Interactive Apps

Interactive Apps let you run graphical/interative applications (RStudio, JupyterLab, MATLAB, etc.) on Seneca compute nodes from your browser. This page covers the shared workflow for Interactive Apps. For app-specific instructions, see Available Apps.

Overview

Interactive Apps are browser-based applications that run on Seneca compute nodes. You fill out a short form and Open OnDemand submits a Slurm job for you. Once the job starts, you connect to the app from the Dashboard.

Each Interactive App runs as a Slurm job, so every session consumes your project's compute allocation while it is running, even when you are not actively using it. If you're done with an interactive session, it's recommended to save the session data (if data is needed) and delete the session.

Launching an App

In the top navigation bar, click Interactive Apps and choose an app from the dropdown. You land on the app's launch form, where you fill out the resource fields (cores, walltime, queue/partition, etc.). Not all interactive apps require the same fields, see Selecting Resources for details.

  • Click Launch and you are redirected to My Interactive Sessions, where your session appears as Queued.
  • The status updates through Queued, Starting, Running.
  • Once it is Running, click Connect to [App] to open the app in a new tab.

Selecting Resources

Every form asks for a similar set of resources.

  • Cores — CPU cores allocated to your session.
  • Walltime — session length.
  • Queue — varies by application, but is either cpu or gpu.

Managing Active Sessions

Click the web browser icon to see all your current sessions. Each card shows the app, the host it runs on, time remaining, and buttons to connect, view details, or delete.

Reconnecting to a Session

Closing the browser tab does not stop a running session. To get back to it, go to My Interactive Sessions, find the session (still Running), and click Connect to [App]. You can reconnect from a different computer or browser as long as the session is running.

Extending or Ending a Session

Walltime cannot be extended once a session is running. If you need more time, save your work to the filesystem, end the session, and launch a new one with a longer walltime.

Available Apps

Seneca currently provides the following Interactive Apps. Click any app for app-specific instructions.