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0. Azure cloud resources

CycleCloud login

For registered attendees of the CernVM-FS tutorial at the 6th EasyBuild User Meeting (Jan 25-29 2021), a small cluster of virtual machines is available in Microsoft Azure to use for the hands-on parts of the tutorial.

These resources are sponsored by Microsoft.

Step 0: Log in to CycleCloud

To get started, you should log into the Azure CycleCloud web portal, where you can manage the virtual machine cluster that was prepared for you.

Visit https://cvmfstutorial.westeurope.cloudapp.azure.com, and log in with the user name (cvmfs0XY) and the password that you received via email (don't try using cvmfs001 as shown in the screenshot below, that will not work).

CycleCloud login

You will need to create and confirm a new password in order to login in.

Make sure you use a password you can remember!.

CycleCloud password

If you need a password reset, either contact eum@lists.ugent.be, or ask in the #eum21-cvmfs-tutorial channel in the EasyBuild Slack.

Step 1: Add SSH public key

Before you do anything with the nodes in the cluster, make sure you add your SSH public key into your CycleCloud account.

Note: this must be an RSA SSH public key (ed25519 will not work)!

Use My Profile which you can access by clicking your name in the top right corner:

CycleCloud access profile

Then click Edit Profile:

CycleCloud edit profile

Add your SSH public key (must be RSA!), and click Save.

CycleCloud add SSH public key

Then use the Back to cluster link at the top left corner to return to the previous screen.

Step 2: Start cluster

Once you have added your SSH public key, you can start the cluster using the Start "play" button:

CycleCloud start cluster

Shortly after, you should see that all nodes were started (green status bar):

CycleCloud cluster started

Step 3: SSH into a node

Once a node is started, you can SSH into it using your cvmfs0XY user name and the public IP address of the node.

To determine the IP address of a node, select it in the Nodes overview: the IP address will be shown in the Host/IP column in the detailed view at the bottom:

CycleCloud find IP address

To log into the node, use the ssh command from a Linux or macOS system:

# change accordingly for your user name and IP address!
$ ssh cvmfs001@51.145.228.229
The authenticity of host '51.145.228.229 (51.145.228.229)' can't be established.
ECDSA key fingerprint is SHA256:Lv19NNnDJlMEcJskqS9tU7SlyLibD3u1vKSc7HJqlAM.
Are you sure you want to continue connecting (yes/no/[fingerprint])? yes
Warning: Permanently added '51.145.228.229' (ECDSA) to the list of known hosts.
[cvmfs001@ip-0A000009 ~]$

(or use PuTTy on Windows).

You will need to confirm the host key fingerprint the first time you log in (enter yes as shown above).

Once you're logged in, you are ready to get started with the hands-on parts of the tutorial!

Don't suspend unused nodes!

The virtual machines do not have a fixed IP address.

This means that their IP address will change if you suspend the machines while not using them and restart them later, and you will have to reconfigure your CernVM-FS services.

Therefore we recommend to leave all your nodes running for the duration of the workshop.

Other actions

Resetting a single node

If you have made some mistakes, and would like to reset a node to start from a blank slate, you can do so as follows:

  • Select the node and use Actions -> Shut Down:

    CycleCloud reset node (1/3)

  • Use the Terminate ... option (the default). Do keep in mind that this will erase all data and configuration for that node!

    CycleCloud reset node (2/3)

  • Click Shut down, and wait until the node is fully off (gray status bar):

    CycleCloud node deallocated

  • Finally, start the node again to complete the reset cycle:

    CycleCloud reset node (3/3)

Keep in mind that this implies that this node will have a different IP address afterwards!

Resetting all nodes (entire cluster)

If you want to restart from scratch on all nodes, you can do so to.

Keep in mind that all data and configuration on all nodes will be lost when doing this.

Terminate the entire cluster using the Terminate button just below the cluster name (same as your user name):

CycleCloud reset cluster (1/2)

Once the cluster is fully shut down (all node status bars are gray), you can start it again:

CycleCloud reset cluster (2/2)

Keep in mind that this implies that all nodes will have a different IP address afterwards!


Last update: January 25, 2021