Using RStudio Server on Raven

There are two main ways to use RStudio on Raven:

Use a web browser to access RStudio Server, which is installed and running on Raven. This allows you to use RStudio's IDE through your web browser without needing to install anything on your local machine.
Use one of our Apptainer (Singularity) containers that have RStudio installed.

IMPORTANT: If you're off-campus, you'll need to activate the Husky OnNet VPN (UW guide) to access Raven!

1. Accessing RStudio Server on Raven

Point your web browser to the following URL to access RStudio Server on Raven:

http://raven.fish.washington.edu:8787

NOTE: You may be prompted with a security warning, since the site uses http instead of https. You can safely ignore this warning and proceed to the site.

Logging In

Log in with your Raven account credentials.

2. Using RStudio via Apptainer Containers

Most people should just use the built-in RStudio Server above. Use a container when you need a specific R version or package set, or want the same environment you use on Klone.

Available containers

Shared lab containers on Raven are in /home/shared/containers. To see what's there:

ls -lt /home/shared/containers

Launching RStudio from a container

SSH into Raven.
Start a screen session so RStudio keeps running after you disconnect:
```
screen -S rstudio
```

Download the launch script (first time only):

curl -O https://raw.githubusercontent.com/RobertsLab/resources/master/scripts/raven-rstudio.sh

Run it:
```
bash raven-rstudio.sh
```
By default this uses the newest container in /home/shared/containers. To use a specific container, give its path:
```
bash raven-rstudio.sh /home/shared/containers/<container_name>.sif
```
The script prints a URL (e.g. http://raven.fish.washington.edu:41234), your username, and a one-time password. Open the URL in your browser and log in with those.

NOTE: You may be prompted with a security warning, since the site uses http instead of https. You can safely ignore this warning and proceed to the site.
Detach from screen with Ctrl-a d. Reattach later with screen -r rstudio.

Stopping RStudio

Reattach (screen -r rstudio), press Ctrl-C, then type exit to close the screen session.

What the script does

raven-rstudio.sh creates private temporary directories (so multiple users don't collide), picks an unused port, generates a password, and starts rserver inside the container with singularity (or apptainer if singularity isn't installed). See Klone containers for how lab containers are built.