Configuration¶

nextPYP uses a single configuration file to provide all environmental information needed to run.

The file is written in TOML.

Placement¶

The config.toml file can be placed anywhere you like on the filesystem, but you’ll need to let PYP know where to find it. There are two mechanisms for doing this.

1. Environment variable¶

nextPYP first uses the $PYP_CONFIG environment variable to find the config file. If $PYP_CONFIG is present and its value is a path to an existing file in the filesystem, nextPYP will use that file for the configuration.

2. Default location¶

Otherwise, nextPYP will look for the configuration file at the default location in the user’s home directory: ~/.pyp/config.toml

Complete Example¶

Here’s an example of a minimal configuration to run nextPYP on the command line:

[pyp]
container = '/storage/singularity-images/pyp.sif'
scratch = '/tmp/pyp-scratch/'
binds = ['/data']

[slurm]
user = 'pyp'
host = 'slurm-login-01.example.org'

Settings¶

PYP Section¶

`[pyp]`¶

Required: yes
Occurs: once

This section is for basic PYP configuration. PYP executes inside of a Singularity container, so much of this configuration is dedicated to configuring the container environment.

`container`¶

Type: string
Required: yes
Description: Path to the PYP Singularity container on the SLURM cluster, ideally in a read-only location.
Examples: container = '/storage/singularity-images/pyp.sif'

`sources`¶

Type

string

Required

no

Default

none

Description

Path to a local installation of PYP sources that will be bound over the PYP sources inside the Singularity container.

This is mostly only useful for developers of PYP looking for an easy way to edit and run PYP code. Most users will not need this option.

Examples

sources = '/home/myuser/code/pyp'

`scratch`¶

Type: string
Required: yes
Description: Directory for large (multi-GiB) temporary files on the compute nodes. This location should have fast read/write speeds, ideally in local storage.
Examples: scratch = '/tmp/pyp-scratch'

`binds`¶

Type

array of strings

Required

no

Default

empty list

Description

List of filesystem paths to bind into the Singularity container.

Since the PYP runs inside of a Singularity container, by default, no files from outside of the container will be visibile to PYP. To make files visible to PYP, bind the directories containing those files into the container.

The following directories are not allowed to be bound because they will interfere with the PYP code inside the container:

/
/bin/**
/dev/**
/environment/**
/etc/**
/lib/**
/lib64/**
/opt/**
/proc/**
/root/**
/run/**
/sbin/**
/scif/**
/singularity/**
/srv/**
/sys/**
/usr/**
/var/**

The ** means any subdirectory under the listed directory is also not allowed to be bound.

Examples

binds = ['/data']

binds = ['/storage1/cryoem-data', '/storage2/cryoem-data']

`containerExec`¶

Type

string or table

Required

no

Default

singularity

Description

The name or path of the container executable. To load a module, use a table with the key module instead. In module mode, the executable name will be the same as the module name by default. Override the default behavior by adding an exec key to the table with the name or path of the executable.

Examples

containerExec = '/bin/singularity

containerExec = 'apptainer'

containerExec = { module = 'singularity' }

containerExec = { module = 'singularity', exec = 'apptainer' }

SLURM Section¶

`[slurm]`¶

Required: no
Occurs: once

This section is used to configure properties of the SLURM cluster.

`user`¶

Type: string
Required: no
Default: The username of the website process
Description: The user name PYP will use to SSH into the SLURM login node.
Examples: user = 'pyp'

`host`¶

Type: string
Required: yes
Description: Hostname of a login node for the SLURM cluster.
Examples: host = 'slurm-login-01.example.org'

`key`¶

Type: string
Required: no
Default: ~/.ssh/id_rsa
Description: Path to SSH private key to log into the SLURM login node.
Examples: key = '/path/to/ssh/mykey'

`port`¶

Type: int
Required: no
Default: 22
Description: Network port to use to connect to the SSH daemon on the SLURM login node.
Examples: port = 2204

`maxConnections`¶

Type: int
Required: no
Default: 8
Description: The maximum number of simuntaneous connections to use to SSH into the SLURM login node. Many SSH daemons allow up to 10 connetions by default. Using more connections that that may require special configuration of the SSH daemon.
Examples: maxConnections = 10

`timeoutSeconds`¶

Type: int
Required: no
Default: 300
Description: The number of seconds to wait before closing an idle SSH connection.
Examples: timeoutSeconds = 500

`path`¶

Type: string
Required: no
Default: /usr/bin
Description: Path to the slurm binaries on the cluster nodes.
Examples: path = '/opt/slurm/bin'

`queues`¶

Type: list of strings
Required: no
Default: just the default queue for the SLURM cluster
Description: The names of any SLURM queues to which users can submit PYP jobs. If no choice is made by the user, the first queue will be used by default.
Examples: queues = ['default', 'quick']

`gpuQueues`¶

Type: list of strings
Required: no
Default: just the default queue for the SLURM cluster
Description: The names of any SLURM queues with GPU hardware to which users can submit PYP jobs. If no choice is made by the user, the first queue will be used by default.
Examples: gpuQueues = ['default-gpu', 'quick-gpu']

Standalone Section¶

`[standalone]`¶

Required: no
Occurs: once

This section is used to configure properties of the job launcher in non-cluster (aka standalone) mode.

