Getting Started¶

Welcome to Cloud Conversations! We're glad you're here.

In this guide, we walk through the core steps of using Cloud Conversations: logging in, setting up a keypair, describing an experiment, building it on Chameleon, and connecting to it.

At the end of this guide, you'll have learned how to:

• Log in to Cloud Conversations with your Chameleon account
• Describe an experiment in plain English and review the description
• Build it on Chameleon hardware and connect to it over SSH
• Release your resources when you're done

Step 1: log in¶

Head to app.cloudconversations.org and click Log in with Chameleon. Sign in with your Chameleon account.

Step 2: set up a keypair¶

Cloud Conversations installs an SSH key on each instance it builds for you, so that you can log in to it. Before your first build, click Profile at the top of the page and go to the Default keypair section. You can either:

• Import a public key by pasting the public half of an SSH key you already use, or
• Choose A keypair I have at each site if you already have keypairs at the Chameleon sites.

Every new experiment uses your default keypair. You can change it for a single experiment from the Keypair menu below the message box.

Step 3: describe your experiment¶

Click New experiment in the sidebar. Below the message box, the Project menu shows the project this experiment builds in. Its hardware is charged to that project's allocation.

Now tell Cloud Conversations what you want, in plain English. For example:

a compute_zen3 node at CHI@TACC for an hour

Cloud Conversations replies with a description of your experiment. Let's go through it:

• Requirements come first: the site, the lease length and start, the hardware, and the image. The column on the right shows whether you stated each one, or Cloud Conversations inferred it or chose a default.
• The Rubric lists the checks your instance must pass once it's built.
• Assumptions lists choices made on your behalf. Click Change next to one to correct it.
• This testbed cannot lists anything in your request that Chameleon can't provide.

To change something, say so in another message, for example make it two hours. Each change creates a new version of the description.

Step 4: build it¶

When the description looks right, click Approve and build. Cloud Conversations reserves the hardware, boots your instance, and checks it against the rubric. If the first attempt fails, it may look at what went wrong, reserve different hardware, or revise the description.

The build card shows each step as it happens. When the build passes, the Log in section of the card shows the command to connect, along with the time your lease ends:

ssh cc@<address>

Step 5: release your resources¶

When you're done, click Release resources on the build card. If you don't, your hardware stays reserved until the lease ends.