Containers

Overview

Teaching: 10 min
Exercises: 10 min

Questions

What is the purpose of installing Docker in the Azure VM?

How can you access the graphical user interface of the CMSSW container?

What is the recommended method for validating the successful installation of CMSSW, ROOT, and Python containers?

Objectives

Installation process of Docker on your Ubuntu VM created on Azure

Perform a validation test to ensure that the installation of CMSSW, ROOT, and Python containers is successful.

Installation of Containers

In this section, we will guide you through the installation process for Docker and the CMSSW, ROOT, and Python containers.

Docker is a container platform that enables packaging applications with their dependencies to facilitate quick and consistent deployment and execution across different environments.

Docker Installation

To install Docker on your Ubuntu system, you can follow the steps outlined below. You can also refer to the Official Docker Documentation for a detailed guide.

Update the apt package index and install packages to allow apt to use a repository over HTTPS:
```
 sudo apt-get update
 sudo apt-get install ca-certificates curl gnupg -y
```

Add Docker’s official GPG key:

 sudo install -m 0755 -d /etc/apt/keyrings
 curl -fsSL https://download.docker.com/linux/ubuntu/gpg | sudo gpg --dearmor -o /etc/apt/keyrings/docker.gpg
 sudo chmod a+r /etc/apt/keyrings/docker.gpg

Use the following command to set up the repository:

 echo "deb [arch="$(dpkg --print-architecture)" signed-by=/etc/apt/keyrings/docker.gpg] \
 https://download.docker.com/linux/ubuntu "$(. /etc/os-release && echo "$VERSION_CODENAME")" stable" | \
 sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/docker.list

Update the apt package index:
```
 sudo apt-get update
```

Install Docker Engine, containerd, and Docker Compose. To install the latest version, run:

 sudo apt-get install docker-ce docker-ce-cli containerd.io docker-buildx-plugin docker-compose-plugin -y

Execute the next commands for adding the user to the “docker” group and starting a new shell session with the “docker” group as the primary group, the user will gain the necessary permissions to interact with Docker without requiring root privileges.
```
 sudo groupadd docker
 sudo usermod -aG docker $USER
 newgrp docker
```
Verify that the Docker Engine installation is successful by running the hello-world image:
```
 docker run hello-world
```
You should be able to view these lines:

Hello from Docker!

This message shows that your installation appears to be working correctly.

Start Containers from CMS Open Data Container Images

To get access to CMS software (CMSSW) and ROOT Python tools for open data analysis, you can follow the steps outlined below.

CMSSW

For detailed information about CMSSW, you can refer to the documentation CMS Open Data Guide.

Download the docker image for CMS open data and start a container:

 cd
 mkdir cms_open_data_work
 docker run -it --name my_od -P -p 5901:5901 -p 6080:6080 -v \
 ${HOME}/cms_open_data_work:/code cmsopendata/cmssw_7_6_7-slc6_amd64_gcc493 \
 /bin/bash

Once you are inside the container, you can start the VNC service to access the graphical user interface. Run the following command to start VNC:
```
 start_vnc
```
After starting VNC, you can access the VNC service in two ways:
1. VNC Client: Use a VNC client and connect to localhost:1 to access the graphical interface.
2. Web Browser: Access the VNC service in your web browser by navigating to http://localhost:6080/vnc.html. Password: cms.cern
To stop the VNC service and exit the container, run :
```
 stop_vnc
 exit
```

With the CMSSW container running, you can now proceed with analyzing the open data from CMS using the CMSSW software.

ROOT

To start a container with ROOT installed, you can follow the steps outlined below.

Download the docker images for ROOT and start the container:

 cd
 mkdir cms_open_data_root
 docker run -it --name my_root -P -p 5901:5901 -p 6080:6080 -v ${HOME}/cms_open_data_root:/code gitlab-registry.cern.ch/cms-cloud/root-vnc:latest

To start VNC inside the container:
```
 start_vnc
```
After starting VNC, you can access the VNC service in two ways:
1. VNC Client: Use a VNC client and connect to localhost:1 to access the graphical interface.
2. Web Browser: Access the VNC service in your web browser by navigating to http://localhost:6080/vnc.html. Password: cms.cern
To stop VNC and exit:
```
 stop_vnc
 exit
```

Python Tools

To start a container with Python tools installed, you can follow the steps outlined below.

Download and install Python tools container:

 cd
 mkdir cms_open_data_python
 docker run -it --name my_python -P -p 5901:5901 -p 6080:6080 -p 8888:8888 -v ${HOME}/cms_open_data_python:/code gitlab-registry.cern.ch/cms-cloud/python-vnc:latest

This will download and install the necessary container for Python tools.

To start Jupyter (notebook server) inside the container, run the following command:
```
 jupyter-lab --ip=0.0.0.0 --no-browser
```
When you start a notebook server with token authentication enabled (default), a token is generated for authentication. The token information is logged to the terminal, allowing you to copy and paste the URL into your web browser. Here is an example of the logged token: “The Jupyter Notebook is running at: http://localhost:8888/?token=c8de56fa4deed24899803e93c227592aef6538f93025fe01” Jupyter can be accessed in your web browser by navigating to that link.
To stop the Jupyter server, since it takes over the shell, press CTRL + C and type y when prompted with the message Shutdown this Jupyter server (y/[n])?.
To exit the container, run the following command:
```
 exit
```
Please note that the commands provided for CMSSW, ROOT, and Python Tools containers are a summary of the process. For more detailed instructions and additional configurations, refer to the Docker pre-exercise.

Returning to the Same Container

If you need to return to a previously used container, you can do so using the docker start command:

docker start -i my_od
docker start -i my_root
docker start -i my_python

By running these commands, you can resume your work in the desired container. The -i flag ensures that you can interact with the container’s terminal. Remember to use the appropriate container name (my_od, my_root, or my_python) based on the container you want to start. With these commands, you can easily return to the same container and continue your work without any loss of progress or data.

Note: Make sure that the containers are not already running before using the docker start command.

Key Points

Installing Docker and the necessary containers (CMSSW, ROOT, Python) enables you to easily set up and utilize a containerized environment for efficient data analysis and exploration in the Azure VM.

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