management Portal (UMP) at account.cscs.ch to a new account and project management tool based on Waldur at portal.cscs.ch.

• portal.cscs.ch (Waldur) — new portal for project and resource management, user invitations, and service accounts
• user-account.cscs.ch — new portal for SSH key management

Connecting to Alps

This section covers how to access CSCS Alps systems and services. All methods share the same authentication foundation: a CSCS account, project membership, and multi-factor authentication.

Prerequisites

Before using any access method you need:

1. A CSCS account that is part of a project with allocated resources — see accounts and projects
2. Multi-factor authentication (MFA) set up — required for all CSCS services — see MFA

Access methods

• Multi-factor authentication

  Required before using any CSCS service. Set up a TOTP authenticator and enroll your device.

  MFA setup

• SSH

  Terminal access to Alps clusters using signed SSH keys via the Ela jump host.

  SSH access

• Web portals

  Browser-based access to CSCS services via Single Sign-On.

  Web portals

• FirecREST

  FirecREST is a RESTful API for programmatically accessing High-Performance Computing resources.

  FirecREST

• HPC Console

  Web-based dashboard for job submission, monitoring, and file browsing.

  HPC Console

• JupyterLab

  JupyterLab is a feature-rich notebook authoring application and editing environment.

  JupyterLab

• VS Code

  How to connect VSCode IDE on your laptop with Alps.

  VS Code