Cloud

Minimum System Requirements

1. At least 3GB free space for neurodesktop base image
2. Docker requirements. Details found under https://docs.docker.com/get-docker/

Quickstart

1. Connect to cloud server

On the computer from which you want to access Neurodesktop, open an SSH connection to your cloud instance with port forwarding (USER should be substituted with a username that has admin privileges on the cloud instance, and IP should be substituted with the IP address of the cloud instance)

ssh -L 8080:127.0.0.1:8080 USER@IP

2. Install Docker

Install Docker on the cloud instance from here: https://docs.docker.com/get-docker/. Additional information available here: https://www.neurodesk.org/docs/getting-started/neurodesktop/linux/#installing-docker

3. Run Neurodesktop

Create a local folder ~/neurodesktop-storage on the cloud instance to store persistent data (data that will not disappear if neurodesktop is stopped)

1. Open a terminal on the cloud instance, and type the following command to automatically download the neurodesktop container and run it

sudo docker run \
  --shm-size=1gb -it --privileged --user=root --name neurodesktop \
  -v ~/neurodesktop-storage:/neurodesktop-storage \
  -e NB_UID="$(id -u)" -e NB_GID="$(id -g)" \
  -p 8888:8888 \
  -e NEURODESKTOP_VERSION=2023-09-20 vnmd/neurodesktop:2023-09-20

chmod a+rwx ~/neurodesktop-storage

2. Once neurodesktop is downloaded, leave the terminal open and check the server neurodesktop is running on (Avoid pressing CTRL+C). For example,

3. If it is required to set up an SSH tunnel to access the cloud instance, please set up such a tunnel from the computer from which you want to access Neurodesktop (e.g. ssh -L 8080:127.0.0.1:8080 USER@IP)

4. To access neurodesktop, open your web browser and type in one of those provided URLs provided in your terminal (e.g. http://127.0.0.1:8888/lab?token=your_unique_token)

If the computer runs Linux, check specific instructions at https://www.neurodesk.org/docs/getting-started/neurodesktop/linux/, Option 2, Step 3.

5. Press on “Desktop Auto-Resolution” under “ALL CONNECTIONS”

6. If it is the first time you have used Neurodesktop on this instance, wait until the desktop appears (it may take a few seconds). Otherwise, it should appear instantaneously.

7. Neurodesk is ready to use! See the tutorials page for advice on how to use Neurodesk.

8. For an optimal experience, switch your browser to full-screen mode by following the instructions for your browser here (except Mac where full-screen mode is built-in): https://www.thewindowsclub.com/open-chrome-edge-or-firefox-browser-in-full-screen-mode

Deleting neurodesktop:

When done processing your data it is important to stop and remove the container - otherwise the next start or container update will give an error ("… The container name “/neurodesktop” is already in use…")

1. Click on the terminal from which you ran neurodesktop

2. Press Ctrl-C

3. Run:

sudo docker stop neurodesktop && sudo docker rm neurodesktop

Portforwarding to an iOS ipad

You can also connect to this cloud instance from your iOS device :) For this install https://webssh.net/documentation/help/networking/port-forwarding/ and create a tunnel (the tool is free for one connection). Start the docker container in a screen session and then connect to it from your ios device in the browser.

Cloud-provider specific Tutorials

Using an RDP Client

Open an SSH connection to your cloud instance with the following command

ssh -L 3390:127.0.0.1:3390 USER@IP

Startup Neurodesktop using the following command:

sudo docker run \
  --shm-size=1gb -it --privileged --user=root --name neurodesktop \
  -v ~/neurodesktop-storage:/neurodesktop-storage \
  -e NB_UID="$(id -u)" -e NB_GID="$(id -g)" \
  -p 8888:8888 -p 3390:3389 \
  -e NEURODESKTOP_VERSION=2023-09-20 vnmd/neurodesktop:2023-09-20

Open your RDP client and connect to Computer localhost:3390

Use the following details to login if prompted

username

user

password

password

Using VNC

To enable VNC and disable RDP, startup Neurodesktop using the following command:

sudo docker run \
  --shm-size=1gb -it --privileged --user=root --name neurodesktop \
  -v ~/neurodesktop-storage:/neurodesktop-storage \
  -e NB_UID="$(id -u)" -e NB_GID="$(id -g)" \
  -p 8888:8888 \
  -e NEURODESKTOP_VERSION=2023-09-20 vnmd/neurodesktop:2023-09-20 --vnc

To enable both VNC and RDP, startup Neurodesktop using the following command:

sudo docker run \
  --shm-size=1gb -it --privileged --user=root --name neurodesktop \
  -v ~/neurodesktop-storage:/neurodesktop-storage \
  -e NB_UID="$(id -u)" -e NB_GID="$(id -g)" \
  -p 8888:8888 \
  -e NEURODESKTOP_VERSION=2023-09-20 vnmd/neurodesktop:2023-09-20 --vnc --rdp

Using a VNC Client

Startup Neurodesktop using the following command:

sudo docker run \
  --shm-size=1gb -it --privileged --user=root --name neurodesktop \
  -v ~/neurodesktop-storage:/neurodesktop-storage \
  -e NB_UID="$(id -u)" -e NB_GID="$(id -g)" \
  -p 8888:8888 --network host  \
  -e NEURODESKTOP_VERSION=2023-09-20 vnmd/neurodesktop:2023-09-20 --vnc

Download the Tiger VNC client from https://sourceforge.net/projects/tigervnc/files/stable/1.12.0/

Open an SSH connection to your cloud instance with the following command

ssh -L 5901:127.0.0.1:5901 USER@IP

Run the VNC Client and connect to localhost::5901

Enter password and click Ok.