Document lack of out-the-box MATLAB functionality

Author: bertiethorpe

ansible/portal.yml

@@ -49,6 +49,7 @@
         tasks_from: rstudio_compute.yml
       when: appliances_mode != 'configure' # is run during build
 
+# Requires openondemand_matlab_partition to be set in group_vars, as well as MATLAB installed on target compute nodes
 - hosts: openondemand_matlab
   tags:
     - openondemand

ansible/roles/openondemand/defaults/main.yml

@@ -104,4 +104,5 @@ openondemand_osc_ood_defaults:
   ood_auth_openidc: "{{ openondemand_auth_defaults.oidc.ood_auth_openidc if (openondemand_auth | lower) == 'oidc' else none }}"
   httpd_auth: "{{ openondemand_auth_defaults[openondemand_auth | lower].httpd_auth }}"
 
-code_server_version: 4.102.2
+ondemand_code_server_version: 4.102.2
+ondemand_rstudio_version: 2025.05.1-513

ansible/roles/openondemand/tasks/codeserver_compute.yml

@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 - name: Download Code Server RPM
   ansible.builtin.get_url:
-    url: "https://github.com/coder/code-server/releases/download/v{{ code_server_version }}/code-server-{{ code_server_version }}-amd64.rpm"
+    url: "https://github.com/coder/code-server/releases/download/v{{ ondemand_code_server_version }}/code-server-{{ ondemand_code_server_version }}-amd64.rpm"
     dest: /tmp/code-server.rpm
     mode: '0644'
 
@@ -17,22 +17,22 @@
     mode: '0755'
     recurse: yes
 
-- name: Create modulefile for code-server
+- name: Create modulefile for Code Server
   copy:
-    dest: "/opt/ohpc/pub/modulefiles/code-server/{{ code_server_version }}"
+    dest: "/opt/ohpc/pub/modulefiles/code-server/{{ ondemand_code_server_version }}"
     mode: "0644"
     content: |
       #%Module1.0#####################################################################
 
       proc ModulesHelp { } {
-          puts stderr "This module loads code-server {{ code_server_version }}."
-          puts stderr "VS Code in the browser. Visit http://127.0.0.1:8080"
+          puts stderr "This module loads code-server {{ ondemand_code_server_version }}."
+          puts stderr "\nCode Server provides a browser-based VSCode instance.\n"
       }
 
       module-whatis "Name: code-server"
-      module-whatis "Version: {{ code_server_version }}"
+      module-whatis "Version: {{ ondemand_code_server_version }}"
       module-whatis "Category: IDE"
-      module-whatis "Description: Run VS Code in your browser with code-server"
+      module-whatis "Description: Run VS Code in your browser with Code Server"
       module-whatis "URL: https://github.com/coder/code-server"
 
       set root /usr/bin/code-server

ansible/roles/openondemand/tasks/rstudio_compute.yml

@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@
 
 - name: Download RStudio Server RPM
   ansible.builtin.get_url:
-    url: "https://download2.rstudio.org/server/rhel{{ ansible_distribution_major_version }}/x86_64/rstudio-server-rhel-2025.05.1-513-x86_64.rpm"
+    url: "https://download2.rstudio.org/server/rhel{{ ansible_distribution_major_version }}/x86_64/rstudio-server-rhel-{{ ondemand_rstudio_version }}-x86_64.rpm"
     dest: /tmp/rstudio-server.rpm
     mode: '0644'
 
@@ -28,24 +28,23 @@
 
 - name: Write modulefile for RStudio Server
   ansible.builtin.copy:
-    dest: /opt/ohpc/pub/modulefiles/rstudio-server/2025.05.1
+    dest: "/opt/ohpc/pub/modulefiles/rstudio-server/{{ ondemand_rstudio_version }}"
     mode: '0644'
     content: |
       #%Module1.0#####################################################################
 
       proc ModulesHelp { } {
           puts stderr " "
-          puts stderr "This module loads RStudio Server 2025.05.1"
+          puts stderr "This module loads RStudio Server {{ ondemand_rstudio_version }}"
           puts stderr "\nRStudio Server provides a browser-based interface to R.\n"
       }
 
       module-whatis "Name: rstudio-server"
-      module-whatis "Version: 2025.05.1"
+      module-whatis "Version: {{ ondemand_rstudio_version }}"
       module-whatis "Category: IDE"
       module-whatis "Description: RStudio Server - IDE for R"
       module-whatis "URL: https://www.rstudio.com"
 
-      set version 2025.05.1
       set root /usr/lib/rstudio-server
 
       prepend-path PATH $root/bin

docs/openondemand.md

@@ -22,7 +22,9 @@ For examples of all of the above see the `smslabs-example` environment in this r
 # Enabling Open OnDemand
 To enable the Open OnDemand server, add single host to the `openondemand` inventory group. Generally, this should be a node in the `login` group, as Open OnDemand must be able to access Slurm commands.
 
