Open OnDemand

Overview¶

Open OnDemand (OOD) provides browser-based, interactive access to Savio at https://ood.brc.berkeley.edu. You can launch desktops and apps, browse files, submit/monitor Slurm jobs, and open a terminal, all from your browser.

Some apps and services that are provided are:

• OOD Desktop

• Jupyter notebooks

• RStudio

• MATLAB via a Desktop environment

• VS Code

• File browsing

• Slurm job listing

• Terminal/shell access

Logging In¶

1. Visit https://ood.brc.berkeley.edu.

2. Authenticate via CILogon (choose University of California, Berkeley unless otherwise directed) and login with your UC Berkeley credentials.

Service Unit Charges¶

Most OOD apps launch Slurm interactive sessions behind the scenes. They incur SUs just like regular Slurm jobs.

Two shared nodes—n0000.savio4 and n0001.savio4 (partition: ood-inter) are provided for low-intensity work and do not consume SUs. Treat these like login nodes (no heavy computation). Time is charged from the moment a node is allocated until you stop the session, even if the browser tab is closed.

To check usage, go to My Interactive Sessions and view all currently running jobs under Jobs → Active Jobs.

Using Open OnDemand¶

Files App

Navigate to Files → Home Directory to:

• View, create, rename, and delete files/folders

• Upload/download files (For large transfers, use Globus instead)

View Active Jobs

Jobs → Active Jobs lets you view/cancel Slurm jobs, including those created by sbatch/srun and sessions launched via OOD.

Shell Access

Open a cluster shell via Clusters → BRC Shell Access.

Interactive Apps

Launch from Interactive Apps (top menu). Available options include:

• Desktop App (full GUI desktop on Savio)

• Jupyter Server

• RStudio Server

• Code Server (VS Code)

Desktop App

Use the Desktop App for GUI software (e.g., MATLAB GUI), light visualization, and file management.

To start a desktop session:

1. Log in at https://ood.brc.berkeley.edu.

2. Go to Interactive Apps → Desktop and choose shared node (exploration/debugging; no SUs) or compute via Slurm (SUs apply).

3. Fill the form → Launch.

4. Adjust image quality/compression if needed → Launch Desktop, which will open a new tab with your desktop session.

5. To open a command line terminal, use the file manager in the desktop or right-click the desktop → Open Terminal Here

Jupyter Server

Choose Jupyter Server under Interactive Apps. You will have the option to run on shared nodes (no SUs; low intensity) or via Slurm partitions (SUs apply). When finished, go to My Interactive Sessions and Delete the session to stop charges

Don’t submit Slurm jobs from the terminal inside Jupyter. The Jupyter server itself is running inside a Slurm job; launching jobs from within it (job-in-job) can cause failures. For job submission from a browser, use Clusters → BRC Shell Access instead.

RStudio Server

Launch via Interactive Apps → RStudio Server. There are three available modes:

• Compute via Slurm (SUs apply; choose resources)

• Compute on shared OOD node (no SUs; ≤ 8 GB RAM; a few cores only)

• Stop charges by Deleting the session under My Interactive Sessions

For packages needing compilation or external libs, install from a command-line R session (outside OOD RStudio). Once installed, they’ll be available in RStudio.

Some variables (e.g., SLURM_CPUS_ON_NODE) are not visible inside OOD RStudio via Sys.getenv() or system().

Code Server (VS Code)

Launch Code Server (VS Code in the browser). There are two available modes:

• Compute via Slurm (SUs apply)

• Exploration/debugging on shared nodes (no SUs; ≤ 8 GB RAM; a few cores)

VS Code Remote SSH is not allowed for Savio for security reasons. Use Code Server via OOD instead.

For more details on using Open OnDemand, look at the full documentation provided by Research IT.