Running RStudio on Biowulf with NoMachine

Using NoMachine to run Rstudio on Biowulf has the benefit of accessing data on the Biowulf/Helix drives. This comes at the cost of setup time and slower responsiveness. If possible, we recommend running locally from your Mac. Below, I provide installation instructions of NoMachine Version 6.10.12.

Running R in NoMachine on Biowulf

1. You have to VPN using Cisco AnyConnect Secure Mobility Client. Click Connect button and follow usual instructions.

   

2. Following NoMachine Installation for Biowulf, double click the connection shortcut. You should see something like below. Fill in Username and Password fields and click the OK button.

   

3. Click OK button repeatedly through several information panels until the below window. I selected radio button Display the menu panel covering all screen.

   

4. Click OK button repeatedly through several information panels to arrive at a virtual desktop which will look something like below. I selected Use default config button.

   

5. From the Applications menu, I selected Terminal Emulator.

   

6. This will open the Terminal app. Presently, you are on Biowulf's login node. You need to request a compute node. Type at the terminal prompt $ sinteractive --mem=6g --gres=lscratch:5 followed by Return key.

   

7. You can see additional detail with the link below:

   RStudio on Biowulf

8. Wait until you are assigned a compute node and at the prompt type: module load R/4.0 followed by Return key.

9. Wait until R resources are loaded, then at the prompt type: module load Rstudio followed by Return key. By now, you should see something as depicted below.

   

10. Next, at the Terminal prompt, type rstudio & (as depicted above) followed by Return key to launch RStudio in background.

11. On success, RStudio window should open and look as depicted below.