Running GaussView with the the X-server Xming and X11-Forwarding
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Getting, installing, and configuring Xming
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Click here for instructions.
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Starting the X server
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- Click on the desktop icon Xming:
If you successfully start the server, the appropriate icon will appear on the task
bar in the lower right corner of your screen:
If there is a problem starting the server, you can view the xming log for helpful information. To access the log:
- Right-click on the X icon in lower right corner, resulting in the appearance of the following
menu:
- Highlight the View Log line (the second line in the menu):
and left-click the highlighted line, resulting in the display of the log (a sample log of a successful startup is shown below):
For more troubleshooting information, click here.
- Xming may also be started by clicking on the XLaunch icon (in the above discussion, you
started the server by clicking on the Xming desktop:
What is the difference between Xming and Xlaunch? XLaunch permits you to change session parameters. Clicking on XLaunch will result in the display of a series of screens, one after another. Each
screen controls different settings. There are five screens:
- Display settings,
- Session type,
- Start a program,
- Additional parameters, and
- Finish configuration
- Screen one controls aspects of the display. GaussView requires multiple screens (which is the
default). But, if you are using some other client software and you wish to alter the layout, screen one
is how you change the values:
For more information about display settings, click here. When you are satisfied with screen/display configurations, click on the Next button to go to the next screen.
- Screen two controls whether to start a client. There is no need to start clients but if you
are so inclined, this screen is how you do it. Clients may be started on the local machine (your PC) or on
the remote machine (argo). An example of a local client is an xterm window which may be used to enter an ssh command to login to argo.) If you select Start a Program and then click
Next, a screen will appear asking where to start the client and what client to start. For
more information about the fields in screen two, click here. When you ready to go on to the next screen, click on Next.
- Screen four controls additional parameters, the most important of which is Access Control. DO NOT DISABLE Access Control by putting a check in the box. LEAVE IT BLANK.:
For more information about what to enter in the various additional parameter fields,
click here. When you are
ready to go on to the next screen, click Next.
- Screen five is used to save the configuration changes for reuse in subsequent sessions:
If you elect to save the configuration, another screen will appear, prompting you to enter/alter the location and name of the file to hold the new settings:
For more information about saving your configuration and how to use the altered configuration in future sessions, click here.
Important: An X server (be it X-Win or, if you elect to use some other product) must be
started after you reboot your local machine, power cycle it, or shutdown the X-Win32
program. Without an X-server running, the GaussView screens or those of any argo software program
that uses X-Windows will not appear on your monitor.
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Configuring SSH to use X11-Forwarding
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The following instructions assume that you have elected to use X11-forwarding.
In order to login to argo, you must use ssh. An ssh client is available from either
- another server (tigger) using the ssh command, or
- a communcation client (PUTTY is such a client).
You must tell either one of the above to use the X11-Forwarding; it's not the default.
Regarding the command line version, you do so by including the -X
operand. For example:
- ssh WITH X11-Forwarding
ssh -X jsmith@argo.cc.uic.edu
- ssh WITHOUT X11-Forwarding
ssh jsmith@argo.cc.uic.edu
Each time you use the command, you must include the -X.
To configure PUTTY to use X11-Forwarding (the following assumes you have a existing argo profile):
Step 1: From the main screen of the profile, click on the word Tunnels (left lower corner):
resulting in the Tunnels screen.
Step 2: Enable X11-Forwarding by putting an X in the appropriate box:
Step 3: Save the altered profile
It is important that you assign a new name to the modified argo profile; a name that indicates
that you are using X11-Forwarding. In the above, I assigned the profile the name argo-withx11.
You may use that name or one of your own selection. But, it is vital that you distinguish
between a profile that uses X11-Forwarding and one that does not.
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Login to Argo using X11-Forwarding
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Login to argo using X11-Forwarding via either the command ssh or the argo-withx11 profile.
