Skip to content
Learning Outcomes
  • Understand how to start a Workbench session.
  • Learn how to pause and resume Workbench sessions.
  • Understand how to modify machine type and storage for stopped sessions.
  • Learn how to terminate Workbench sessions.
  • Understand how to manage expiration timeouts.
  • Learn how to authenticate with cloud storage services.

Managing Workbench Sessions

This guide covers the essential operations for managing your Workbench sessions, including: launching, pausing, modifying, and terminating instances.

Starting a Workbench Session

To launch a new Workbench session, navigate to the Available Workbench tab and click the Launch button for your desired template. The launch dialog allows you to configure several options:

Basic Configuration

  • Name: Optionally provide a custom name for your Workbench instance. If left empty, a default name will be assigned.

Basic Configuration

Advanced Options

Expand the Advanced Options section to configure:

Advanced Options - Machine Type

  • Machine Type: Select from available GCP VM instance types:

  • n2-highmem series: Optimized for memory-intensive workloads (2-48 vCPUs, 16-384GB RAM)

  • n2-standard series: Balanced compute and memory (4-96 vCPUs, 16-384GB RAM)

The default machine type is n2-standard-4 (4 vCPUs, 16GB RAM).

  • Storage (Disk Size): Specify the disk size in GB. The minimum is 100 GB, and the maximum is 4096 GB. The default disk size is 100 GB.

Password Options

Expand the Password Options section to choose how your Workbench password is set:

Advanced Options - Password

  • System Generated: Let Via Foundry automatically generate a secure password (recommended). You can retrieve this password later from the Workbench management page.
  • User Defined: Set your own password. Passwords must be between 12 and 64 characters long.

Once configured, click Launch to start your Workbench session. The instance will begin provisioning and will automatically open in a new browser tab when ready.

Default Timeout

New Workbench sessions use your preferred default expiration timeout (default: 1 hour). You can change this default in your user preferences.

Stopping a Workbench Session

To stop a running Workbench session:

Stopping a Workbench Session

  1. Navigate to the Manage Status page for Workbenches.
  2. Find your running Workbench instance in the list.
  3. Click the Stop button.

The Workbench will enter a Stopped state, stopping compute resources while preserving your data and configuration. You will not be charged for compute time while the session is stopped. You will continue to be charged for data storage.

Stopped State

When your Workbench is in a Stopped state, all data and configurations are preserved, but the virtual machine is stopped and not consuming compute resources. You will continue to be charged for data storage.

Resuming a Stopped Session

To resume a stopped Workbench session:

Resuming a Stopped Session

  1. Navigate to the Manage Status page.
  2. Find your stopped Workbench instance (status: Stopped).
  3. Click the Resume button.

The Workbench will restart and return to a Running state. The expiration timeout will reset based on your default preference.

Changing Machine Type

You can change the machine type of a stopped Workbench session:

  1. Ensure your Workbench is in a Stopped state.
  2. Navigate to the Manage Status page.
  3. Click on the three dots icon in the options section and select "edit"
  4. Expand the Advanced Options section.
  5. Select a new machine type from the dropdown menu.
  6. Click Save.

The machine type change will take effect the next time you resume the Workbench session.

Machine Type Restrictions

Machine type can only be changed when the Workbench is in a Stopped state. You cannot change the machine type of a running Workbench.

Changing Storage

You can increase the storage (disk size) of a stopped Workbench session:

  1. Ensure your Workbench is in a Stopped state.
  2. Navigate to the Manage Status page.
  3. Click the Edit button for your stopped Workbench.
  4. Expand the Advanced Options section.
  5. Enter a new disk size in GB (must be greater than the current size).
  6. Click Save.

The storage increase will take effect the next time you resume the Workbench session.

Storage Limitations

  • Storage can only be increased, never decreased.
  • The new disk size must be greater than the current disk size.
  • Storage changes can only be made when the Workbench is in a Stopped state.
  • Minimum disk size: 100 GB
  • Maximum disk size: 4096 GB

Terminating a Workbench Session

To permanently terminate a Workbench session:

  1. Navigate to the Manage Status page.
  2. Find your Workbench instance (it may be Running or Stopped). You may use the context menu to filter the list by status.
  3. Click the Terminate button.
  4. Confirm the termination.

Terminating a Workbench session will:

  • Stop the virtual machine
  • Delete all data and configuration. This action cannot be undone.
  • Preserve the instance record (status: Terminated)
  • Allow you to delete the instance record later if desired

Termination vs. Deletion

  • Terminate: Stops the Workbench and marks it as terminated. The instance record remains, and you can still view it or delete the record.

Changing Expiration Time

You can modify the expiration timeout for a running Workbench session:

  1. Navigate to the Manage Status page.
  2. Find your running Workbench instance.
  3. Click Edit Timeout.
  4. Set the desired expiration time using days, hours, minutes, and seconds.
  5. Click Save.

The expiration timeout can be set up to 10 days (864,000 seconds) from the current time. When the timeout expires, the Workbench will automatically stop.

Timeout Alerts

You will receive notifications when your Workbench is approaching its expiration time (within 5 minutes). The browser tab title will also flash to alert you if the tab is not currently visible.

Setting Default Expiration Timeout

To configure your preferred default expiration timeout for new Workbench sessions:

  1. Navigate to your User Profile → Preferences.
  2. Find the Workbench Auto-Stop Timeout (Minutes) field.
  3. Enter your desired timeout in minutes (minimum: 5 minutes, maximum: 600 hours).
  4. Click Save.

This preference will be applied to all new Workbench sessions you launch. The default timeout is 60 minutes (1 hour) if not specified.

Longer Sessions

The default timeout is 60 minutes (1 hour). Consider setting your default timeout to match your typical work session duration to avoid unexpected interruptions.

Authenticating Cloud Storage Services

Once your Workbench is running, you may need to authenticate with cloud storage services to access data stored in Google Cloud Storage (GCS) or Amazon S3 buckets.

Google Cloud Storage (gcloud)

To authenticate with Google Cloud Storage:

  1. Open a terminal in your Workbench session.
  2. Run the following command:
gcloud auth login
  1. Follow the authentication prompts to complete the login process.

After authentication, you can use gsutil commands to interact with your GCS buckets.

Amazon S3 (AWS)

To authenticate with Amazon S3:

  1. Open a terminal in your Workbench session.
  2. Run the following command:
aws configure
  1. You will be prompted to enter:
  2. AWS Access Key ID: Your AWS access key
  3. AWS Secret Access Key: Your AWS secret key
  4. Default region name: Your preferred AWS region (e.g., us-east-1)
  5. Default output format: Optional (can press Enter for default)

After configuration, you can use aws CLI commands to interact with your S3 buckets.

Additional Resources

For more detailed information about cloud storage authentication and usage, refer to: - Google Cloud Storage Documentation - AWS CLI Documentation