[Paraview] Distributing PVSC files (ParaView 4.0)

Thu Aug 25 09:30:03 EDT 2011

Good to know. Looks like we have enough interest to add Python
support. That is indeed on our TODO list for pvsc improvements. It may
happen after 4.0, however.

Utkarsh

On Wed, Aug 24, 2011 at 5:59 PM, Sean Ziegeler
<sean.ziegeler at nrlssc.navy.mil> wrote:
> I'm going to throw my support in for the Python scripting suggestion. It
> would probably help with the open port issue (e.g., watching ssh output for
> an error), in discovering the location of plink/ssh/etc., and probably a
> number of other use cases.  Also, the issue of modified versions of ssh is
> going to be a common problem, so libssh would definitely not work for many
> use cases.
>
> Thanks,
> Sean
>
> On 08/23/11 11:16, Burlen Loring wrote:
>>
>> Yes, and this has worked OK, at least no one complained, but I think
>> that it's success has more to do with a small number of users involved
>> rather than the strength of this approach.
>>
>> On 08/23/2011 08:52 AM, Angelini, Richard C USA CIV (US) wrote:
>>>
>>> We just pick a random port between 2000 and 65000 ... the chances are
>>> pretty slim (but not absolutely zero) for stepping on another process,
>>> right? 8-)
>>>
>>>
>>> ________________________________
>>> Rick Angelini
>>> USArmy Research Laboratory
>>> Computation Science&Engineering Branch/
>>> ARL/DSRC (DoD Shared Resource Center)
>>> Phone: 410-278-6266
>>>
>>> ________________________________________
>>> From: paraview-bounces at paraview.org [paraview-bounces at paraview.org] on
>>> behalf of Burlen Loring [bloring at lbl.gov]
>>> Sent: Tuesday, August 23, 2011 11:44 AM
>>> To: Utkarsh Ayachit
>>> Cc: paraview at paraview.org; gtg085x at mail.gatech.edu
>>> Subject: Re: [Paraview] Distributing PVSC files (ParaView 4.0)
>>>
>>> Hi Utkarsh,
>>>
>>> It sounds like you need a very flexible solution, or even multiple
>>> solutions, given the variety of use cases you have to support.
>>>
>>> You hit on a great point re python approach
>>>>
>>>> allows us to write code to discover informationabout the client/server
>>>> and take appropriate action(s).
>>>
>>> Which brings up another pvsc related issue could PV reliably find an
>>> open port when constructing the ssh tunnel from PV over to the HPC site.
>>> I don't think it's currently possible to script this.
>>>
>>> Burlen
>>>
>>> On 08/23/2011 08:22 AM, Utkarsh Ayachit wrote:
>>>>
>>>> Tim,
>>>>
>>>> That's was exactly what I was concerned about when it comes to using
>>>> libssh. Good to know that there are indeed such use-cases and not
>>>> merely hypothetical ones.
>>>>
>>>> Utkarsh
>>>>
>>>> On Tue, Aug 23, 2011 at 11:18 AM, Tim Gallagher
>>>> <tim.gallagher at gatech.edu> wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>> I know for our HPC access, they require a custom version of SSH that
>>>>> has been security enhanced. So if PV used a built-in libssh, we
>>>>> would be unable to use PV to connect through to them.
>>>>>
>>>>> I don't have a better solution, just wanted to point out that
>>>>> packaging libssh without an option to use a system one would not
>>>>> work in some cases.
>>>>>
>>>>> Tim
>>>>>
>>>>> ----- Original Message -----
>>>>> From: "Utkarsh Ayachit"<utkarsh.ayachit at kitware.com>
>>>>> To: "Burlen Loring"<bloring at lbl.gov>
>>>>> Cc: "ParaView"<paraview at paraview.org>
>>>>> Sent: Tuesday, August 23, 2011 9:38:38 AM
>>>>> Subject: Re: [Paraview] Distributing PVSC files (ParaView 4.0)
>>>>>
>>>>> Burlen,
>>>>>
>>>>> Good points. At the risk of stating the obvious let's note that we'll
>>>>> be able to distribute different pvsc versions for the server for
>>>>> different OSs and ParaView versions without any issue. Now locating
>>>>> ssh/xterm/plink etc are indeed real issues.
>>>>>
>>>>> I don't like the cmake approach, it requires that we need a separate
>>>>> step and would require users to install cmake (unless we include cmake
>>>>> in the binaries). libssh approach sounds interesting. The only concern
>>>>> is will users to reluctant to use a ssh client we provide rather than
>>>>> their chosen (and trusted one).
>>>>>
>>>>> Like John said, the file inputs are already supported in pvsc.
>>>>>
>>>>> Pat Marion has been pushing for the ability to have Python scripts
>>>>> instead-of/in-addition-to pvsc-xmls. I think that's another viable
>>>>> approach since it allows us to write code to discover information
>>>>> about the client/server and take appropriate action(s).
>>>>>
>>>>> Utkarsh
>>>>>
>>>>> On Mon, Aug 22, 2011 at 12:34 PM, Burlen Loring<bloring at lbl.gov> wrote:
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Hi Utkarsh,
>>>>>>
>>>>>> this looks great.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> One thing I have encountered and that you may want to think about
>>>>>> is that a
>>>>>> single static pvsc is not going to work for all users as pvsc's
>>>>>> depend on
>>>>>> external components such as xterm, ssh, and plink. These are in
>>>>>> different
>>>>>> places on different user's systems, maybe not present on the user's
>>>>>> system
>>>>>> leading to the pvsc not working.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> I could see a couple of different avenues to solve this: Probably
>>>>>> the best
>>>>>> would be to integrate ssh tunneling into PV via libssh so that these
>>>>>> dependencies are not needed. An aleternative would be to include a
>>>>>> configure
>>>>>> step in your new pvsc import process (like cmake) where
>>>>>> dependencies are
>>>>>> located and a system specific pvcs is generated. Something far
>>>>>> easier and
>>>>>> less intrusive might be to add a file dialog element to the pvsc
>>>>>> syntax so
>>>>>> that the user could easily browse for these files. That's not as
>>>>>> nice as
>>>>>> the other approaches because it clutters the UI and the user still
>>>>>> has to
>>>>>> hunt down the files, but it at least gives them a method to do so.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Burlen
>>>>>>
>>>>>> On 08/19/2011 02:15 PM, Utkarsh Ayachit wrote:
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Folks,
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> A feature we are thinking of implementing for ParaView 4.0 is to make
>>>>>>> it easier to distribute pvsc files to connect to various HPC
>>>>>>> resources. I've sketched out a rough proposal for the same at
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> http://paraview.org/ParaView3/index.php/Distributing_Server_Configuration_Scripts
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Any comments/suggestions are always welcome.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Utkarsh
>>>>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>>>>> Powered by www.kitware.com
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