Citrix Biostat Desktop

We currently house SAS and R on a server that is available for use by anyone with Lifespan credentials. This page will contain details on how to acquire access to this server and other useful resources related to using the server for data management and analyses.

Requesting Access to the Citrix Biostat Desktop

Access to the Citrix Biostat Desktop is granted by Lifespan Information Services when interested parties complete the following steps:

  1. Go to https://intranet.lifespan.org/ and select the “IS Self-Service” tab located on the top of the page
  2. From the “Request an IS Service – Need something new” menu, select “System Access Request”
  3. Provide requested details regarding who needs access, who approves access, and provide your contact information as an “alternate contact”
  4. Under “Request Details”, check the box for “Access not listed”
  5. In the “Please describe in detail the unlisted Access” notes box, indicate that you are requesting access to the “Citrix Biostat Desktop”.  The server name is LSSAS216.
  6. In the “Why is Access needed?” notes box, indicate that you will be performing data management and/or analyses as a function of your role with Lifespan.
  7. Click “Review & Submit”
  8. Review and submit!
  9. Once access has been APPROVED and FULFILLED (Note: the access has to be approved before the work can be done. When the work is completed, you will be notified it has been fulfilled.)
    • If you have a lifespan computer, this icon will appear on your desktop. Double click and sign in using your lifespan user name and password.

    • If you do not have a lifespan computer, go to connect.lifespan.org, login with your lifespan username and password. The citrix biostat desktop will be available under the “Desktops” tab.

Setting up R to install and load packages on the biostats desktop

Background: R packages can trigger security policies. To avoid this issue we have a designated directory on the biostats server to run library packages out of. Packages run from the designated library are automatically cleared by our security policies. Instructions to update your package library are below.  (This only needs to be done once, or when the version of R is updated.  You do not need to do this every session!)

  • Load the usethis package:
    • library(usethis, lib.loc = “D:/Program Files/R/4.2”)
  • Run the following code:
    • usethis::edit_r_environ()
  • This will create a .Renviron file in ‘This PC –> Documents’ folder.
    • However, this command may also prompt error messages ‘Error on R console‘ and ‘Lifespan Security Notification – Unapproved File‘.
      • Check to see if the .Renviron file was created in ‘This PC –> Documents’ folder.  If it was, ignore the error message and continue following the instructions below
      • If the .Renviron file was not created, you can create it yourself (this step doesn’t require R to complete).
  • Change .Renviron file created above:
    • Open the .Renviron file (in ‘This PC –> Documents’ folder) using Notepad (or any other reader of your choice)
    • Type the following: R_LIBS_USER=D:/Program Files/R/4.2
    • Save the .Renviron file and close it
    • Restart R (In RStudio, click the ‘Session’ tab and select ‘Restart R’
    • This should complete the process

TROUBLESHOOTING

* If you receive the error: Error in loadNamespace(x) : there is no package called ‘packagename’, Install the package causing the error, install.packages(“packagename”).  Once installed, restart R and continue following the instructions