Entitlements in bwCloud-OS
Entitlements in bwCloud-OS define who can access the platform (Access Control), how many resources they may use (Quota flavors), and under what conditions (Eligibility).
- Every entitlement contains an eligibility.
- Every user owns at least the empty entitlement, even if not directly specified.
- Every project needs to be linked with an eligibility.
Every member of a higher education institution in Baden-Württemberg has a personal account. If the institution participates in the federated identity management system (bwIDM), its members can also apply for the external service bwCloud-OS, by providing additional information. This is handled through the assignment of eduPersonEntitlement to the user's account.
All entitlements are issued and managed by the user’s home institution and play a central role in how the platform is used and funded. These decisions are made exclusively by the user's home institution. The bwCloud-OS team has no authority to grant access or resources without an official entitlement.
| In a Nutshell |
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Motivation
The bwCloud-OS negotiated only contracts with institutions (customers) but not with individual members (users). This is a crucial difference compared to other known cloud providers. Further are severe different types of sponsors (e.g., chairs, research projects) located at the institutes, granting sub-goups of members (users) more resources.
Access Control
For registration to the bwCloud-OS several criterias need to be fulfilled. By rolling out the access entitlement home organization can manage by themselves who is allowed to access the bwCloud-OS.
Automated registration
Registration is streamlined through entitlements:
- Entitlements are automatically evaluated during registration.
- Users receive immediate access and resources (project quota) once their entitlement is confirmed. No manual activation is required.
Charging
All consumptions within the bwCloud-OS, within projects, are charged. Hence, for each project, a customer is required, which differs from the user or owner.
Charging will be based on the projects booking units (BEH) and will be addressed to the project owner's home organization.
Delegating resposibility
The user’s home organization can define an interall process, so members can set entitlements in the home IdP.
Reimbursement
Entitlements also help define who is financially responsible for produced BEH.
- Defining cost centers to separate costs into different cost positions, allowing institutions to reimburse the costs internally.
- bwCloud-OS will generate aggregated usage reports and invoices per institution—no individual billing.
Budget
Sometimes resources should only be consumed up to a certain level or amount of time.
- Constraints can be used to manage the valid period for eligibility.
- After reaching an eligibility constraint, no more costs can be produced within the associated project.
Entitlement URN structure
Quota Entitlements
A quota entitlement persists out of two parts, the namespace and the identifier (eligibility):
urn:geant:dfn.de:bwcloud-os.de:group:ELIGIBILITY
bzw.
urn:geant:dfn.de:bwcloud-os.de:group:<quota_flavor>:<cost_center_id>[:<first_day_of_validation|null>:<last_day_of_validation|null>:<max_booking_units|null>]
The syntax for valid entitlement identifiers is described in the sections below.
Special Entitlements
There is also a special entitlement access, which determines whether a user is allowed to access the bwCloud-OS at all.
urn:geant:dfn.de:bwcloud-os.de:access
| permition | Note |
|---|---|
| access | Allows the registration for the bwCloud-OS via RegApp |
Eligibility
Every project is associated with an entitlement, making sure the project is chargeable.
- An eligibility is a unique combination of owner, quota flavor, and cost center.
- An eligibility can be assigned to a maximum of one project. The eligibility-project association is therefore unique.
- A limit value for BEH and validation dates may be set to restrict the duration of an eligibility.
Structure
Optionally, the following structure for Eli may be used to provide further information and define constraints for the quota flavor:
<quota_flavor>:<cost_center_id>[:CONSTRAINTS]
respectively
<quota_flavor>:<cost_center_id>[:<first_day_of_validation|null>:<last_day_of_validation|null>:<max_booking_units|null>]
Quota flavors
A project flavor specifies the maximum resources a project may receive.
- A quota flavor can be specified several times by using different cost centers. Each additional eligibility can be used for another project.
- A user can have several quota flavors.
The supported quota packages are described in the table below.
| quota flavor | Note |
|---|---|
| empty | Default case. User can’t generate costs. |
| tiny_1 | |
| xtiny_1 | |
| medium_1 | |
| xmedium_1 | |
| large_1 | |
| xlarge_1 | |
| custom | User can choose the quota to be requested. |
Each quota flavor is associated with resources granted to projects.
| Entitlement | instances | cores | ram_gb | volumes | volumes_gb | backups | backups_gb | networks | subnets | routers | floating_ips |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| empty | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| tiny_1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 10 | 100 | 30 | 300 | 10 | 10 | 1 | 0 |
| xtiny_1 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 10 | 100 | 30 | 300 | 10 | 10 | 1 | 0 |
| medium_1 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 20 | 200 | 60 | 600 | 10 | 10 | 1 | 1 |
| xmedium_1 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 20 | 200 | 60 | 600 | 10 | 10 | 1 | 1 |
| large_1 | 16 | 16 | 16 | 40 | 400 | 120 | 1200 | 20 | 20 | 2 | 2 |
| xlarge_1 | 32 | 32 | 32 | 40 | 400 | 120 | 1200 | 20 | 20 | 2 | 2 |
| custom | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * |
Cost centers
Cost centers are used to allocate BEH generated within projects. This string does not need to be agreed upon with us and does not need to have any meaning outside the institution.
