This documentation includes guidance, instructions, general information about the Research IT Service managed Research Cluster. Researcher execute computing jobs on the cluster in containerized environments known as Docker “containers” which are essentially lightweight virtual machines, each assigned dedicated CPU, RAM, and GPU hardware, and each well isolated from other users’ processes. The Research Cluster uses the Kubernetes container management/orchestration system to route users’ containers onto compute nodes, monitors performance, and applies resource limits/quotas as appropriate.
Complex Machine Learning workflows are supported through terminal/SSH logins and a full Linux/Ubuntu CUDA development suite. Users may install additional library packages (e.g. conda/pip, CRAN) as needed, or can opt to replace the default environment entirely by launching their own custom Docker containers.
High-speed cluster-local storage houses workspaces and common training corpora (e.g. CIFAR, ImageNet).
Note to Users:
When using the Research Cluster, please be considerate and terminate idle containers prior to closing you command line interface or logging out of the datahub. When a user engages a container, the container become unusable by others even if completely idle. While containers share system RAM and CPU resources under the standard Linux/Unix model, the cluster’s 80 GPU cards are assigned to users on an exclusive basis.
Getting Started
The are two ways in which to access the Research Cluster - via ssh or via the datahub.
Launching a Container
After signing into the login node, you can start a pod/container using launching a standard Research Cluster launch script or a customize container launch script.
Once started, containers are accessible in either a Bash Shell (command-line) or a Jupyter/Python Notebook environment. Users may access their Jupyter notebook by copying and pasting the launch script link provided by pasting the link in the browser address bar. This link will work as long as your container is active and will cease to work once you logout. Docker container image and CPU/GPU/RAM settings are all configurable - see the “Customization” and "Launch Script Command-line Options" sections below for more details.
Containers terminate when automatically when users exit the interactive shell.
More details and guidance on launching a container is available on the “How To: Launching Containers From the Command Line - Data Science/Machine Learning Platform (DSMLP)” guidance page.
Web Interface Tool
The Research Cluster uses the web interface tool known as Jupyterhub Notebooks as an alternative graphical interface option for users who prefer computing in this type of interface rather than in the command line interface.
To access the web interface tool, users are directed to sign-in at https://datahub.ucsd.edu (or via selecting the login button up top).
Monitoring Container Resource Usage
Modifying Containers
Certain modifications can be made to containers to allow for users to adjust their environment to accommodate specific computing needs.
Container Run Time Limits
Container Termination Messages
Data Storage / Datasets
There are two types of persistent file storage are available within containers:
A private home directory ($HOME) for each user
A shared directory - for group shared data or for datasets used to distribute common data (e.g. CIFAR-10, Tiny ImageNet) for individual access
Each user's private home directory is limited to a 100GB storage allocation by default. Shared directory storage can vary as this storage may be a mounted storage. In specific cases, Research IT may make allowances to temporary increase storage in a user’s private home directory. These requests may be submitted by emailing rcd-support@ucsd.edu.
Standard Datasets
File Transfer
Users can utilize commands (e.g. 'git', 'scp', 'sftp', and 'curl') in the bash shell (command line interface) to import code or data from external servers that are both on and off-campus. Files can be copied into the cluster from external sources using Globus, SCP/SFTP, or RSYNC.
Customizing a Container Environment
Each launch script specifies the default Docker image to use, the required number of CPU cores, GPU cards, and GB RAM assigned to a container. When creating a customized container, it is recommended to use CPU-only containers until your code is fully tested and a test training run has been completed successfully. It is important to note that PyTorch, Tensorflow, and Caffe toolkits can easily switch between CPU and GPU , as such, a successful run in a CPU-only container should also be successful in a container with GPU.
Adjusting Container Environment and CPU/RAM/GPU limits
All running containers in the cluster have a maximum configuration limit of 8 CPU, 64GB, and 1 GPU. You may run eight 1 CPU-core containers, one 8-core container, or any configuration within the these bounds. Requests may be submitted to rcd-support@ucsd.edu to increases to these default limits, as well as, to request other adjustments (including software) to your container environment.
Alternate Docker Images
In addition to configuration settings, users can import alternate or custom Docker images. The cluster servers will pull container images from dockerhub.io or elsewhere if requested. You can create or modify these Docker images as needed.
Adjusting Launch Script Environments Command Line Options
Users can change the default variables within a launch script environment variables using specific command line options.
