Objective:
Learn how to run nTop in the cloud using Rescale.Applies to:
- Cloud computing
- nTop
- Rescale
Procedure:
nTop has partnered with Rescale, a cloud hosting company, to offer cloud computing for nTop. There are two options for using nTop on Rescale, either as a virtual desktop or batch cloud computing.How to use Rescale as a virtual desktop:
- Select Desktops and press the “Create a new Desktop” button
- Name your desktop session and choose nTop GUI as your software. You can also choose which version of nTop to run.
- Choose your hardware. Rescale offers a virtual desktop for nTop with the following specifications:
- Physical Cores: 8 Intel Xeon (Broadwell)
- GPU: NVIDIA Tesla M60
- Memory: 122 GB
- Windows, SSD
- Provisioning the machine and attaching the software takes about ten minutes. Once this is done you can launch the desktop by clicking on the blue desktop button.
- Virtual desktop is now available in your browser. Select the nTop icon on the desktop to get started.
- Open up nTop and enter your credentials to log in and get started. If you normally use a local license, you can still log in with your credentials because every local license comes with a matching cloud license.
- To upload files to the virtual desktop, navigate to the “Files” menu. Drag and drop files from your local machine into the interface to upload your files.
- To access your files on the virtual desktop, click on the “Cloud Files” icon within the virtual desktop. This brings up the “Files” browser with your files in cloud storage.
- Navigate to the file and select the download button. You’ll then be prompted to save the file to the “Download” folder on your virtual desktop.
- Now you are ready to use nTop in a virtual desktop environment. Don’t forget to terminate your desktop session once you are done so you don’t run up hardware costs.
How to use Rescale to run a batch job:
- Navigate to the Jobs menu and click “Create New Job”
- Upload your nTop file (*.ntop)
- Upload a JSON file with the input parameters you want to use in the Notebook
- Name your Job
- Choose nTop, the version you want, and provide Command line options. An example of what needs to be in the command line is below:
- 0:/3.6.4/ntopcl.exe is the path on the provisioned machine
- input.json is the name of the JSON file you uploaded that contains the input parameters
- -v2 sets the verbosity of the output to warnings, errors, and runtime progress
- -s overwrites the provided *.ntop file with the results
- -u and -w specify your nTop username and password
- Your-nTop-model.ntop is the name of your nTop file
- Select Hardware Settings
- Select the number of cores you want and choose your virtual machine
- Hit Submit
- Your machine is then provisioned and your job is started. Once it is done, you receive an email updating you of the status of your job
- Navigate to the Results window to download your results back to your machine
