The first page offers a choice of software environment version (left) and server size (right), as shown in the next figure.
Most users will choose the recommended software version and a medium server size.
The term “image” atop the left box refers to a “Docker image” that defines the software packages and their versions which will be automatically loaded in the server environment.
The “recommended” image will be updated on a regular (monthly) basis to encourage users to adapt to using software that is in active development, and to benefit from the bug fixes and updates made by Rubin Observatory staff.
Older images will remain accessible to users.
RSP users who are doing a lot of image processing might need to select a large server, and those who are working with small subsets of catalog data can use a small server.
A screenshot from 2023 of the server options available to RSP users at that time, with the default options selected as indicated by the blue filled circles.¶
Pressing the orange “Start” button to start the server returns this page with a blue progress bar:
A screenshot of the progress bar that will show while the server is starting up. Be patient. Sometimes it takes a couple of minutes to start a server.¶
The default JupyterLab interface that appears after login is shown in the next image.
At right, in the main work area, is the launch pad for all JupyterLab functionality (e.g., Notebook, Terminal, Python console).
Return to this launch pad at any time by clicking the blue plus symbol at upper-left.
The JupyterLab landing page from which several tools can be launched and the file system can be browsed (left sidebar).¶
In the narrow left-most vertical sidebar of icons, the top icon is a file folder, and that is the default view for the left sidebar.
The wider part of the left sidebar lists folders in the user’s home directory (e.g., DATA, WORK, and notebooks).
Launching a terminal (the default is a linux bash terminal) and using the command “ls” will return the same list.
Navigate the file system and open files by double-clicking on folders and files in the left sidebar.
Clicking the folder icon above the list of files will take you back to your home directory.
Although the file browser is a handy way to navigate the user home space, it does not allow navigating to e.g., the shared data space.
One way to make other spaces available in the file browser is to create a symbolic link pointing to the desired resource using the Terminal, with this symbolic link placed somewhere in the home directory.
For any open Jupyter Notebook, save it and then under the “File” menu in the top menu bar choose “Close and Shutdown Notebook”.
Note that clicking the “x” on a Notebook tab does not shut down the Notebook’s kernel.
To safely shut down a JupyterLab server and log out of the RSP, choose “Save all, Exit, and Log Out”.
It is recommended to log out every time upon finishing with a session in order to both preserve resources for other users and to ensure re-entering the RSP in a known state every time.
To help users avoid issues with stale instances, sessions will be automatically shut-down after 5 days of inactivity, or after 25 days.
