Example: Remote Visualization

Because modelbuilder is built on the ParaView framework, it can use ParaView’s remote visualization capabilities for interactive display and data exploration of large datasets stored in supercomputing resources. ParaView is a client-server application. The ParaView client (or simply paraview) will run on your desktop while the server will run at the remote supercomputing site. Running ParaView remotely in a client-server configuration involves establishing an ssh tunnel to the login node, launching the ParaView server, and connecting the server to the client over the tunnel via a socket. Because this can be a difficult task for new users and occasional users, ModelBuilder for ACE3P streamlines and simplifies many of the steps needed for visualizing ACE3P datasets stored at NERSC.

To demonstrate the process, we will use the Omega3P dataset generated in Example: Omega3P Analysis. In that previous example, you downloaded the results data from NERSC to you local machine. In this example, you will display the results data by running a ParaView server instance to render the files stored at NERSC.

Important

SSH/MFA Acess is required for remote visualization.

Before starting, users should set up their local computer to connect to NERSC using a Secure Shell (SSH) client and Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA). Instructions for this can be found in the NERSC documention at https://docs.nersc.gov/connect/mfa/.

• Configuring a Remote Visualization Session
• Connecting to ParaView
• Disconnecting
• Other Notes and Tips

Note

Screenshots in this section were taken from modelbuilder running on an Ubuntu system.