Interactive Computing at MSI | Minnesota Supercomputing Institute | UMN

Topic: Interactive Computing at MSI
Date: September 23 2025
Presentation Slides and Training Materials: https://tinyurl.com/4uz6d2rv
Learn more at https://www.msi.umn.edu

00:00:00 Introduction to Interactive HPC
00:00:41 What is Interactive Computing?
00:02:40 When to use Interactive vs. Batch Computing
00:06:30 Types of Interactive Workflows at MSI
00:08:40 Interactive Access via SSH (srun -p interactive)
00:12:00 Interactive Access via Open OnDemand
00:13:30 Open OnDemand: Shell Access and File Management
00:15:20 The Interactive Partition (Slurm)
00:17:40 X-Windows and Graphical Applications
00:19:50 X-Windows: Using Xvfb
00:21:40 Open OnDemand: Interactive Apps (Desktops, Jupyter)
00:23:40 Desktop Application: GNOME/XFCE
00:25:30 Desktop Application: MobaXterm (External X-Windows)
00:27:00 Demo: Launching a Desktop Session on Open OnDemand
00:31:30 Slurm Job Resources for Desktop
00:33:30 Connecting to the Desktop Session
00:36:10 Using Matlab on the Interactive Desktop
00:40:00 Troubleshooting - X-Windows performance
00:42:00 Jupyter Notebook App: Configuration
00:45:00 Jupyter Notebook App: Environments and Kernels
00:47:30 Launching a Jupyter Notebook Session
00:49:10 Connecting to the Jupyter Server
00:51:30 Demo: Running a Jupyter Notebook
00:53:50 The Compute vs. Data problem in Notebooks
00:55:40 RStudio App: Configuration
00:58:10 Launching an RStudio Session
01:00:00 Demo: The RStudio Interface
01:01:40 Software and Modules in Interactive Apps
01:03:00 Module Environment and Conda
01:04:30 Virtual Environments (conda) in Interactive Apps
01:07:30 Installing a Conda Kernel for Jupyter
01:10:40 Debugging in Interactive Sessions
01:12:30 Debugging the Desktop App
01:14:40 Debugging the Jupyter App
01:17:30 Interactive Debugging with srun
01:19:50 Advanced Interactive Topics: VNC and TurboVNC
01:23:40 TurboVNC and NoMachine
01:25:50 Troubleshooting - Network and Connection issues
01:28:10 Slurm Job Script for Interactive Session
01:31:10 Batch Script to launch an Interactive Desktop
01:35:00 Paraview (Visualization Software) on the Desktop
01:38:00 TensorFlow/PyTorch in Interactive Apps
01:40:10 GPU Resources in Interactive Apps
01:42:00 Using VS Code Server via Open OnDemand
01:44:00 Q&A and Conclusion