Cloudera Docs

PBJ Workbench

The PBJ Workbench features the classic workbench UI backed by the open-source Jupyter protocol pre-packaged in a runtime image. Users can easily choose this runtime image when launching a session. The open-source Jupyter infrastructure eliminates the dependency on proprietary Cloudera AI code when building a Docker image, allowing runtime images to be built more quickly. The PBJ Workbench enables you to construct runtime images on Ubuntu base images (including non-Cloudera base images) and use them with the Cloudera AI Workbench.

ML Runtimes have been open sourced and are available in the cloudera/ml-runtimes GitHub repository. If you need to understand your Runtime environments fully or want to build a new Runtime from scratch, you can access the Dockerfiles that were used to build the ML Runtime container images in this repository.

The PBJ Workbench is available by default, but you have to select it when you launch a session.

  1. Click New Session.
  2. In Runtime > Editor, select PBJ Workbench
  3. Click Start Session.

Now you can use the PBJ Workbench as you would the normal workbench.

The requirements and preparatory steps for creating a PBJ Workbench are described in each section below.

PBJ Workbench setup: Python installation

PBJ Runtimes need to have Python installed, even if the Runtime is intended to run another kernel in Cloudera AI, for example, R. The minimum Python version supported is 3.7. Python can be installed from the base image’s package manager or compiled by the user.

The minimal requirements that must be satisfied by a custom PBJ Runtime image include:

  • The actual Python binary or a symlink to it must exist at the following path: /usr/local/bin/python3
  • The Python binary must be on the PATH under the name "python", meaning that executing the command "python" in a terminal shall start up Python.
  • Executing python --version shall result in a version greater than 3.7
  • If the Runtime is configured to run a Python kernel in Cloudera AI, the commands python and /usr/local/bin/python3 must start the same Python process that is registered as a Jupyter Kernel (see below).

If the method you chose to install Python does not place the Python binary under /usr/local/bin/python3, or does not create the command python, create appropriate symlinks.

Install Jupyter dependencies and register your kernel

First, the Jupyter Kernel Gateway, version 2.5.2 must be installed into the Docker image. This example command may need to be modified depending on the filename and path of the pip executable in the image.

RUN pip3 install "jupyter-kernel-gateway==2.5.2"

The path to the Jupyter executable installed by pip shall be noted, and the command to run Jupyter Kernel Gateway must be incorporated into the ML_RUNTIME_JUPYTER_KERNEL_GATEWAY_CMD environment variable in the Docker image:

ENV ML_RUNTIME_JUPYTER_KERNEL_GATEWAY_CMD="/path/to/jupyter kernelgateway"

When launching the Runtime in Cloudera AI, the correct IP address - port configuration for Jupyter Kernel Gateway is set automatically by Cloudera AI.

Next, a Jupyter kernel has to be registered. Each instance of the PBJ Workbench communicates with the Jupyter kernel installed in the Runtime via the Jupyter protocol. Kernels are available for a wide variety of languages and versions. Install the kernel of your choice to the image by following its installation instructions. A kernel named python3 is registered by default when installing jupyter-kernel-gateway via pip. Installed Jupyter kernels can be listed by running the following command in a container created from the image:

path/to/jupyter kernelspec list

The name of your chosen kernel must be incorporated into the ML_RUNTIME_JUPYTER_KERNEL_NAME environment variable in the Docker image. For example, if your kernel’s name is python3, the following must be included in the Dockerfile:

ENV ML_RUNTIME_JUPYTER_KERNEL_NAME=python3

Add the cdsw user

The user code will be run in the image under the user and group 8536:8536. Associate these IDs with the name cdsw in the image by adding the following command to the dockerfile:

RUN groupadd --gid 8536 cdsw && \
    useradd -c "CDSW User" --uid 8536 -g cdsw -m -s /bin/bash cdsw

Set permissions so that Cloudera client configuration can be written

All code in the runtime container, including initial setup, will be run as the cdsw user. The initial setup includes linking client files for Cloudera data services out to their standard paths. To facilitate this, permissions to the following paths shall be set so that user 8536 can write to them and to their subfolders:

  • /etc
  • /bin
  • /usr/share/java
  • /opt
  • /usr

Also set the permissions of the following folders and all their subfolders to 777.

  • /etc
  • /etc/alternatives

Additional requirements

  • ML_RUNTIME_METADATA_VERSION environment variable and the corresponding Docker label must be set to 2.
  • To use the PBJ Workbench editor, the ML_RUNTIME_EDITOR environment variable and the corresponding Docker label must be set to "PBJ Workbench". If using a 3rd party editor (for example, JupyterLab or RStudio), set the ML_RUNTIME_EDITOR environment variable and Docker label to the desired value. Note that "Workbench" and "PBJ Workbench" are reserved names.
  • Base image must be Ubuntu.
  • Bash must be installed and must be configured as the default terminal used by the cdsw user.
  • In case the PBJ Runtime is running the R kernel, the kernel must be registered with the IRkernel package.
  • The executable that is registered as a Jupyter kernel must be on PATH, must be found by the which command and must be named after the programming language of the kernel. For example, the name of the executable must be:
    • `python` in case of a Python kernel (python3 is not sufficient)
    • `R` in case of an R kernel, etc.
  • In the case of using a virtual / conda environment and a Python kernel, we recommend configuring PATH such that the default pip command corresponds to the python executable registered as a Jupyter kernel.
  • Cloudera AI mounts the project’s filesystem under the path /home/cdsw and erases any file installed to that path in the Runtime image. Therefore, custom Runtime images should not install anything under the home folder of the cdsw user.
  • On the other hand, once the Runtime image starts up in Cloudera AI, the kernel must be configured to install new packages to user site libraries under /home/cdsw. That way, newly installed packages will persist in the project’s filesystem.
  • The package xz-utils must be installed on the Runtime image.
  • The following binaries should be reachable on the PATH: kinit, klist, ktutil, and sshd. These are installed on Ubuntu as part of the following packages: krb5-user and ssh.