Restricted Access to Software (Admin Guide)

Providing Restricted Access to Programs to eligible users

Introduction

Gaussian is used here as an example of software that only eligible users should have access to. Every person who wants to use the Gaussian software package has to consent to the license agreement between Gaussian, Inc. and the contracting partner (usually the University). In the following, we describe the approach TU Dortmund is taking where Gaussian is licensed by the faculty of chemistry and biology.

Installation on the Cluster

Gaussian can be installed as described in the user manual using the PGI compiler. Note that Gaussian is very sensitive to the correct compiler version and you are advised to only use the PGI version stated in the user manual.

Permissions

A gaussian group has to be created on the cluster. All members of the faculty who signed the license agreement (TU Dortmund checks this with an entry in the local LDAP) are then added to the group. Access to the installation folder of Gaussian “gXX” is then limited to the gaussian group using

chown -R root:gaussian gXX

This procedure guarantees that only eligible users have access to the Gaussian software package.