HPC Job Launching Issue

[hansvanderzyden]

Hey all. I am attempting to launch Visit on an HPC connection through the use of host profiles. I installed Visit 3.4.2 through the DAAC website which states that the host profiles will be specialized for the HPCs I need to connect to with the DoD. I enter my username and Bank/Account into the host profile settings, then hit apply, and then save settings; however, when I go to connect to the HPC, I am stuck at the "metadata server launch progress" popup and nothing progresses. Someone else I work with has the same settings as me but his works! Has anyone run into this? Thanks.

[biagas]

I am unfamiliar with DAAC or their instructions. Have you verified the correct host profiles were installed on your local system? Is the same version of VisIt installed on the HPC machines you are attempting to connect with?
VisIt should be prompting you for a password for the connection, usually a popup window, but sometimes the prompt is in a terminal window that may be hidden behind other windows, especially if you need to 'allow' the connection.
Can you 'ssh' to the HPC system from your local machine?

[hansvanderzyden]

It says the correct host profiles are installed on my local system (I found a "hosts" folder with .xml files for each host profile). There are a few different versions installed on the HPC, including the one I am trying to use (3.4.2), and I am having the host profile find it via the "path to visit installation" option. The Visit prompt for a password does not appear for me but does for the other person I know who got it working. The terminal window pops up but immediately disappears, and I cannot see if it is trying to say anything. After it disappears is when the metadata server window appears and persists.
Since I use Putty (with kerberos) to ssh to the HPC, I cannot ssh directly from the local machine (such as powershell), but I have ssh'd between different HPCs on the Putty terminal.
If you have any more ideas, it's greatly appreciated. Thank you!

p.s. Now that I look closer, I think the terminal that quickly pops up and goes away is actually saying something about my authentication, but I cannot fully tell. I am going to try testing something with that with my coworker tomorrow morning. If you think of anything else in the meantime, then it would be greatly appreciated!

[cyrush]

It may be there is a key challenge or an ssh config issue that is being echoed that we can't catch.

VisIt will use a specific host name to try to ssh, if you can use putty with the exact same host name you may be able to see the message. (For example, at LLNL people have issues with using ssh machinename vs ssh machinename.llnl.gov, as they both have a different key challenge the first time you try to connect.

[hansvanderzyden]

Sorry for the delayed response. I had my coworker try out his CAC connection on my computer and his worked. I tried my CAC connection on another computer that worked for him and it did not work. So I concluded that it is something wrong with my CAC/putty connection.

I can connect to the machines via putty fine, so I am unsure what you mean by if I "use the exact same host name you may be able to see the message". I am using the same host name for putty and for Visit, but Visit doesn't work. I have also tried this with all the different HPC's I have access to, and none of them work. If there is any other information I can give to get some more help with this, then it would be very appreciated!

Thank you!

[cyrush]

@hansvanderzyden sorry for the delay with responding as well. In some cases there may be multiple aliases for a host name. A case we have at llnl is we can ssh to poodle or poodle.llnl.gov. They are the same system, but when you first connect both will issue a key challenge. You have to accept that you really want to connect to poodle and poodle.llnl.gov separately and they each have a key entry in your ~.ssh/ folder or equivalent on windows.

So it is possible the host profile may use a different name than you are typing when you ssh -- does that make sense?

[ajenea]

Hi Hans. Did you get this resolved? I presume you are aware that the AVC/DAAC profiles are meant to connect to the DoD HPCMP DSRCs. If this is what you want, you need to first get a ticket using kerberos. Leave kerberos open, then try to connect to the remote host. You should also check your host profiles to ensure that the Username is correct and "SSH Command" is checked and filled in with the full path to your kerberized putty instance which is plink.exe. Hope it helps.