## **`clearml-session` CLI for launching JupyterLab / VSCode on a remote machine**
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**`clearml-session`** is a utility for launching detachable remote interactive sessions (MacOS, Windows, Linux)
### tl;dr
CLI to launch remote sessions for JupyterLab / VSCode-server / SSH, inside any docker image!
### What does it do?
Starting a clearml (ob)session from your local machine triggers the following:
- ClearML allocates a remote instance (GPU) from your dedicated pool
- On the allocated instance it will spin **jupyter-lab** + **vscode server** + **SSH** access for
interactive usage (i.e., development)
- ClearML will start monitoring machine performance, allowing DevOps to detect stale instances and spin them down
> ℹ️ **Remote PyCharm:** You can also work with PyCharm in a remote session over SSH. Use the [PyCharm Plugin](https://github.com/allegroai/clearml-pycharm-plugin) to automatically sync local configurations with a remote session.
### Use-cases for remote interactive sessions:
1. Development requires resources not available on the current developer's machines
2. Team resource sharing (e.g. how to dynamically assign GPUs to developers)
3. Spin a copy of a previously executed experiment for remote debugging purposes (:open_mouth:!)
4. Scale-out development to multiple clouds, assign development machines on AWS/GCP/Azure in a seamless way
## Prerequisites:
* **An SSH client installed on your machine** - To verify open your terminal and execute `ssh`, if you did not receive an error, we are good to go.
* At least one `clearml-agent` running on a remote host. See installation [details](https://github.com/allegroai/clearml-agent).
Supported OS: MacOS, Windows, Linux
## Secure & Stable
**clearml-session** creates a single, secure, and encrypted connection to the remote machine over SSH.
SSH credentials are automatically generated by the CLI and contain fully random 32 bytes password.
All http connections are tunneled over the SSH connection,
allowing users to add additional services on the remote machine (!)
Furthermore, all tunneled connections have a special stable network layer allowing you to refresh the underlying SSH
connection without breaking any network sockets!
This means that if the network connection is unstable, you can refresh
the base SSH network tunnel, without breaking JupyterLab/VSCode-server or your own SSH connection
(e.h. debugging over SSH with PyCharm)
---
## How to use: Interactive Session
1. run `clearml-session`
2. select the requested queue (resource)
3. wait until a machine is up and ready
4. click on the link to the remote JupyterLab/VSCode OR connect with the provided SSH details
**Notice! You can also**: Select a **docker image** to execute in, install required **python packages**, run **bash script**,
pass **git credentials**, etc.
See below for full CLI options.
## Frequently Asked Questions:
#### How Does ClearML enable this?
The `clearml-session` creates a new interactive `Task` in the system (default project: DevOps).
This `Task` is responsible for setting the SSH and JupyterLab/VSCode on the host machine.
The local `clearml-session` awaits for the interactive Task to finish with the initial setup, then
it connects via SSH to the host machine (see "safe and stable" above), and tunnels
both SSH and JupyterLab over the SSH connection.
The end results is a local link which you can use to access the JupyterLab/VSCode on the remote machine, over a **secure and encrypted** connection!
#### How can this be used to scale up/out development resources?
**Clearml** has a cloud autoscaler, so you can easily and automatically spin machines for development!
There is also a default docker image to use when initiating a task.
This means that using **clearml-session**s
with the autoscaler enabled, allows for turn-key secure development environment inside a docker of your choosing.
Learn more about it [here](https://clear.ml/docs/latest/docs/guides/services/aws_autoscaler)
#### Does this fit Work From Home situations?
**YES**. Install `clearml-agent` on target machines inside the organization, connect over your company VPN
and use `clearml-session` to gain access to a dedicated on-prem machine with the docker of your choosing
(with out-of-the-box support for any internal docker artifactory).
Learn more about how to utilize your office workstations and on-prem machines [here](https://clear.ml/docs/latest/docs/clearml_agent)
## Tutorials
### Getting started
Requirements `clearml` python package installed and configured (see detailed [instructions](https://clear.ml/docs/latest/docs/getting_started/ds/ds_first_steps))
``` bash
pip install clearml-session
clearml-session --docker nvcr.io/nvidia/pytorch:20.11-py3 --git-credentials
```
Wait for the machine to spin up:
Expected CLI output would look something like:
``` console
Creating new session
New session created [id=3d38e738c5ff458a9ec465e77e19da23]
Waiting for remote machine allocation [id=3d38e738c5ff458a9ec465e77e19da23]
.Status [queued]
....Status [in_progress]
Remote machine allocated
Setting remote environment [Task id=3d38e738c5ff458a9ec465e77e19da23]
Setup process details: https://app.community.clear.ml/projects/64ae77968db24b27abf86a501667c330/experiments/3d38e738c5ff458a9ec465e77e19da23/output/log
Waiting for environment setup to complete [usually about 20-30 seconds]
..............
Remote machine is ready
Setting up connection to remote session
Starting SSH tunnel
Warning: Permanently added '[192.168.0.17]:10022' (ECDSA) to the list of known hosts.
root@192.168.0.17's password: f7bae03235ff2a62b6bfbc6ab9479f9e28640a068b1208b63f60cb097b3a1784
Interactive session is running:
SSH: ssh root@localhost -p 8022 [password: f7bae03235ff2a62b6bfbc6ab9479f9e28640a068b1208b63f60cb097b3a1784]
Jupyter Lab URL: http://localhost:8878/?token=df52806d36ad30738117937507b213ac14ed638b8c336a7e
VSCode server available at http://localhost:8898/
Connection is up and running
Enter "r" (or "reconnect") to reconnect the session (for example after suspend)
Ctrl-C (or "quit") to abort (remote session remains active)
or "Shutdown" to shutdown remote interactive session
```
Click on the JupyterLab link (http://localhost:8878/?token=xyz)
Open your terminal, clone your code & start working :)
### Leaving a session and reconnecting from the same machine
On the `clearml-session` CLI terminal, enter 'quit' or press Ctrl-C
It will close the CLI but leaves the remote session running
When you want to reconnect to it, execute:
``` bash
clearml-session
```
Then press "Y" (or enter) to reconnect to the already running session
``` console
clearml-session - launch interactive session
Checking previous session
Connect to active session id=3d38e738c5ff458a9ec465e77e19da23 [Y]/n?
```
### Shutting down a remote session
On the `clearml-session` CLI terminal, enter 'shutdown' (case-insensitive)
It will shut down the remote session, free the resource and close the CLI
``` console
Enter "r" (or "reconnect") to reconnect the session (for example after suspend)
Ctrl-C (or "quit") to abort (remote session rema
Yes of course, current SSO supports Google/GitHub/BitBucket/... + SAML/LDAP (Usually with user permissions fully integrated to the LDAP)
ins active)
or "Shutdown" to shutdown remote interactive session
shutdown
Shutting down interactive session
Interactive session ended
Leaving interactive session
```
### Connecting to a running interactive session from a different machine
Continue working on an interactive session from **any** machine.
In the `clearml` web UI, go to DevOps project, and find your interactive session.
Click on the ID button next to the Task name, and copy the unique ID.
``` bash
clearml-session --attach