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| − | [[Category:Software]] | + | [[Category:Software]][[Category:GUI]] |
| − | __TOC__
| + | '''The module gui/2 is no longer available. Use this page to know how to use GUI applications on Hipergator. |
| − | You can run GUI Programs on HiPerGator. Of course, running Graphical User Interface Applications on a remote server within a supercomputer and displaying them on your local client computer is not as easy as running them locally. We attempted to make the process as smooth as possible, however, we would be happy to try to streamline the process even more if you provide feedback on the areas that can be improved. The most difficult part of the setup is making sure a remotely running program can be displayed on your local computer as if it were running there and making the interface sufficiently responsive, so you could do your work. We accomplish this task with the help of software called [https://xpra.org Xpra] - open-source multi-platform persistent remote display server and client for forwarding applications and desktop screens. You can read the original [https://xpra.org/trac/wiki/Usage basic usage documentation] and the [https://xpra.org/manual.html full Xpra manual] if necessary.
| + | ''' |
| − | =Requirements=
| + | __NOTOC__ |
| − | ;Install Xpra Software on Client Computer
| |
| − | Since Xpra is required on both ends of the connection you will have to have it installed on your local computer. Xpra client installation depends on the operating system running on your local machine and may require assistance of a system administrator if you do not have the authority to install new software. Once Xpra is installed on your client computer feel free to skip this step. Installation instructions are specific to the operating system running on your local computer: [[Xpra Windows Installation|Windows]] | [[Xpra MacOS X Installation|MacOS X]] | [[Xpra Linux Installation|Linux]].
| |
| | | | |
| − | =Running GUI Programs on HiPerGator=
| + | Here you will find the information necessary to configure and run graphical user interface (GUI) applications on HiPerGator. The process is not complicated, but running a GUI on a remote server and displaying the windows on your local client computer with a sufficiently responsive interface is not as easy as simply running the application locally. We'd like to acknowledge an Open Source [https://xpra.org Xpra Project] for creating software we built our GUI sessions on top of. |
| − | ==Step 1: Start a GUI session on HiPerGator==
| |
| | | | |
| − | There are multiple approaches from the simplest to the most versatile, but complex to launch an application within a SLURM gui session and wrap it in Xpra for easy connection from the client side.
| + | ==X11 Forwarding== |
| | + | For the simplest case of running a lightweight GUI application for a very short time you can log into HiPerGator with |
| | + | ssh -Y MYUSER@hpg.rc.ufl.edu |
| | + | load the environment module your application is in and run it. Do not analyze data this way, but running a text editor, a web browser to log in and get an api token from a remote service or some other very short and lightweight operations are fine. |
| | | | |
| − | ===Single command, no job script=== | + | ==Open OnDemand== |
| − | There are two classes of applications that can be started with just one command from the gui environment module and do not require you to provide a job script.
| + | Normally the X11 DISPLAY variable is set once the X11 server is started. This can be done manually, as described above, but an easier method is to use [https://help.rc.ufl.edu/doc/Open_OnDemand#Display_Environment_on_the_Console Open OnDemand] since that will start an X11 server and allocate the frame buffer automatically. |
| | | | |
| − | ;Preset applications
| + | [https://openondemand.org/ Open OnDemand] provides a web-only interface to starting and attaching to GUI programs with seamless connections through web browsers. This service is available at the following URL: |
| | | | |
| − | To list applications presets load the gui module and run launch_gui_session -l
| + | https://ondemand.rc.ufl.edu |
| − | module load gui
| |
| − | launch_gui_session -l
| |
| | | | |
| − | To launch a pre-approved application:
| + | {{Note|Many applications have their own interfaces, but other can also be launched by launching a HiPerGator Desktop and then opening the application with the desktop interface.|info}} |
| | | | |
| − | * Load the gui module if not already loaded
| + | ===[https://mediasite.video.ufl.edu/Mediasite/Play/4654bfa838624de894085bf54678848f1d Using Open on Demand on HiPerGator]=== |
| − | module load gui
| + | [[File:Play_icon.png|frameless|30px|link=https://mediasite.video.ufl.edu/Mediasite/Play/4654bfa838624de894085bf54678848f1d]] [5 min, 11 sec] |
| − | * Launch the application
| + | This video covers the use of Open on Demand https://openondemand.org/ on HiPerGator via https://ood.rc.ufl.edu/. |
| − | launch_<application>_gui
| + | * Connect to https://ood.rc.ufl.edu/ |
| − | For example:
| + | * Launch a terminal |
| − | launch_mzmine_gui
| + | * Launch many graphical applications like Rstudio, Matlab and Freeview |
| − | or
| + | * Manage job submission |
| − | launch_rstudio_gui
| + | * Upload, download and edit files via your browser |
| − | | |
| − | See a full example on the [[RStudio|RSTudio Help Page]].