`availableCpus`¶

Type: int
Required: no
Default: One less than the number of processors in the system
Description: The number of CPUs the standalone job launcher will use for jobs. You may want to set this to something less than the maximum your system supports, so there are always some CPU resources reserved to run the website, reverse proxy, database processes, and anything else your system needs to run.
Examples: availableCpus = 4

`availabileMemoryGiB`¶

Type: int
Required: no
Default: 80% of the available total memory
Description: The amount of memory, in GiB, the standalone job launcher will use for jobs. You may want to set this to something less than the maximum your system supports, so there is always some leftover memory to run the website, reverse proxy, database processes, and anything else your system needs to run.
Examples: availabileMemoryGiB = 4

`availableGpus`¶

Type: int
Required: no
Default: The total number of NVidia GPUs in your system
Description: The number of NVidia GPUs the standalone job launcher will use for jobs. AMD, Intel, and other GPU types aren’t supported yet, unless they somehow are visible to and usable by the NVidia Cuda runtime.
Examples: availableGpus = 4

StreamPYP Section¶

`[stream]`¶

Required: yes
Occurs: once

This section is used to configure the microscope streaming capabilities of PYP.

TODO: write this section

Web Section¶

This section is used to configure the web interface to PYP. It is not required at all for the command line interface.

Throughout the web interface configuration, we will assume that the server running the web interface (the web server) can see the same filesystem as the SLURM nodes. Meaning, that if a file /data/project/file.dat is visible on a SLURM node, that same file will also be visible at /data/project/file.dat on the web server.

If this is not generally true, e.g. due to networked filesystems being mounted in different directories on different servers, there are two ways to fix it:

Reconfigure the web server so the networked filesystems are mounted in the same locations as on the SLURM nodes.
Add symbolic links to the web server filesystem so the networked filesystems appear to be mounted in the same locations as on the SLURM nodes.

`[web]`¶

Required

for command line interface: no

for web interface: yes

Occurs

once

Minimal example:

[web]
localDir = '/home/streamPYP/web'
sharedDir = '/network/streamPYP/shared'

`host`¶

Type

string

Required

no

Default

127.0.0.1

Description

The network interface to which the application HTTP server (not the reverse proxy HTTP server) should bind.

By default, the application HTTP server binds only to the loopback network interface, i.e. localhost, so the application HTTP server will only be reachable from the local computer.

To make the application HTTP server reachable from an external private network, set host to 0.0.0.0 to bind to all available network interfaces.

Examples

host = '10.0.3.4'

host = '0.0.0.0'

`port`¶

Type

int

Required

no

Default

8080

Description

The network port to which the application HTTP server (not the reverse proxy HTTP server) should bind.

By default, the application HTTP server binds to the port 8080, which is an unofficial secondary port for HTTP traffic. Since port 8080 is not a privileged port, the application HTTP server can run without root privileges.

Since port 8080 is a common port for locally-running HTTP applications, you may already have another service installed that uses that port. To avoid a port conflict, you can configure the application HTTP server to use a different port, but be sure to use a non-privileged port at or above 1024.

Examples

port = 8082

`localDir`¶

Type

string

Required

yes

Description

Directory for the database and web server assets.

This location should have fast read/write speeds, ideally in local storage.

This location does not need to be sharerd with the SLURM nodes.

Examples

localDir = '/home/streamPYP/web'

`sharedDir`¶

Type

string

Required

yes

Description

Directory for intermediate files and metadata for each user of the web interface.

This location should have a lot of available space and must be also available on the SLURM nodes.

Examples

sharedDir = '/network/streamPYP/shared'

`auth`¶

Type

string

Required

no

Default

none

Description

Which type of user authentication is used for the web interface:

login: Users log into the web interface with a username and password.

Users are assigned fine-grained permissions by privileged administrator accounts.

This option is suitable for most users of streamPYP.
none: No user authenticaion is performed by the web interface.

All visitors to the website are associated with the administrator account and are granted full permissions.

