a. Create a cluster configured with NICE DCV

Support for DCV is supported in AWS ParallelCluster version 2.5.0 and above.

In order to enable NICE DCV, a few changes to the config file need to be made. There’s a complete config file included below with key changes:

  1. To enable NICE DCV on the Master node
  • Add the following to the configuration file:
HeadNode:
  Dcv:
    Enabled: true
  • The NICE DCV software is automatically installed on the head node instance when using any of the following Operating Systems: alinux2, centos7, or ubuntu1804. We will use centos7 for this tutorial.
  1. Modify Master Nodes:
  • We will deploy the cluster with a GPU-enabled head node instance since it is hosting NICE DCV remote desktop sessions.
  • Under HeadNode: section, set InstanceType: g4dn.xlarge. This will be a cost-effective option for graphics intensive applications.

For more details about the NICE DCV configuration options in AWS ParallelCLuster, see the NICE DCV section in AWS ParallelCluster User Guide.

We’ll reuse the SSH key-pair created earlier.

Then we’ll create a config file (dcv-config.yaml). Paste the following commands in your terminal.

AWS_REGION=$(curl --silent http://169.254.169.254/latest/meta-data/placement/region)
IFACE=$(curl --silent http://169.254.169.254/latest/meta-data/network/interfaces/macs/)
SUBNET_ID=$(curl --silent http://169.254.169.254/latest/meta-data/network/interfaces/macs/${IFACE}/subnet-id)

cat > dcv-config.yaml << EOF
Region: ${AWS_REGION}
Image:
  Os: centos7
SharedStorage:
  - MountDir: /shared
    Name: default-ebs
    StorageType: Ebs

HeadNode:
  InstanceType: g4dn.xlarge
  Networking:
    SubnetId: ${SUBNET_ID}
  Ssh:
    KeyName: ${AWS_KEYPAIR}
  Dcv:
    Enabled: true

Scheduling:
  Scheduler: slurm
  SlurmQueues:
    - Name: compute
      ComputeResources:
        - Name: c5xlarge
          InstanceType: c5.xlarge
          MinCount: 0
          MaxCount: 8
          DisableSimultaneousMultithreading: true
      Networking:
        SubnetIds:
          - ${SUBNET_ID}
        PlacementGroup:
          Enabled: true
EOF

Now, you are ready to launch a cluster with Remote Desktop enabled using NICE DCV on your head node! Proceed to the next section.