Difference between revisions of "GUI Programs"

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[[Category:Software]]
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[[Category:Software]][[Category:GUI]]
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'''The module gui/2 is no longer available. Use this page to know how to use GUI applications on Hipergator.
 +
'''
 +
__NOTOC__
  
{{HPG2}}
+
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.
=Xpra Links =
 
  
 +
==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.
  
*Xpra Homepage: https://xpra.org/
+
==Open OnDemand==
*Xpra Basic Usage: https://xpra.org/trac/wiki/Usage
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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.
*Xpra Advanced Usage: http://xpra.org/manual.html
 
  
=Step 1: Client Installation=
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[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:
  
Xpra client installation depends on what operating system is running on your local machine.
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https://ondemand.rc.ufl.edu
  
==Linux==
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{{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}}
The recommended option is to use the distribution specific packages if possible:
 
  
===Ubuntu/Debian===
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===[https://mediasite.video.ufl.edu/Mediasite/Play/4654bfa838624de894085bf54678848f1d Using Open on Demand on HiPerGator]===
sudo apt-get install xpra
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[[File:Play_icon.png|frameless|30px|link=https://mediasite.video.ufl.edu/Mediasite/Play/4654bfa838624de894085bf54678848f1d]] [5 min, 11 sec]
 
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This video covers the use of Open on Demand https://openondemand.org/ on HiPerGator via https://ood.rc.ufl.edu/.
===CentOS/RHEL===
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* Connect to https://ood.rc.ufl.edu/
 
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* Launch a terminal
<pre>
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* Launch many graphical applications like Rstudio, Matlab and Freeview
sudo su -
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* Manage job submission
rpm --import https://winswitch.org/gpg.asc
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* Upload, download and edit files via your browser
cd /etc/yum.repos.d/
 
curl -O https://winswitch.org/downloads/CentOS/winswitch.repo
 
yum install xpra
 
</pre>
 
 
 
==Windows==
 
===XP and Newer===
 
Download and install MS Windows files: from [https://xpra.org/ https://xpra.org/], Installer file can be found at [https://xpra.org/dists/windows/Xpra_Setup.exe https://xpra.org/dists/windows/Xpra_Setup.exe]. Note that installation will require an account with Admin privileges.
 
 
 
==MAC OS==
 
===OS X 10.5 and Newer===
 
Download and install MAC installer files: from [https://xpra.org/ https://xpra.org/], Installer file can be found at [https://xpra.org/dists/osx/x86/Xpra.dmg https://xpra.org/dists/osx/x86/Xpra.dmg]. Note that installation will require an account with Admin privileges.
 
 
 
=Step 2: Starting your application on HiPerGator2=
 
 
 
Xpra allows you to connect to your GUI application, running on HiPerGator2, with you local machine client.  Xpra sessions can be launched either from an interactive session or using a job submission script.  Both Xpra job submission types run the Xpra command with a common form. 
 
 
 
To start an application under Xpra where $USER represents your GatorLink user-name, $PORT is the desired X11 port, and $EXE is the executable you want to start, use a command in the form of:
 
 
 
xpra start :{$PORT} --start-child={$EXE} --exit-with-children
 
 
 
;For example:
 
xpra start :143 --start-child=gedit --exit-with-children
 
 
 
This command can be launched interactively or from a job submission script and other options are available. These options can be reviewed by running the "man xpra" command from the terminal of an interactive development session on the GUI partition. 
 
 
 
== Manual Start-up ==
 
Start MatLab as a Xpra child process manually from inside srun controlled dev session.
 
 
 
<pre>
 
[testuser@gator4 ~]$ srun -p gui --time=04:00:00 --pty -u bash -i   
 
srun: job 423867 queued and waiting for resources
 
srun: job 423867 has been allocated resources
 
[testuser@i21a-s3 ~]$ xpra start :243 --start-child=~/bin/matlab.sh --exit-with-children --dpi=96
 
[testuser@i21a-s3 ~]$ Entering daemon mode; any further errors will be reported to:
 
  /home/testuser/.xpra/:243.log
 
</pre>
 
 
 
For clarity, ~/bin/matlab.sh is a matlab start-up script to force the desktop version and not the terminal version:
 
 
 
<pre>
 
[testuser@dev1 bin]$ cat matlab.sh
 
#!/bin/bash
 
 
 
module load matlab;
 
matlab -nosplash -desktop;
 
</pre>
 
 
 
== Scripted Job submission ==
 
Start MatLab via job submission script on the GUI partition of HPG2 and connect via Xpra.
 