- A cost center (id) can be assigned to multiple eligibilities and users.
- BEH are aggregated per cost center across all projects assigned to the cost center.
- The assignment of cost centers enables customers to pass on costs (internally).
For a cost center, only the symbols [a-zA-Z0-9-_] and a maximal length of 50 characters are allowed.
First day of validation (NOT supported yet)
Specific day in the yyyy-mm-dd format that allows the institute to limit the validation window begin for the eligibility. If the date is not given or null, the following default behavior is: Eligibility is valid from the current day on. This feature is currently not supported.
Last day of validation (NOT supported yet)
Specific day in the yyyy-mm-dd format that allows the institute to limit the validation window end for the eligibility. If the date is not given or null, the following default behavior is: Eligibility is forever valid. This feature is currently not supported.
Maximal number of booking units (NOT supported yet)
Integer, that defines the maximum number of BEH that can be generated by the associated project. If the number is not given or null, the default behavior is: Eligibility is forever valid. The number of booking units must be at least 200. This feature is currently not supported.
Examples
Entitlement
Example entitlement 1
Granting a user a request quota for a project up to the medium flavor. All generated booking units will be charged under the bill position 42.
urn:geant:dfn.de:bwcloud-os.de:group:medium_1:42
Interpreted as eligibility:
quota_flavor = medium_1
cost_center_id = 42
first_day_of_validation = {{today}}
last_day_of_validation = inf
max_booking_units = inf
owner = {{user.eppn}}
customer = {{user.home_organization}}
Example entitlement 2
Allow a user to request quota for a large project, but this is terminated up to the end of 2026 and can maximally produce 5000 BEH. The booking units for all projects with the cost center student will be charged under the same bill position.
urn:geant:dfn.de:bwcloud-os.de:group:large_1:student:null:2026-12-31:5000
Interpreted as eligibility:
quota_flavor = large_1
cost_center_id = student
first_day_of_validation = {{today}}
last_day_of_validation = 31.12.2026
max_booking_units = 5000
owner = {{user.eppn}}
customer = {{user.home_organization}}
Example entitlement 3
A xtiny project can be requested. The consumed booking units will aggregate under the position for the informatics faculty and can be used from February 2026 on for one year. Costs are allocated to cost center hfu_netze2.
urn:geant:dfn.de:bwcloud-os.de:group:xtiny_1:hfu_netze2:2026-02-01:2027-01-31:null
Interpreted as eligibility:
quota_flavor = xtiny_1
cost_center_id = hfu_netze2
first_day_of_validation = 01.02.2026
last_day_of_validation = 31.01.2027
max_booking_units = inf
owner = {{user.eppn}}
customer = {{user.home_organization}}
Example entitlement 4
A user with this entitlement will book the costs on the cost center ufr_technical_faculty and must stop when the project consumes 1000000 BEH.
urn:geant:dfn.de:bwcloud-os.de:group:xmedium_1:ufr_technical_faculty:null:null:1000000
Interpreted as eligibility:
quota_flavor = large_1
cost_center_id = ufr_technical_faculty
first_day_of_validation = {{today}}
last_day_of_validation = inf
max_booking_units = 1000000
owner = {{user.eppn}}
customer = {{user.home_organization}}
Eligibility
Example eligibility 1
The example in the image to the left demonstrates how costs can be accumulated based on cost centers.
FAQ
What is the difference between flavor, quota, and quota flavors?
- Flavor (or VM flavor) is a defined set of resources (core, RAM, storage) that be chosen as the size of an instance.
- Quota (or project quota) is the amount of resources (core, RAM, storage, network, volume, etc) a project ran consume or bind.
- Quota flavors is a defined set of project quotas that can be chosen as the size of a project.
How can I change the eligibility of a project?
If you currently own the project, you can request this via Ticket.
What entitlement do I need to become a member of an existing project?
If you can login to the bwCloud-OS, the owner of the project can request your membership via Ticket.
Can I use the same entitlement or eligibility for several projects?
No. A user with his eligibility can only be assigned to one project, {0,1}:1 mapping.
I have an entitlement. How can I get a project with quota?
Only once, during the registration of a new user, automatically a (start-)project is created from a given eligibility. Afterward, a user needs to request a new project.