Once you are on argo, you must not change the environmental
variable DISPLAY. The variable has the appropriate setting. When you don't
use X11-Forwarding, you must set the DISPLAY variable to the IP address or the fully
qualified domain name of the machine running your X-server (your desktop or laptop). Examples:
export DISPLAY=128.248.5.192:0
export DISPLAY=jsmith.cc.uic.edu:0
setenv DISPLAY 128.248.5.192:0
setenv DISPLAY jsmith.cc.uic.edu:0
But, since you are using X11-Forwarding, you don't change the
setting; SSH has already set it for you. Repeat: don't alter the DISPLAY
variable. If you do change it, the GaussView screens will not appear. To see the DISPLAY
variable setting but not change it, use the echo command on argo (don't forget the preceding dollar
sign):
You should see the word localhost, a colon, a number, a period, and a zero. For example:
To confirm that your X-server is working with X11-Forwarding, enter the following command on
argo:
Initially you will be prompted to confirm that it is okay to accept a connection from
127.0.0.1. IMPORTANT: the IP must be 127.0.0.1. If so, click on the word Yes. If
a clock appears on the screen, then you know that X is working and is configured properly:
If the IP is something other than 127.0.0.1, hit the NO
button.
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Running GaussView with X11-Forwarding
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Without X11-Forwarding, you start a GaussView job by means of the qsub command and a
script. For example:
where gaussview-script is a file containing something like the following:
#! /bin/csh
#PBS -l nodes=1
#PBS -q student_short
setenv DISPLAY 128.248.5.192:0
/usr/common/gv/gview
With X11-Forwarding, you don't use a script. Initiating GaussView is a two-step process:
Start an interactive, X11-forwarding job
The first step is initiating an interactive session with X11-Forwarding. To do so,
you use both the -I option (for interactive) and the
-X option (for X11-Forwarding) on the qsub command:
qsub -I -X -V -q the-name-of-the-queue
Notice that there is no script file; that's how it's supposed to be. All options that
might have been included in the script, like the name of the queue, must be specified on
the command line. Examples:
- qsub -I -X -V -l nodes=1 -q student_short
- qsub -I -X -V -l nodes=1 -q staff
FYI: It is always best to include the -V option.
Once you submit the command, you will see something like the following:
- qsub: waiting for job 13555.argo.cc.uic.edu to start
- qsub: job 13555.argo.cc.uic.edu ready
Obviously, your job will have an different id (not 13555). There may be a pause between the
appearance of the first line (qsub: wating...) and the appearance of the second (qsub: job...).
But, once you see the second line, you are ready for the second step.
Start GaussView
To start GaussView, enter the following command:
It may take a couple of seconds and you may again be asked to confirm connections from
127.0.0.1 but the main GaussView screens will appear:
If the screens do not appear, resubmit the gaussview command and include the -soft option:
/usr/common/gv gview -soft
Terminating your GaussView job
Terminating is a two-step process:
To stop your GaussView job, click on Exit in the dropdown File menu:
To terminate the interactive session, enter the word exit at the command line:
IMPORTANT POINT
GaussView, unlike Gaussian, is not distributive/parallel. That means it runs on ONLY one node and ONLY one processor on that node. Requesting more than a single node and/or a single processor does NOTHING to improve GaussView performance; it wastes resources that some other argo client could use. Do not specify a value for nodes greater than one; all of the following are examples of what not to do:
-l nodes=2
-l nodes=3
-l nodes=4
....
The same is true for the ppn value (don't include it):
-l nodes=2:ppn=2
-l nodes=2:ppn=3
-l nodes=2:ppn=4
-l nodes=3:ppn=2
....
In fact, there is no need to include a -l nodes=1 component on the qsub command. The
default value, when -l nodes=1 is not given, is one. The same is true for ppn; when
not specified, the system assumes one.
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Additional Help
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Troubleshooting
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-
Nothing appears on my screen:
Some things to check:
- Did you start the X server on your local machine?
If you are running a Windows machine, there should be an X icon in
the lower right. On the bottom right corner of the X, there should be a
very small monitor icon. If you don't have the X icon, then the server is
not running.
- You changed the DISPLAY variable!
As was stated before, you should never alter the setting of the DISPLAY variable when
using X11-Forwarding. The ssh client will set the DISPLAY variable. For more
information about the DISPLAY variable, click here.
- Did you tell ssh to use X11-Forwarding?
If you didn't tell your SSH client (the command or the GUI) to use X11-Forwarding,
then your DISPLAY variable will most likely contain nothing:
and GaussView will not know where to display its screens. Click here
to return to the section that discusses how to tell ssh that you want to use X11-Forwarding.
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