3.5 FAQs

FAQs

Access & Login

How do I log in? Use the RACE AWS login portal with your institutional credentials (federated/SSO login). You don’t need a separate AWS username.

How long does my session last? Typically 1-12 hours. You’ll need to re-authenticate when it expires.

Can I create IAM users? No — not without RACE team approval. All access should go through the federated login.

I’m getting “Access Denied” on a service. What do I do? Your permissions may not include that service. Contact the RACE team to check.

Costs

How do I check my costs? Search for Cost Explorer in the console. You can view spending by service, time period, and tags.

Why am I being charged when my instance is stopped? EBS volumes (disk storage) are charged continuously, even when the instance is stopped. Terminate the instance and delete the volume to stop all charges.

What happens when I run out of credits? You’ll receive notifications as you approach your limit. Contact the RACE team to discuss options.

How do I avoid surprise bills? Set up budget alerts on day one (see Tips & Best Practices). Check costs weekly.

Regions

Which region should I use? ap-southeast-2 (Sydney) unless you have a specific reason to use another region.

I created a resource but can’t find it. Check the region selector in the top-right corner. Resources only appear in the region where they were created.

Resources

Can I use any AWS service? It depends on your permissions. Most common services (EC2, S3, SageMaker) are available. Contact RACE support if you need access to a specific service.

Do I need to clean up my resources? Yes. You’re responsible for managing and deleting your own resources. Unused resources continue to incur charges.

Can I share resources with colleagues? Within the same AWS account, yes. Across accounts, you’d need to use S3 sharing, cross-account roles, or similar mechanisms. Talk to the RACE team for guidance.

Getting Help

Where do I get support?