View source for Dynamo in Amazon EC2

We are preparing a release of ''Dynamo''  for the [https://aws.amazon.com/ec2/Amazon EC2 cloud computing service]. This will allow users without access to a graphic accelerator to use ''Dynamo'' on a powerful [[GPU]] in the cloud, paying only for the actually used computing time, and avoid the purchase, installation and maintenance of special hardware.

The ''Dynamo'' [https://aws.amazon.com/amazon-linux-ami/ AMI]  itself can be used free of charge and needs no additional license. It delivers a tested installation of all needed software (''Dynamo'', CUDA, [[MCR libraries]]),  ready for immediate use upon connection to your account. 

Feel free to contact us if you want to be a beta tester.

==Creating an account==
We will post here a walkthrough for the creation of an user account in the Amazon EC2.

[[File:Ec2Services.png |thumb|center|500px|selecting the EC2 services]]

The EC2 dashboard is accessed through ''Services > EC2" 
[[File:Ec2Services.png |thumb|center|500px| The EC2 dashboard]]

=== Configuring an instance ===

[[File:Ec2LaunchInstance.png |thumb|center|500px|Launch an instance]]


Your instance will be built on the top of an AMI  of type CUDA7.5  provided by NIVIDA. You can find it in the Amazon Marketplace. The use of the AMI itself  is free of charge: you will only have to pay to Amazon the time you keep the instance running. 

[[ File:Ec2CUDAAMI.png  |thumb|center|500px|Launch an instance]]

==== Instance type ====

Make certain that you initiate an instance type  that includes a GPU machine.  Amzon describes [[https://aws.amazon.com/ec2/instance-types/ here]] its different instance types... please make certain that you check the prizing scheme before launching the instance.

[[ File:Ec2ChooseGPUInstance.png  |thumb|center|500px|Launch an instance]]

For some of the instance types you might need to contact Amazon: the default profile user usually cannot ask for a <tt>p2.large</tt> or an <tt>g2.large</tt> instance. You';ll probably need to apply for permission for launching them using your user support menu. This might take one or two days.

Also, take into account that not all areas provide all types of instances. You might need to change your geographic area in order to access GPU instances.

==== Storage  ====

Make certain that your instance has at least 16Gb of storage capacity. The default of 8G is mainly consumed by the OS, and in the remaining size you will not be able to download and untar the ''Dynamo'' package.

[[ File:AddStorageMain.png |thumb|center|500px|Selecting adequate storage]]

=== Launching an instance ===

[[File:Ec2LaunchInstanceInformation.png  |thumb|center|500px|Information after launching of the instance]]

The bottom of the popup window tells you how to connect to the instance on later point. However, the information is not totally correct, as the user name you need to use is <tt>ec2-user</tt>. This information  can be consulted  [[https://docs.aws.amazon.com/AWSEC2/latest/UserGuide/AccessingInstances.html?icmpid=docs_ec2_console in the documentation provided by Amazon]]

=== Connecting to the instance ===

Once your instance is running, you can connect to it through an ssh terminal. Typically, you need to include the key file generated in the moment of launching the instance. Remember that you '''need'' to ensurer that your key is not publicly viewable through <tt>chmod</tt>

 <tt>chmod 400 myKey.pem</tt>

Then you can connect to your instance of the  NVIDIA AMI

 <tt>ssh -i "myKey.pem"  ec2-user@<instance public DNS> </tt>

Here, the instance location should look something like <tt>ec2-52-214-203-126.eu-west-1.compute.amazonaws.com</tt>

After you connect to it, you can check that the nvidia driver is in place by typing

 <tt>nvidia-smi</tt>. 

You can also find the libraries 

== Running Dynamo projects==

=== Copying  Dynamo ===

In your local machine: 
 
<tt> scp  -i "keyFile.pem" <your Dynamo tar>  <your amazon instance>:/home/ubuntu/ </tt>

=== Setting the terminal ===

Then, you can ssh to your EC2 terminal. There, you still need to operate a couple of adjustments:

 <tt>mkdir dynamo</tt>

 <tt>tar -xf <Dynamo tar file> -C /home/ubuntu/dynamo </tt>

You need to make an extra couple of adjustments on your terminal. The AMI provided by envidia needs to be able to talk to the Matlab libraries provided by your ''Dynamo'' tar.

 <tt>sudo yum install -y libXt </tt>

Now you are ready to go. This terminal will be able to run ''Dynamo'' projects in the usual way. We suggest you to test the installation by opening the command line of Dynamo:

 <tt>dynamo</tt>

and then creating a synthetic project 

 <tt>Dynamo >  dtutorial mytest -p pgpu </tt>

Then we adapt it for running in the GPU

 <tt>Dynamo >  dvput pgpu dst standalone_gpu </tt>

After that, we execute from the command line of the terminal (outside of the ''Dynamo'' prompt  <tt>Dynamo > </tt> )

 <tt>./pgpu.exe</tt>

==== Graphic output====
Note that further settings are needed: :

 <pre>sudo yum install -y libGLU
sudo yum install -y libXrand</pre>

This will merely prepare your system to talk to the graphical libraries delivered by ''Dynamo''. Still you need to prepare a X forwarding protocol between your local machine and your Amazon terminal.