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Open OnDemand Overview

We provide various interactive Apps through the browser-based Open OnDemand service available at https://lrc-ondemand.lbl.gov .

The available Apps/services include:

  • Jupyter notebooks
  • RStudio
  • Matlab
  • VS Code
  • File browsing
  • Slurm job listing
  • Terminal/shell access (under the "Clusters" tab)

Logging In

  1. Visit https://lrc-ondemand.lbl.gov in your web browser.
  2. Login using CILogon. At the login page, please select the appropriate institute. If you have a Berkeley Lab identity please select Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and use your Berkeley Lab Identity to login to Open OnDemand.

Service Unit Charges

Open OnDemand apps may launch Slurm jobs on your behalf when you request sessions on a slurm partition. Open OnDemand refers to these jobs as "interactive sessions." Since these are just Slurm jobs, service units are charged for interactive sessions the same way normal jobs are charged.

Interactive, for exploration/debugging mode

Interactive sessions running on nodes whose hostnames end in .ood0 do not cost service units. Sessions can be run on .ood0 nodes by choosing interactive, for exploration/debugging versions of the apps. Nodes ending in .ood0 are shared nodes that are provied for low-intensity jobs. These should be treated like login nodes (that is, intensive computation is not allowed).

Job time is counted for interactive sessions as the total time the job runs. The job starts running as soon as a node is allocated for the job. The interactive session may still be running even if you do not have it open in your web browser. You can view all currently running interactive sessions under My Interactive Sessions. When you are done, you may stop an interactive session by clicking “Delete” on the session.

There are several ways to monitor usage:

Using Open OnDemand

Here are some of the services provided via Open OnDemand.

Services on Open OnDemand

Access the Files App from the top menu bar under Files > Home Directory. Using the Files App, you can use your web browser to:

  • View files in the Lawrencium filesystem.
  • Create and delete files and directories.
  • Upload and download files from the Lawrencium filesystem to your computer.
  • We recommend using Globus for large file transfers.

Files App

Files List

View and cancel active Slurm jobs from Jobs > Active Jobs. This includes jobs started via sbatch and srun as well as jobs started via Open OnDemand.

View Active Jobs

Active Jobs

Open OnDemand allows Lawrencium shell access from the top menu bar under Clusters > LRC Shell Access.

LRC Shell Access

Demo Shell

Interactive Apps

Additionally, Open OnDemand provides the following interactive apps.

  • Desktop App
  • Jupyter Server
  • MATLAB
  • RStudio Server
  • VS Code Server

Click on a tab below to learn more about these interactive apps.

Interactive Apps on Open OnDemand

The Desktop App allows you to launch an interactive desktop on the Lawrencium cluster. You will be able to launch GUI applications directly on the desktop.

Steps:

  • Select Desktop from the Interactive Apps menu.
  • Provide the job specifications you want for the Desktop app.
  • Once Desktop is ready, click Launch Desktop and the Desktop will open in a new tab.

See the Jupyter documentation page for instructions on using Jupyter notebooks via Open OnDemand. This service replaces the JupyterHub service that we formerly provided.

Steps:

  • Select Jupyter Server from the Interactive Apps menu.
  • Provide the job specifications you want for the Jupyter server.
  • Once Jupyter is ready, click Connect to Jupyter to access your Jupyter session.

The MATLAB app allows your to use MATLAB GUI on Lawrencium cluster.

Steps:

  • Select MATLAB from the Interactive Apps menu.
  • Specify the amount of time you would like the MATLAB sessions to run.
  • Once the MATLAB session is ready, click Launch MATLAB to access MATLAB GUI.

The RStudio server allows you to use RStudio on Lawrencium cluster.

Steps:

  • Select RStudio Server from the Interactive Apps menu.
  • Provide the job specification you want for the RStudio server.
  • Once RStudio is ready, click Connect to RStudio to access RStudio.

The VS Code server allows you to use VS Code on Lawrencium cluster.

Steps:

  • Select VS Code Server from the Interactive Apps menu.
  • Provide the job specification you want for the VS Code server.
  • Once VS Code Server is ready, click Connect to VS Code to access VS Code.

Job run time

Service units are charged based on job run time. The job may still be running if you close the window or log out. When you are done, shut down an interactive app by clicking "Delete" on the session under My Interactive Sessions.

Troubleshooting Open OnDemand

Common problems

Problem: Open OnDemand login pop-up box keeps reappearing

If you have trouble logging into OOD (including if the login pop-up box keeps reappearing after you enter your username and password), you may need to make sure you have completely exited out of other OOD sessions. This could include closing browser tab(s)/window(s), clearing your browser cache and clearing relevant cookies. You might also try running OOD in an incognito window (or if using Google Chrome, in a new user profile).

General information for troubleshooting

Logs and scripts for each interactive session with Open OnDemand are stored in:

~/ondemand/data/sys/dashboard/batch_connect/sys

There are directories for each interactive app type within this directory. For example, to see the scripts and logs for a Jupyter session, you might look at the files under:

~/ondemand/data/sys/dashboard/batch_connect/sys/lrc_jupyter/output/da19101d-70b0-43c1-84ff-7d9f0e739419