| |
| − | | |
| − | ;Simple applications
| |
| − | If you want to run a simple application in which the environment module name matches the name of the program you want to run it's just as simple as launching a preset application
| |
| − | | |
| − | module load gui
| |
| − | launch_gui_session -e <application>
| |
| − | | |
| − | For example
| |
| − | launch_gui_session -e molden
| |
| − | | |
| − | ===Provided Job Script=== | |
| − | If you need to pass custom arguments to the application, load pre-requisite environment modules and so on you can provide a simple script (linux format text file) with the required commands as an argument to launch_gui_session. Make sure to prepend the command that starts the program with xpra_start. For example, a following job script named '''my_molden.sh''' will use the molden/5.0 environment module and start molden with a particular model file:
| |
| − | module load molden/5.0
| |
| − | xpra_start 'molden /ufrc/data/tests/molden/boc-iso-1t.gjf'
| |
| − | | |
| − | Now, to launch molden with the above script run
| |
| − | launch_gui_session -e molden -f my_molden.sh
| |
| − | | |
| − | ===Manual launch===
| |
| − | Of course, if you prefer to talk directly to SLURM you can write a full job script complete with resource requirements, job name, output file, etc in the #SBATCH section you can simply submit that script to SLURM. Make sure you use the gui partition
| |
| − | | |
| − | <nowiki>#</nowiki>SBATCH --partition=gui
| |
| − | and wrap your command with xpra_start as shown above.
| |
| − | | |
| − | You can use a job script for one of the application presets found in the '$HPC_GUI_JOB' directory once the 'gui' environment module is loaded as the base of your own job script.
| |
| − | | |
| − | ====List Xpra Sessions====
| |
| − | If you performed a manual launch or used the '-w' argument to the automated launcher command you'll have to manually check on your gui job. Check the job status with 'squeue -u $USER'. When the job starts you have to list the available xpra sessions using xpra_list_sessions command in the gui module. This command will refresh the Xpra session list and provide a convenient list of live Xpra sessions as well as client commands that can be copied and pasted into a terminal on the client machine.
| |
| − | | |
| − | ;Example
| |
| − | $ module load gui
| |
| − | $ xpra_list_sessions
| |
| − | | |
| − | Output:
| |
| − | <pre>
| |
| − | Refreshing the session list for jdoe to remove stale sessions
| |
| − | | |
| − | List of active Xpra sessions for jdoe:
| |
| − | | |
| − | Session: i111a-s222.rc.ufl.edu:3713
| |
| − | Job ID: 123456, Name: RStudio
| |
| − | Client command:
| |
| − | xpra attach ssh:jdoe@i111a-s222.rc.ufl.edu:3713
| |
| − | or (downloaded script):
| |
| − | ./xpra attach ssh:jdoe@i111a-s222.rc.ufl.edu:3713
| |
| − | | |
| − | </pre>
| |
| − | | |
| − | See the respective application pages for details and sample job scripts.
| |
| − | | |
| − | ==Step 2: Connect to a GUI Session from client computer==
| |
| − | ===Connecting from outside of UF campus via VPN===
| |
| − | The nodes in SLURM gui partition are accessible only within the UF campus network. If you are working off campus, you will need to use the VPN to connect to the UF campus network using [https://connect.ufl.edu/it/wiki/Pages/glvpn-anyconnect-install.aspx AnyConnect VPN] or similar software. Please see: [https://vpn.ufl.edu https://vpn.ufl.edu] for additional information.
| |
| − | | |
| − | ===Linux===
| |
| − | Xpra is typically automatically added to your path during installation, so you can connect to your running xpra instance using the following syntax where $USERNAME is your UF GatorLink user-name, $SERVERNAME is the server where your application is running inside xpra, and $PORT is the X11 port you assigned when you started your application.
| |
| − | | |
| − | xpra attach ssh:$USERNAME@$SERVERNAME:$PORT
| |
| − | | |
| − | As an example:
| |
| − | <pre>
| |
| − | testuser@jr-physics:~$ xpra attach ssh:testuser@i21a-s3.rc.ufl.edu:143 --desktop-scaling=on --dpi=96
| |
| − | </pre>
| |
| − | | |
| − | The xpra_list_sessions command presents a ready-to-use connection command, but you'll have to add the desktop scaling or dpi arguments manually.
