How to run cyCONDOR as container

The easiest way to get started uning cyCONDOR is by deploying the Docker container we provide with each release of the package. This container is based on the Bioconductor image and start an RStudio server session on your localhost accessible from any browser.

In this vignette we will cover a few option to deploy our Docker container in your computing infrastructure. If your specific situation is not covered do not hesitate to contact us.

First we will show how to install Docker Desktop on any Windows or Mac machine, we will then cover some basic set-up for the configuration of Docker in a remote server.

Last we will show how to deploy our Docker container using Singularity as for safety reasons many research institutions are not allowing Docker containers in their IT infrastructure anymore.

Run cyCONDOR with `Docker Desktop` (PC/Mac)

Install Docker or another tool to deploy Docker containers (e.g., Singularity).

Note: depending on the operating system follow the instructions at https://www.docker.com/, on Windows also the Windows Subsystem for Linux needs to be installed:

Set up the Windows Subsystem for Linux 2 (WSL2) and any of the available Linux distributions:
- Install WSL2 first following the instructions reported here: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/wsl/install
- Install Ubuntu or another Linux distribution as reported here: https://ubuntu.com/tutorials/install-ubuntu-on-wsl2-on-windows-10#1-overview
Download and install the latest version of Docker Desktop.
After starting the software, verify the installation of Docker Desktop.
- Open the Ubuntu terminal.
- Run:

docker info

Note: If Docker is installed and running correctly this will output some basic information on the system, if no output is produced the installation was not successful.

Since the cause of this malfunction could be extremely diverse, it is advisable to consult the troubleshooting section of Docker desktop website (https://docs.docker.com/desktop/troubleshoot/overview/).

You can now start a Docker container for cyCONDOR analysis.

First download the latest version of the Docker image

docker pull lorenzobonaguro/cycondor:v016

Now start the container with the following command (everything in [] need to be edited by the user).

docker run -dp [YOUR PORT]:8787 ∖         # define the port to use
-e USER=[USER] -e PASSWORD=[PW] ∖         # username and password, can be defined by the user
--name cycondor_analysis ∖                # name of the container
-v [LOCAL DIRECTORY PATH]:/data/ ∖        # directory to mount
lorenzobonaguro/cycondor:015              #name of the docker image

You can now access your RStudio session with any browser at the address:

http://localhost:[YOUR PORT]

Enter now the selected [USER] and [PW] and you will have access to Rstudio.

To locate your data click on the ... symbol above the Files tab (see picture below) and type /data to finally press enter.

drawing Exemplary Files windows of the Rstudio server

Run cyCONDOR with Docker on a remote server

Please follow the guideline of your institution/organization on how to access remote servers and how to manage Docker containers.

Here we give a general introduction on how to ssh to a remote server.

First log into the remote server by typing in the terminal:

ssh [ServerAddress] -l [username]

Both Mac OS Terminal and Windows PowerShell can use natively the ssh protocol.

You can now start cyCONDOR Docker container as previously

docker run -dp [YOUR PORT]:8787 ∖         # define the port to use
-e USER=[USER] -e PASSWORD=[PW] ∖         # username and password
--name cycondor_analysis ∖                # name of the container
-v [LOCAL DIRECTORY PATH]:/data/ ∖        # directory to mount
lorenzobonaguro/cycondor:015              #name of the docker image

The RServer session will now be available at the following address:

http://[ServerAddress]:[YOURPORT]/

Note: This vignette is not intended as an exhaustive tutorial on how to use Docker, we encourage the reader to explore Docker functionalists on https://www.docker.com.

Stop, restart and delete a Docker container

Once you are done with your work, either on your local machine or on a remote server you can stop your Docker container.

Stopped container can be started quickly without loss of temporary data or permanently removed.

To stop your Docker container you first need to identify the CONTAINER ID of your session, this can be done by typing in the terminal

docker container ls

This command will generate a list of the running containers, you need to copy the CONTAINER ID of the one matching with your --name (e.g. cycondor_analysis)

The container can now be stopped

docker container stop [CONTAINER ID]

To now restart the container simply run

docker contaienr start [CONTAINER ID]

Or alternatively to permanently remove the container

docker container rm [CONTAINER ID]

Note: Keep in mind that this operation will only remove the container, the Docker image will still be available to your system. If you want to remove also the docker image type docker image rm [IMAGE NAME].

Run cyCONDOR with Singularity on a remote server

Running cyCONDOR Docker container with Singularity as runtime is possible, first you need to download cyCONDOR Docker image and convert it to a .sif file:

singularity pull docker://lorenzobonaguro/cycondor:v016

This command will save the Docker image in the current working directory.

You can now generate a script to start the singularity container in the same directory named for example start_singularity.sh.

Also here everything in [] need to be edited by the user.

#!/bin/bash

#create temporary file variable
export WORKSPACE=[folder path to store tmp files]

#create temporary folders
[ -d $WORKSPACE ] || mkdir -p $WORKSPACE
cd $WORKSPACE
mkdir run tmp-rstudio-server var-lib-rstudio-server

#create a database config file
printf 'provider=sqlite\ndirectory=/var/lib/rstudio-server\n' > database.conf

#create a secure cookie key file
cd tmp-rstudio-server
uuidgen > secure-cookie-key

#prepare to load the container

PASSWORD='[UserSelectedPassword]' singularity exec \
--bind $WORKSPACE/run:/run,\
$WORKSPACE/var-lib-rstudio-server:/var/lib/rstudio-server,\
$WORKSPACE/tmp-rstudio-server:/tmp/rstudio-server,\
$WORKSPACE/database.conf:/etc/rstudio/database.conf,\
[LOCAL DIRECTORY PATH]:/data/ \
[PathToCyCONDORSifFile] rserver \
--www-address=$(hostname -i) --www-port=[YourPort] \
--auth-none=0 --auth-pam-helper-path=pam-helper --server-data-dir=/var/run/rstudio-server --server-user=[YourUsername] &

To start the container you need now to execute the sh script

sh ./start_singularity.sh

Similarly to Docker containers the RStudio session will be available at the address:

http://[ServerAddress]:[YOURPORT]/

Stop a Singularity container

To stop a Singularity container you first need to identify the [PID] associated to the Rserver session. You can easily do it by typing in the terminal

top -u [YourUsername]

You can now stop the container by typing

kill [PID]

Run cyCONDOR on a HPC cluster as SLURM Job

For really big dataset it is possible to run Singularity containers as SLURM jobs on HPC computer clusters.

To set up your environment follow this detailed guide from the Rocker project: https://rocker-project.org/use/singularity.html.