 
 
;Job submission script example
 
<pre>
 
[testuser@gator4 ufrc-tests]$ cat matlab-xpra-slurm.sh
 
#!/bin/bash
 
#SBATCH --job-name="HPC Matlab Test"
 
#SBATCH --mail-user="jstrds@ufl.edu"
 
#SBATCH --mail-type=ALL
 
#SBATCH --output matlab-%j.out
 
#SBATCH --error matlab-%j.err
 
#SBATCH --partition=gui
 
#SBATCH --ntasks=1
 
#SBATCH --mem-per-cpu=2G
 
#SBATCH --time=02:00:00
 
#SBATCH --account=ufhpc
 
#SBATCH --qos=ufhpc
 
 
 
#By: Justin Richardson (jstrds@ufl.edu)
 
#Version:1.0.2
 
 
 
date; hostname; pwd;
 
 
 
#Trapping SIGTERM for clean shutdown
 
trap "echo Job timeout reached; xpra stop :143; exit" SIGTERM
 
 
 
#Starting matlab program in xpra
 
module load matlab;
 
xpra start :143 --start-child=/home/jstrds/bin/matlab.sh --exit-with-children --dpi=76
 
 
 
#Wait for interactive session to end
 
sleep 125m &
 
wait ${1}
 
</pre>
 
 
 
;Launched with:
 
<pre>
 
[testuser@gator4 ufrc-tests]$ sbatch matlab-xpra-slurm.sh
 
Submitted batch job 424296
 
[testuser@gator4 ufrc-tests]$ scontrol show job 424296
 
JobId=424296 JobName=HPC Matlab Test
 
  UserId=jstrds(43535) GroupId=ufhpc(1000)
 
  Priority=5999 Nice=0 Account=ufhpc QOS=ufhpc
 
  JobState=RUNNING Reason=None Dependency=(null)
 
  Requeue=0 Restarts=0 BatchFlag=1 Reboot=0 ExitCode=0:0
 
  RunTime=00:00:22 TimeLimit=02:00:00 TimeMin=N/A
 
  SubmitTime=2016-07-05T11:14:30 EligibleTime=2016-07-05T11:14:30
 
  StartTime=2016-07-05T11:14:31 EndTime=2016-07-05T13:14:31
 
  PreemptTime=None SuspendTime=None SecsPreSuspend=0
 
  Partition=gui AllocNode:Sid=gator4:19405
 
  ReqNodeList=(null) ExcNodeList=(null)
 
  NodeList=i21a-s3
 
  BatchHost=i21a-s3
 
  NumNodes=1 NumCPUs=1 CPUs/Task=1 ReqB:S:C:T=0:0:*:*
 
  TRES=cpu=1,mem=2048,node=1
 
  Socks/Node=* NtasksPerN:B:S:C=0:0:*:* CoreSpec=*
 
  MinCPUsNode=1 MinMemoryCPU=2G MinTmpDiskNode=0
 
  Features=(null) Gres=(null) Reservation=(null)
 
  Shared=OK Contiguous=0 Licenses=(null) Network=(null)
 
  Command=/home/jstrds/ufrc-tests/matlab-xpra-slurm.sh
 
  WorkDir=/home/jstrds/ufrc-tests
 
  StdErr=/home/jstrds/ufrc-tests/matlab-424296.err
 
  StdIn=/dev/null
 
  StdOut=/home/jstrds/ufrc-tests/matlab-424296.out
 
  Power= SICP=0
 
</pre>
 
 
 
=Step 3: Connect to Xpra Session from the client side=
 
==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>
 
 
 
[[File:Hpg2-gui-matlab2.png|thumbnail|center|MatLab running via Xpra under slurm]]
 
 
 
==MAC OS:==
 
Navigate to the folder that contains the xpra executable:
 
<pre>
 
cd /Applications/Xpra.app/Contents/MacOS
 
</pre>
 
 
 
Second, connect to your running xpra instance using the following syntax where $USERNAME is your 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.
 
