TPP Web Launcher for Amazon Web Services (TWA)

TWA is a web based launcher for running a instance of the Trans-Proteomic Pipeline (TPP ) on the Amazon cloud. It was developed to simplify the process of starting a new elastic cloud (EC2) instance using one of the many "offical" publicly available Amazon Machine Instances provided by the TPP development group. These AMIs are based off of the offical public Ubuntu Linux images and come with TPP pre-installed and configured. Once launched the instance can easily be accessed using a web browser.

Amazon Inc. does charge for use of its Amazon Web Services. Neither TPP developers nor the Institute of Systems Biology can be held responsible for any charges that may occur, expected or otherwise, for the use of this software. It is strongly advised to use the AWS console manager to ensure that any services used are stopped or deleted after use.

Using TWA

In order to use TWA, you'll first need to have an Amazon account and have signed up to use the Elastic cloud (EC2) and simple storage (S3) products. If you don't already have an account you can register for a new one at Amazon.

Once registered you will then need your account's Amazon API key along with its corresponding Amazon Secret key. These can be obtained by following the security credentials link found under your Account Management menu (see image). Copy both the access key and the secret key into the provided text fields in the top of the TWA launcher toolbar and click on the signin/load icon button to log into into the Amazon Web Services.

To start a new TPP cloud instance simply click on the start instance button in the top right of the toolbar. A dialog should be displayed stating that a request was made to start an instance. It can take several minutes before the instance is fully available (keep in mind you are booting a new computer on the cloud). Once the instance has fully started the browser the dialog will close and your browser will automatically load the TPP Web Petunia interface on that instance.

Advanced Usage

Under the options menu in the TWA launcher toolbar are several advanced options that control how new instances are launched.
Instance Type
This option allows you to choose the type of EC2 instance to launch. The default is a m1.large instance. See the latest Amazon EC2 documenation for a list and description of the different types of instances that can be selected.
Amazon Machine Image
This option allows you to choose which TPP Amazon Machine Image (AMI) you'd like to launch. The list of options are populated only after you've successfully signed into Amazon Web Services.
Key Pair
Key pairs provide SSH access to running instances. This list is populated with the names of any key pairs you have created using the AWS console. Choosing a name will launch a instance with that will then be accessible via ssh using your public key from the pair.
S3 Bucket
This is a new beta feature that will link an area on the instance directly to Amazon's S3 simple storage. Given a S3 bucket name, all files written to the local file system in /mnt/tppdata/s3 will be mirrored to that bucket.
Timeout
This option sets an timeout (in hours) for the instance. The instance will automatically shut itself down a few minutes before the timeout is reached. This can be used to prevent incurring charges when an instance is not shutdown after use.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Why did I get a "connection reset" error in my browser?

Because of timing there is a small window of opportunity for the launcher to have detected that the instance has launched but the Petunia web interface isn't hasn't fully started up yet. If you recieve this message simply click on the "Try Again" button.

Where is my data stored in the instance?

When the instance is booted an area under /mnt/tppdata is created to store your work and Petunia is automatically configured to use this area. Under it are two directories called "local" and "s3". Any work saved in local directory will only be kept local to that instance. When the instance is terminated or shutdown the data will be deleted automatically and is not recoverable. The S3 directory is a placeholder for an advanced storage option that will mirror its contents in an Amazon S3 storage bucket.

How do I save my work when I shut down the instance

Currently right now any file creation/changes done on the image are not saved automatically. Its the user's responsibility to download and save any results. But we are testing a new feature that will save all changes to Amazon's S3 service.

How secure is it?

TWA is web application, being written almost entirely in Javascript. It relies on the many security measures already built into modern web browsers to prevent cross site scripting and other vulnerabilities in web computing. Care should always be taken to prevent your access key and secret key from being comprimised and its highly recommended that you change these keys frequently.

References



TWA v0.1, Alpha Build 201001027