VS code

Visual Studio Code is a text editor that can be configured to write almost any language.

Connecting to the cluster

  • Install the Remote ssh extension

    • This extension allows you to connect to remote hosts (like the cluster) via ssh You can use the remote extension to connect your local vscode with the cluster.

  • Recommended: create an ssh config

If you want to connect to the cluster outside of a vpn, you’ll need your config to look something like this: 

Host vscode-cluster
    HostName bmiclusterp1.chmcres.cchmc.org
    User USERNAME
    ProxyJump USERNAME@ssh.research.cchmc.org

This config first connects to USERNAME@ssh.research.cchmc.org, then connects to USERNAME@bmiclusterp1.chmcres.cchmc.org inside ssh.research.cchmc.org session.

This will also allow you to use ssh vscode-cluster in the command line to get the same environment as vscode.

Otherwise, if you’ll be connected to the vpn, you can simply connect to the p1 cluster: 

USERNAME@bmiclusterp1.chmcres.cchmc.org

Why is the 1 needed?

  • If you are used to connecting via ssh, you’ll notice that the normal bmiclusterp.chmcres.cchmc.org address is changed to bmiclusterp1.chmcres.cchmc.org
  • The head nodes on the p2 and p3 clusters, which are the default, are on CentOS 7, a very old, unsupported operating system
  • The compute nodes are on RHEL 9, a fairly new operating system
  • vscode is incompatible with CentOS 7, but citrix, an old way to connect to the cluster, is only supported by the old head nodes, not the new RHEL 9 nodes.
  • p1 head nodes are on RHEL 9, so vscode can connect

Supplementary material

Links to this page
  • Rust

    The entry point of a Rust program is main.rs, so feel free to experiment in there. Rust is designed to work with editors, so you’re really missing out if you’re just using the plain vim or nano. Consider trying out VS code with the Rust extension.