<pre>
 
./Xpra attach ssh:$USERNAME@$SERVERNAME:$PORT
 
</pre>
 
 
 
Example:
 
<pre>
 
./Xpra attach ssh:test-user@i21a-s3.rc.ufl.edu:143 --desktop-scaling=on --dpi=96
 
</pre>
 
 
 
==Microsoft Windows==
 
First, navigate to the install location of xpra (normally C:\Program Files (x86)\Xpra\). 
 
;In MobaXterm:
 
cd /drives/c/Progam\ Files\ \(x86\)/Xpra/
 
 
 
Second, connect to your running xpra instance using the following syntax where $USERNAME is your 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
 
 
 
;Example:
 
 
 
<pre>
 
./xpra attach ssh:testuser@i21a-s3.rc.ufl.edu:143 --desktop-scaling=on --dpi=96
 
</pre>
 
 
 
[[File:Hpg2-gui-matlab-win.png|thumbnail|center|MatLab running via Xpra under slurm]]
 
 
 
;NOTE: If you close the window using the close button, this will exit your application just like a native application.  If you want to simply detach the session and come back later, please follow the ''detaching xpra session'' instructions below
 
 
 
=Step 4: Detaching Xpra Session=
 
These instructions allow you to detach a running xpra client without closing the application.
 
 
 
==Linux and MAC OS==
 
In the original terminal where you activated the client, simply press Control-C to detach the session.
 
 
 
<pre>
 
2016-04-06 15:18:17,173 Attached to ssh:testuser@i21a-s3.rc.ufl.edu:143 (press Control-C to detach)
 
^C
 
got signal SIGINT, exiting
 
2016-04-06 15:18:42,513 Connection lost
 
</pre>
 
 
 
You can re-attach to the running application using the ''xpra attach'' command as described in the instructions above.
 
 
 
==Windows==
 
* Start a new console and navigate to the xpra directory as shown above.
 
* Run the following command 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 detach ssh:$USERNAME@$SERVERNAME:$PORT
 
 
 
;Example:
 
<pre>
 
cd "C:\Program Files (x86)\Xpra"
 
./xpra detach ssh:testuser@i21a-s3.rc.ufl.edu:143
 
</pre>
 
 
 
;Note: If you are using mobaXterm, you can press Control-C in the mobaXterm window to detach, just like using the Linux client.
 
 
 
=Startup Scripts=
 
Some applications that require key command line parameters for launching, are more convienent to wrap with a startup script.  Here is an annotated version and some application examples.  The executable file can be downloaded here: [[File:matlab-launch.sh.txt| matlab-launch.sh]]
 
 
 
==Matlab Example==
 
The first line of the launch script should set which shell type to use.  On HiPerGator systems, the default shell is bash.
 
<pre>
 
#!/bin/bash
 
</pre>
 
 
 
Next, load the modules required for the application:
 
<pre>
 
module load matlab;
 
</pre>
 
 
 
Finally, enter the launch command for the GUI application:
 
<pre>
 
matlab -nosplash -desktop
 
</pre>
 
 
 
Once the script is saved, you will need to make it executable to run as an application wrapper.  This can be done with the "chmod" command:
 
<pre>
 
[testuser@gator3 ~]$ chmod u+x matlab-launch.sh
 
</pre>
 
 
 
Below are some other application launch script examples:
 
==Other Examples==
 
===MZmine===
 
<pre>
 
#!/bin/bash
 
module load mzmine;
 
startMZmine_Linux.sh;
 
</pre>
 
 
 
MZmine with 8GB of memory:
 
<pre>
 
#!/bin/bash
 
 
 
module load mzmine
 
 
 
export _JAVA_OPTIONS="-Xmx8g"
 
 
 
startMZmine_Linux.sh
 
</pre>
 
 
 
===Rstudio===
 
<pre>
 
#!/bin/bash
 
 
 
module load gui rstudio;
 
rstudio;
 
</pre>
 
 
 
 
 
===Other tested applications===
 
;trackvis
 
Notes: Application window appears correctly, waiting on license key in inital window
 
 
 
;xterm
 
Notes: Works as expected
 
 
 
 
 
;End current Xpra documentation slated for wiki
 

Latest revision as of 14:42, 30 January 2023

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.

Using Open on Demand on HiPerGator

Play icon.png [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