| |
| − | | |
| − | ;Please note that if you close the application window using the close button in the top right (or left) corner, this will exit your application and terminate your SLURM gui session. If you want to simply detach the session and come back later, please follow the ''detaching xpra session'' instructions below
| |
| − | | |
| − | ===MAC OS===
| |
| − | Navigate to the folder that contains the Xpra executable:
| |
| − | <pre>
| |
| − | cd /Applications/Xpra.app/Contents/MacOS
| |
| − | </pre>
| |
| − | | |
| − | Alternatively, call the xpra shell script you downloaded during [[Xpra_MacOS_X_Installation|client software installation]].
| |
| − | | |
| − | Use the client command provided by 'xpra_list_sessions' to connect while adding any local options you need to improve the viewing experience like
| |
| − | ;Desktop scaling
| |
| − | :--desktop-scaling=on
| |
| − | ;Resolution, dpi (dots per inch)
| |
| − | :--dpi=96
| |
| − | | |
| − | Example:
| |
| − | ./Xpra attach ssh:test-user@i21a-s3.rc.ufl.edu:143 --desktop-scaling=on --dpi=96
| |
| − | or with the wrapper script in place
| |
| − | xpra attach ssh:test-user@i21a-s3.rc.ufl.edu:143 --desktop-scaling=on --dpi=96
| |
| − | | |
| − | Once the GUI application windows is displayed on your local computer if you close the window using the close button both the application and SLURM gui session will close. If you want to simply detach the session and come back later click on the terminal window where you ran the client command and use the 'Ctrl+c' key combination to detach the session.
| |
| − | | |
| − | ===Microsoft Windows===
| |
| − | Navigate to the install location of xpra (normally C:\Program Files (x86)\Xpra\).
| |
| − | ;In MobaXterm:
| |
| − | cd "/drives/c/Program\ Files\ \(x86\)/Xpra/"
| |
| − | | |
| − | Alternatively, call the xpra shell script you downloaded during [[Xpra_Windows_Installation|client software installation]].
| |
| − | | |
| − | ;Example:
| |
| − | ./xpra attach ssh:test-user@i21a-s3.rc.ufl.edu:143 --desktop-scaling=on --dpi=96
| |
| − | or with the wrapper script in place
| |
| − | xpra attach ssh:test-user@i21a-s3.rc.ufl.edu:143 --desktop-scaling=on --dpi=96
| |
| − | | |
| − | Once the GUI application windows is displayed on your local computer if you close the window using the close button both the application and SLURM gui session will close. If you want to simply detach the session and come back later click on the terminal window where you ran the client command and use the 'Ctrl+c' key combination to detach the session.
| |
The module gui/2 is no longer available. Use this page to know how to use GUI applications on Hipergator.
Here you will find the information necessary to configure and run graphical user interface (GUI) applications on HiPerGator. The process is not complicated, but running a GUI on a remote server and displaying the windows on your local client computer with a sufficiently responsive interface is not as easy as simply running the application locally. We'd like to acknowledge an Open Source Xpra Project for creating software we built our GUI sessions on top of.
X11 Forwarding
For the simplest case of running a lightweight GUI application for a very short time you can log into HiPerGator with
ssh -Y MYUSER@hpg.rc.ufl.edu
load the environment module your application is in and run it. Do not analyze data this way, but running a text editor, a web browser to log in and get an api token from a remote service or some other very short and lightweight operations are fine.
Open OnDemand
Normally the X11 DISPLAY variable is set once the X11 server is started. This can be done manually, as described above, but an easier method is to use Open OnDemand since that will start an X11 server and allocate the frame buffer automatically.
Open OnDemand provides a web-only interface to starting and attaching to GUI programs with seamless connections through web browsers. This service is available at the following URL:
https://ondemand.rc.ufl.edu
Many applications have their own interfaces, but other can also be launched by launching a HiPerGator Desktop and then opening the application with the desktop interface.
[5 min, 11 sec]
This video covers the use of Open on Demand https://openondemand.org/ on HiPerGator via https://ood.rc.ufl.edu/.
- Connect to https://ood.rc.ufl.edu/
- Launch a terminal
- Launch many graphical applications like Rstudio, Matlab and Freeview
- Manage job submission
- Upload, download and edit files via your browser