-To enable compute nodes for virtual desktops or Jupyter notebook servers (accessed through the Open OnDemand portal), add nodes/groups to the `openondemand_desktop` and `openondemand_jupyter` inventory groups respectively. These may be all or a subset of the `compute` group.
+To enable compute nodes for virtual desktops, Jupyter notebooks, RStudio, VSCode, or MATLAB (accessed through the Open OnDemand portal), add nodes/groups to the `openondemand_desktop`, `openondemand_jupyter`, `openondemand_rstudio`, `openondemand_codeserver`, and `openondemand_matlab` inventory groups respectively. These may be all or a subset of the `compute` group.
+
+*Note* that due to licensing, the MATLAB batch connect app only works with a MATLAB distribution already installed on the target site compute nodes, as well as Lmod configured with the correct modulefiles. MATLAB app also requires the same TurboVNC and Xfce Desktop software installed for the virtual desktop, so this is included for `openondemand_matlab` groups. To enable the MATLAB app, the `openondemand_matlab_partition` must also be defined in group_vars as it is set to `null` by default.
 
 The above functionality is configured by running the `ansible/portal.yml` playbook. This is automatically run as part of `ansible/site.yml`.
 
@@ -33,7 +35,7 @@ See the [ansible/roles/openondemand/README.md](../ansible/roles/openondemand/REA
 The following variables have been given default values to allow Open OnDemand to work in a newly created environment without additional configuration, but generally should be overridden in `environments/site/inventory/group_vars/all/` with site-specific values:
 - `openondemand_servername` - this must be defined for both `openondemand` and `grafana` hosts (when Grafana is enabled). Default is `ansible_host` (i.e. the IP address) of the first host in the `openondemand` group.
 - `openondemand_auth` and any corresponding options. Defaults to `basic_pam`.
-- `openondemand_desktop_partition` and `openondemand_jupyter_partition` if the corresponding inventory groups are defined. Defaults to the first compute group defined in the `compute` OpenTofu variable in `environments/$ENV/tofu`.
+- `openondemand_desktop_partition`, `openondemand_jupyter_partition`, `openondemand_rstudio_partition`, and `openondemand_codeserver_partition` if the corresponding inventory groups are defined. Defaults to the first compute group defined in the `compute` OpenTofu variable in `environments/$ENV/tofu`.
 
 It is also recommended to set:
 - `openondemand_dashboard_support_url`

environments/.stackhpc/inventory/group_vars/all/openondemand.yml

@@ -2,7 +2,6 @@ openondemand_auth: basic_pam
 openondemand_jupyter_partition: standard
 openondemand_desktop_partition: standard
 openondemand_rstudio_partition: standard
-openondemand_matlab_partition: standard
 openondemand_codeserver_partition: standard
 #openondemand_dashboard_support_url: 
 #openondemand_dashboard_docs_url:

environments/common/inventory/group_vars/all/openondemand.yml

@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@ openondemand_auth: basic_pam
 openondemand_jupyter_partition: "{{ openhpc_partitions[0]['name'] }}"
 openondemand_desktop_partition: "{{ openhpc_partitions[0]['name'] }}"
 openondemand_rstudio_partition: "{{ openhpc_partitions[0]['name'] }}"
-openondemand_matlab_partition: "{{ openhpc_partitions[0]['name'] }}"
+openondemand_matlab_partition: null # Requires target site to already have MATLAB so set to null
 openondemand_codeserver_partition: "{{ openhpc_partitions[0]['name'] }}"
 
 # Regex defining hosts which openondemand can proxy; the default regex is compute nodes (for apps) and grafana host,
@@ -197,7 +197,7 @@ openondemand_apps_rstudio_default:
       help: Choose your RStudio module
       widget: select
       options:
-        - ["rstudio-server/2025.05.1","rstudio-server/2025.05.1"]
+        - ["rstudio-server/{{ ondemand_rstudio_version }}","RStudio v{{ ondemand_rstudio_version }}"]
     extra_modules_script:
       label: Extra modules script
       help: If you'd like to load additional modules alongside RStudio-Server, put the 'module load ...' commands into a text file (one 'module load...' per line) and specify its path here
@@ -312,7 +312,7 @@ openondemand_apps_codeserver_default:
       help: Choose your Code Server module
       widget: select
       options:
-        - ["code-server/4.102.2","code-server/4.102.2"]
+        - ["code-server/{{ ondemand_code_server_version }}","Code Server v{{ ondemand_code_server_version}}"]
     bc_queue:
       value: "{{ openondemand_codeserver_partition | default(none) }}"
     cores: