Workspaces/Advanced Features/Reminders

Getting Reminders

Works on cluster	bwUC 3.0	BinAC2	Helix	JUSTUS 2	NEMO2
Email reminders	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓
ws_send_ical (calendar reminders)	✓	✗	✓	✗	✗

Email Reminders

Email reminders are sent automatically using email addresses from your identity provider. You can customize the reminder timing with -r <days>:

  $ ws_allocate -r 7 myWs 30                          # Reminder 7 days before expiry
  $ ws_allocate -r 3 -m custom@example.com myWs 30    # Custom timing and different email address

Update Reminder Only

Update reminder without extending workspace:

  $ ws_allocate -r <days> -x <workspace> 0                 # Update reminder time
  $ ws_allocate -r <days> -u <username> -x <workspace> 0   # Update reminder time and take over
                                                           # another user's workspace reminders

This is useful when you want to change the reminder timing without extending the workspace lifetime, or when taking over responsibility for reminders on a colleague's workspace.

Calendar Reminder

bwUniCluster 3.0, Helix only:

  $ ws_send_ical <workspace> <email>

This sends a calendar invitation (iCal format) that you can import into your calendar application.

Configuration File: ~/.ws_user.conf

Works on cluster	bwUC 3.0	BinAC2	Helix	JUSTUS 2	NEMO2
~/.ws_user.conf configuration file	✓				✓

You can set defaults in ~/.ws_user.conf (YAML format) to avoid typing the same options repeatedly:

duration: 30              # Default workspace lifetime (first line must not start with #!)
reminder: 5               # Days before expiration to send reminder
groupname: projectgroup   # Default group for -G option (e.g., bw11a000)
# mail: custom@example.com  # Optional - only to override email from identity provider

IMPORTANT: Some versions mistakenly interpret a leading # comment as email. First line must be a setting, not a comment. Inline comments are fine.

Benefits

• Simplifies commands: ws_allocate myWs instead of ws_allocate -r 5 -G groupname myWs 30
• Ensures consistent settings across all operations
• Automatic group collaboration when groupname is set

Available Settings

Setting	Description
duration:	Default workspace lifetime in days (e.g., 30)
reminder:	Days before expiration to send reminder (e.g., 5, 7)
groupname:	Default group for -G option (e.g., bw11a000)
mail:	Optional - only to override email from identity provider

All settings are optional. Any setting not specified will use system defaults or require explicit command-line options.