This option is suitable for single-user instances of streamPYP or developers.
reverse-proxy: Users are authenticated by a reverse-proxy server (perhaps implementing SSO for an organization) before reaching streamPYP.

StreamPYP will use the X-userid HTTP header to identify users, which must be securely provided by the reverse proxy server.

Users are assigned fine-grained permissions by privileged administrator accounts.

Examples

auth = 'login'

`webhost`¶

Type

string

Required

no

Default

http://$host:$port, where $host and $port are the values of the web.host and web.port configuration values respectively.

Description

The URL of the webserver as visible from the pyp process.

This value should include the full URL prefix for the web server, including the protocol (HTTP or HTTPs) and the port number (if non-standard). Do not include a trailing slash.

When running in standalone mode, the pyp process will run on the same machine as the web server. In this environment, the default value will be correct, and there should be no need to choose a different value.

When the pyp process runs on an external compute node (in, say, a SLURM cluster), this value must be the URL of the website from the point of view of the compute node. The default value will not be correct in this case, so be sure to set webhost to the correct value for your environment.

If the compute node is on a private network that is shared with the web server, then the correct value of webhost will be http://$hostname:$port where $port is the web.port configuration value and $hostname is the host name of the server from the point of view of the compute node. Note this configuration uses unencrypted HTTP rather than encrypted HTTPs.

If the compute node is not on a shared private network with the web server, then the correct value will be https://$domain where $domain is the domain name of the web server as configured in the DNS registry. This configuration requires using the reverse proxy HTTP server bundled with nextPYP to enable encrypted HTTPs connections, since the connection may travel over an untrusted network, like the public internet.

Examples

webhost = 'https://streampyp.example.org'

webhost = 'http://dev.streampyp.example.org:8080'

`debug`¶

Type

boolean

Required

no

Default

false

Description

If true, enables extra features for PYP developers.

Most users will not need this option.

`heapMiB`¶

Type

integer

Required

no

Default

2048

Description

Number of MiB to use for the JVM heap for the website process.

If you find the website becoming slow and less responsive, try allowing the website to use more memory by increasing the maximum heap size.

`databaseGB`¶

Type: float
Required: no
Default: 1.0
Description: Number of GB to use for the database cache

`jmx`¶

Type

boolean

Required

no

Default

false

Description

True to enable remote monitoring for the JVM via JMX.

Most users will not need this option.

`oomdump`¶

Type

boolean

Required

no

Default

false

Description

True to enable heap dumps when the JVM runs out of memory. Heap dumps are useful to help diagnose memory issues, but are not needed for normal operation.

Most users will not need this option.

`workflowDirs`¶

Type

array of strings

Required

no

Default

empty list

Description

List of folder paths containing workflow files.

Any files found in these folders will be loaded as workflows when the web server starts. Any errors with reading the workflow files will be printed to the error log

Examples

workflowDirs = ['/storage/workflows']

`minPasswordLength`¶

Type: integer
Required: no
Default: 12
Description: The minimum length accepted for new passwords.

Configuration

Contents

Configuration¶

Placement¶

1. Environment variable¶

2. Default location¶

Complete Example¶

Settings¶

PYP Section¶

[pyp]¶

container¶

sources¶

scratch¶

binds¶

containerExec¶

SLURM Section¶

[slurm]¶

user¶

host¶

key¶

port¶

maxConnections¶

timeoutSeconds¶

path¶

queues¶

gpuQueues¶

Standalone Section¶

[standalone]¶

availableCpus¶

availabileMemoryGiB¶

availableGpus¶

StreamPYP Section¶

[stream]¶

Web Section¶

[web]¶

host¶

port¶

localDir¶

sharedDir¶

auth¶

webhost¶

debug¶

heapMiB¶

databaseGB¶

jmx¶

oomdump¶

workflowDirs¶

minPasswordLength¶

`[pyp]`¶

`container`¶

`sources`¶

`scratch`¶

`binds`¶

`containerExec`¶

`[slurm]`¶

`user`¶

`host`¶

`key`¶

`port`¶

`maxConnections`¶

`timeoutSeconds`¶

`path`¶

`queues`¶

`gpuQueues`¶

`[standalone]`¶

`availableCpus`¶

`availabileMemoryGiB`¶

`availableGpus`¶

`[stream]`¶

`[web]`¶

`host`¶

`port`¶

`localDir`¶

`sharedDir`¶

`auth`¶

`webhost`¶

`debug`¶

`heapMiB`¶

`databaseGB`¶

`jmx`¶

`oomdump`¶

`workflowDirs`¶

`minPasswordLength`¶