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VirtualGL

VirtualGL is an open source program that redirects the 3D rendering commands from Unix and Linux OpenGL applications to 3D accelerator hardware in a dedicated server and displays the rendered output interactively to a thin client located elsewhere on the network.

See the documentation here.

Info

VirtualGL is available on Barbora and Karolina.

How to Use

Run VNC

  • VNC Server

Read our documentation on VNC server.

Warning: No xauth data; using fake authentication data for X11 forwarding.
Last login: Tue Mar  3 14:20:18 2020 from vpn-kru0052.it4i.cz
                  ____             _
                 |  _ \           | |
                 | |_) | __ _ _ __| |__   ___  _ __ __ _
                 |  _ < / _` | '__| '_ \ / _ \| '__/ _` |
                 | |_) | (_| | |  | |_) | (_) | | | (_| |
                 |____/ \__,_|_|  |_.__/ \___/|_|  \__,_|


                  ...running on Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.x

kru0052@login1:~$ vncserver :99

New 'login1.barbora.it4i.cz:99 (kru0052)' desktop is login1.barbora.it4i.cz:99

Starting applications specified in /home/kru0052/.vnc/xstartup
Log file is /home/kru0052/.vnc/login1.barbora.it4i.cz:99.log

kru0052@login1:~$
  • VNC Client (your local machine)
root@toshiba:~# ssh -L 5999:localhost:5999 kru0052@login1.barbora.it4i.cz -X
  • Connect to a VNC server from a VNC client (your local machine)
vncviewer localhost:99

Or via GUI.

Tip

To resize the window scale, use the xrandr -s 1920x1200 command.

Run vglclient on the login server (use the terminal in the local machine VNC window)

kru0052@login1:~$ ml VirtualGL
kru0052@login1:~$ vglclient

VirtualGL Client 64-bit v2.6.1 (Build 20200228)
Listening for unencrypted connections on port 4242

Execute an interactive job on vizserv (use another terminal in the local machine VNC window)

kru0052@login1:~$ qsub -q qviz -I -A EASYBUILD -X
qsub: waiting for job 44781.isrv1 to start
qsub: job 44781.isrv1 ready

kru0052@vizserv1:~$

New SSH connection on vizserv - elimination of the PBS setting (use another terminal in the local machine VNC window)

kru0052@login1:~$ ssh vizserv1 -X
Last login: Tue Mar  3 13:54:33 2020 from login1.barbora.it4i.cz
kru0052@vizserv1:~$

Run the graphical application

kru0052@vizserv1:~$ vglrun /apps/easybuild/glxgears
[VGL] NOTICE: Automatically setting VGL_CLIENT environment variable to
[VGL]    10.32.2.1, the IP address of your SSH client.
libGL error: unable to load driver: swrast_dri.so
libGL error: failed to load driver: swrast
17128 frames in 5.0 seconds = 3425.573 FPS
17251 frames in 5.0 seconds = 3450.128 FPS
...

Examples for Remote Visualization on Barbora Cluster