Custom Python Packages (Anaconda/PIP)
Users may install additional Python packages within their containers using the PIP tool or standard Anaconda package management system. Users should only install Python packages after launching a container. When Python packages are installed, they are installed in a user’s home directory. As such, these packages will be available for all containers launched thereafter by the user.
For less complex installations the PIP tool can be used to install Python packages. Please see PIP documentation ‘User Installs’ for detailed guidance.
Anaconda is recommended for installing scientific packages with complex dependencies. Please see Anaconda's Getting Started for a guided introduction.
Installing TensorBoard
Our current configuration doesn’t permit easy access to Tensorboard via port 6006, but the following shell commands will install a TensorBoard interface accessible within the Jupyter environment:
pip install -U --user jupyter-tensorboard jupyter nbextension enable jupyter_tensorboard/tree --user
You’ll need to exit your Pod/container and restart for the change to take effect.
Running Jobs in a Background Container and Long-Running Jobs
To minimize the impact of abandoned/runaway jobs, the cluster allows for containers to run jobs in the background container for up to 12 hours of execution time. Users need to specify that a job should run in a background container by using the "-b" command line option (see example below). To support longer run times, the default execution time can be extended upon request to rcd-support@ucsd.edu.
Note to users: Please be considerate and terminate any unused background jobs. GPU cards are limited and assigned to containers on an exclusive basis. When attached to a container, GPUs are unusable by others even if the GPU is idle while attached to your container.
Run-TIme Error Messages
There may be instances where you receive a CUDA run-time error while running a job in a container. Below are a few of the more commonly encountered errors. These errors can typically be resolved by user adjustments. However, If users encounter a run-time error that requires more assistance to resolve, please contact rcd-support@ucsd.edu.
Monitoring Cluster Status
Users can enter the ‘cluster-status’ command for insight into the number of jobs currently running and GPU/CPU/RAM allocated. Alternatively, users can refer the the cluster ‘Node Status’ page for updates on containers (or images).
Cluster Hardware Specifications
Cluster architecture diagram
Node | CPU Model | #Cores ea. | RAM ea | #GPU | GPU Model | Family | CUDA Cores | GPU RAM | GFLOPS |
Nodes 1-4 | 2xE5-2630 v4 | 20 | 384Gb | 8 | GTX 1080Ti | Pascal | 3584 ea. | 11Gb | 10600 |
Nodes 5-8 | 2xE5-2630 v4 | 20 | 256Gb | 8 | GTX 1080Ti | Pascal | 3584 ea. | 11Gb | 10600 |
Node 9 | 2xE5-2650 v2 | 16 | 128Gb | 8 | GTX Titan | Kepler | 2688 ea. | 6Gb | 4500 |
Node 10 | 2xE5-2670 v3 | 24 | 320Gb | 7 | GTX 1070Ti | Pascal | 2432 ea. | 8Gb | 7800 |
Nodes 11-12 | 2xXeon Gold 6130 | 32 | 384Gb | 8 | GTX 1080Ti | Pascal | 3584 ea. | 11Gb | 10600 |
Nodes 13-15 | 2xE5-2650v1 | 16 | 320Gb | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a |
Nodes 16-18 | 2xAMD 6128 | 24 | 256Gb | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a |
Nodes are connected via an Arista 7150 10Gb Ethernet switch.
Additional nodes can be added into the cluster at peak times.
