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Quest and Kellogg Linux Cluster Downtime, March 22 - 31.
Quest, including the Quest Analytics Nodes, the Genomics Compute Cluster (GCC), the Kellogg Linux Cluster (KLC), and Quest OnDemand, will be unavailable for scheduled maintenance starting at 8 A.M. on Saturday, March 22, and ending approximately at 5 P.M. on Monday, March 31. During the maintenance window, you will not be able to login to Quest, Quest Analytics Nodes, the GCC, KLC, or Quest OnDemand submit new jobs, run jobs, or access files stored on Quest in any way including Globus. For details on this maintenance, please see the Status of University IT Services page.
Quest RHEL8 Pilot Environment
The RHEL8 Pilot Environment is available for use now.
Ahead of the March 2025 Downtime, Quest users have the opportunity to test their software and research workflows on CPU nodes and NVIDIA H100 GPU nodes which are running the new RHEL8 OS. Detailed instructions are available on how to submit jobs for the new Operating System in the Knowledge Base article, RHEL8 Pilot Environment.
RHEL8 Pilot Quest log-in nodes can be access via ssh or FastX through using the hostname login.quest.northwestern.edu. Please note that the new hostname login.quest.northwestern.edu will require the GlobalProtect VPN when outside of the United States.
RHEL8 Pilot Quest Analytics nodes can be access via: rstudio.quest.northwestern.edu, jupyterhub.quest.northwestern.edu, and sasstudio.quest.northwestern.edu.
This page describes how to format your RDSS/FSMResfiles filepath when requesting access to Globus
To allow users to access RDSS via Globus, we first need to tell our data transfer node where to look for your files. To do this, we need the full path to your RDSS share.
Step 1: Identify your access zone
Your access zone was determined when the share was created. Two of these access zones are allowed to use Globus to transfer data to and from Quest.
- fsmresfiles.fsm.northwestern.edu is for Feinberg School of Medicine users
- resfiles.northwestern.edu is for other unaudited shares
If you're not sure which group you fall into, look at the address that you use to connect to your RDSS share.
If you are not in one of these access zones, you will not be able to use Globus to transfer data.
Step 2: Identify the full path to your share
The easiest way to find the path you want is to connect to your RDSS share, navigate to the folder that you want to access, and copy the path. For detailed instructions, see the sections below.
Mac instructions
- Connect to your RDSS share
- Navigate to the location of your share in Finder
- With that folder open in Finder, type Command-I to open the "Info" Window about this folder, or right-click on the folder icon and choose "Get Info" from the menu
- In the window that pops up, under the "General" section, copy the path in the Server field. It will start with
smb://
followed by your access zone, then a path to the share separated by slashes. See screen shot below.
- Paste this file path in the form to request Globus access.

Examples:
smb://resfiles.northwestern.edu/SHARENAME/
smb://fsmresfiles.fsm.northwestern.edu/fsmresfiles/DEPARTMENT/LAB_GROUP/
smb://fsmresfiles.fsm.northwestern.edu/fsmresfiles/COREFACILITY/
smb://fsmresfiles.fsm.northwestern.edu/fsmresfiles/CENTER/PROJECT/
Windows instructions
- Connect to your RDSS share
- Open Windows Command prompt by clicking the Windows search bar and typing cmd
- Type the following command:
net use
- The output will look like the screen shot below
- Paste this file path in the form to request Globus access.

Examples:
\\resfiles.northwestern.edu\SHARENAME\
\\fsmresfiles.fsm.northwestern.edu\fsmresfiles\DEPARTMENT\LAB_GROUP\
\\fsmresfiles.fsm.northwestern.edu\fsmresfiles\COREFACILITY\
\\fsmresfiles.fsm.northwestern.edu\fsmresfiles\CENTER\PROJECT\
Multiple Shares
If you need access to multiple shares, repeat this process for each share. Provide paths for all shares when requesting access
Need Help?
For help finding the full path to your RDSS share, email rdss-help@northwestern.edu.
Also see our Research Data Management Guide for links to all of our help articles.
Research Data Management Support at Northwestern University
Research computing data services partners with the Office for Research, University Libraries and Galter Health Sciences Library to provide research data management support throughout the research process. Please see the Research Data Management and Sharing page for more information.