Example: PyTorch Session with TensorFlow examples
slithy:~ agt$ slithy:~ agt$ ssh cs190f@ieng6.ucsd.edu Password: Last login: Thu Oct 12 12:29:30 2017 from slithy.ucsd.edu ============================ NOTICE ================================= Authorized use of this system is limited to password-authenticated usernames which are issued to individuals and are for the sole use of the person to whom they are issued. Privacy notice: be aware that computer files, electronic mail and accounts are not private in an absolute sense. For a statement of "ETS (formerly ACMS) Acceptable Use Policies" please see our webpage at http://acms.ucsd.edu/info/aup.html. ===================================================================== Disk quotas for user cs190f (uid 59457): Filesystem blocks quota limit grace files quota limit grace acsnfs4.ucsd.edu:/vol/home/linux/ieng6 11928 5204800 5204800 272 9000 9000 ============================================================= Check Account Lookup Tool at http://acms.ucsd.edu ============================================================= […] Thu Oct 12, 2017 12:34pm - Prepping cs190f [cs190f @ieng6-201]:~:56$ launch-pytorch-gpu.sh Attempting to create job ('pod') with 2 CPU cores, 8 GB RAM, and 1 GPU units. (Edit /home/linux/ieng6/cs190f/public/bin/launch-pytorch.sh to change this configuration.) pod "cs190f -4953" created Thu Oct 12 12:34:41 PDT 2017 starting up - pod status: Pending ; Thu Oct 12 12:34:47 PDT 2017 pod is running with IP: 10.128.7.99 tensorflow/tensorflow:latest-gpu is now active. Please connect to: http://ieng6-201.ucsd.edu:4957/?token=669d678bdb00c89df6ab178285a0e8443e676298a02ad66e2438c9851cb544ce Connected to cs190f-4953; type 'exit' to terminate processes and close Jupyter notebooks. cs190f@cs190f-4953:~$ ls TensorFlow-Examples cs190f@cs190f-4953:~$ cs190f@cs190f-4953:~$ git clone https://github.com/yunjey/pytorch-tutorial.git Cloning into 'pytorch-tutorial'... remote: Counting objects: 658, done. remote: Total 658 (delta 0), reused 0 (delta 0), pack-reused 658 Receiving objects: 100% (658/658), 12.74 MiB | 24.70 MiB/s, done. Resolving deltas: 100% (350/350), done. Checking connectivity... done. cs190f@cs190f-4953:~$ cd pytorch-tutorial/ cs190f@cs190f-4953:~/pytorch-tutorial$ cd tutorials/02-intermediate/bidirectional_recurrent_neural_network/ cs190f@cs190f-4953:~/pytorch-tutorial/tutorials/02-intermediate/bidirectional_recurrent_neural_network$ python main-gpu.py Downloading http://yann.lecun.com/exdb/mnist/train-images-idx3-ubyte.gz Downloading http://yann.lecun.com/exdb/mnist/train-labels-idx1-ubyte.gz Downloading http://yann.lecun.com/exdb/mnist/t10k-images-idx3-ubyte.gz Downloading http://yann.lecun.com/exdb/mnist/t10k-labels-idx1-ubyte.gz Processing... Done! Epoch [1/2], Step [100/600], Loss: 0.7028 Epoch [1/2], Step [200/600], Loss: 0.2479 Epoch [1/2], Step [300/600], Loss: 0.2467 Epoch [1/2], Step [400/600], Loss: 0.2652 Epoch [1/2], Step [500/600], Loss: 0.1919 Epoch [1/2], Step [600/600], Loss: 0.0822 Epoch [2/2], Step [100/600], Loss: 0.0980 Epoch [2/2], Step [200/600], Loss: 0.1034 Epoch [2/2], Step [300/600], Loss: 0.0927 Epoch [2/2], Step [400/600], Loss: 0.0869 Epoch [2/2], Step [500/600], Loss: 0.0139 Epoch [2/2], Step [600/600], Loss: 0.0299 Test Accuracy of the model on the 10000 test images: 97 % cs190f@cs190f-4953:~/pytorch-tutorial/tutorials/02-intermediate/bidirectional_recurrent_neural_network$ cd $HOME cs190f@cs190f-4953:~$ nvidia-smi Thu Oct 12 13:30:59 2017 +-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+ | NVIDIA-SMI 384.81 Driver Version: 384.81 | |-------------------------------+----------------------+----------------------+ | GPU Name Persistence-M| Bus-Id Disp.A | Volatile Uncorr. ECC | | Fan Temp Perf Pwr:Usage/Cap| Memory-Usage | GPU-Util Compute M. | |===============================+======================+======================| | 0 GeForce GTX 108... Off | 00000000:09:00.0 Off | N/A | | 23% 27C P0 56W / 250W | 0MiB / 11172MiB | 0% Default | +-------------------------------+----------------------+----------------------+ cs190f@cs190f-4953:~$ exit
Licensed Software
Stata
If you have been provisioned with Stata licensing, a container started by launch-scipy-ml.sh is capable of executing Stata. Stata will be installed in your home directory and can be executed using the command '~/stata-se' from within a container.
Acknowledging Research IT Services
Papers, presentations, and other publications that feature research that benefited from the Research Cluster computing resource, services or support expertise may include in the text the following acknowledgement:
This research was done using the UC San Diego Research Cluster computing resource, supported by Research IT Services and provided by Academic Technology Services / IT Services.