Preparing To Use Docker Containers
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Preparing To Use Docker Containers (PDF)

Abstract

This guide provides the first-step instructions for preparing to use Docker containers on your DGX system. You must setup your DGX system before you can access the NVIDIA GPU Cloud (NGC) container registry to pull a container.

1. Introduction To Docker And Containers


DGX-2™ , DGX-1™ , and DGX Station™ are designed to run containers. Containers hold the application as well as any libraries or code that are needed to run the application. Containers are portable within an operating system family. For example, you can create a container using Red Hat Enterprise Linux and run it on an Ubuntu system, or vice versa. The only common thread between the two operating systems is that they each need to have the container software so they can run containers.

Using containers allows you to create the software on whatever OS you are comfortable with and then run the application wherever you want. It also allows you to share the application with other users without having to rebuild the application on the OS they are using.

Containers are different than a virtual machine (VM) such as VMware. A VM has a complete operating system and possibly applications and data files. Containers do not contain a complete operating system. They only contain the software needed to run the application. The container relies on the host OS for things such as file system services, networking, and an OS kernel. The application in the container will always run the same everywhere, regardless of the OS/compute environment.

DGX-2, DGX-1, and DGX Station all use Docker. Docker is one of the most popular container services available and is very commonly used by developers in the Artificial Intelligence (AI) space. There is a public Docker repository that holds pre-built Docker containers. These containers can be a simple base OS such as CentOS, or they may be a complete application such as TensorFlow™ . You can use these Docker containers for running the applications that they contain. You can use them as the basis for creating other containers, for example for extending a container.

To enable portability in Docker images that leverage GPUs, NVIDIA developed the NVIDIA Container Runtime for Docker (also known as nvidia-docker2) . We will refer to the NVIDIA Container Runtime simply as nvidia-docker2 for the remainder of this guide for brevity.

nvidia-docker2 is an open-source project that provides a command line tool to mount the user-mode components of the NVIDIA driver and the GPUs into the Docker container at launch.

These containers ensure the best performance for your applications and should provide the best single-GPU performance and multi-GPU scaling.

2. Preparing Your DGX System For Use With NVIDIA Container Runtime


About this task

Some initial setup is required to be able to access GPU containers from the Docker command line for use on DGX-2, DGX-1, or on a DGX Station, or NGC. As a result of differences between the releases of the DGX™ OS and DGX hardware, the initial setup workflow depends on the DGX system and DGX OS version that you are using. To determine the DGX OS software version on either the DGX-2, DGX-1, or DGX Station, enter the following command:

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$ grep VERSION /etc/dgx-release
DGX_SWBUILD_VERSION="3.1.1"


Based on the output from the command, choose from below which workflow best reflects your environment. Select the topics and perform the steps within that workflow.

DGX-2 or DGX-1 with DGX OS Server 3.1.1 or Later Workflow

  1. Version 3.1.1 And Later: Preventing IP Address Conflicts Between Docker And DGX
  2. Configuring The Use Of Proxies
  3. Enabling Users To Run Docker Containers

DGX-1 with DGX OS Server 2.x or Earlier

  1. Version 2.x Or Earlier: Installing Docker And nvidia-docker2
  2. Version 2.x Or Earlier: Preventing IP Address Conflicts Between Docker And DGX
  3. Configuring The Use Of Proxies
  4. Enabling Users To Run Docker Containers

DGX Station Workflow

  1. Version 3.1.1 And Later: Preventing IP Address Conflicts Between Docker And DGX
  2. Configuring The Use Of Proxies
  3. Enabling Users To Run Docker Containers

2.1. Version 2.x Or Earlier: Installing Docker And nvidia-docker2

About this task

Docker and nvidia-docker2 are included in DGX OS Server version 3.1.1 and later. Therefore, if DGX OS Server version 3.1.1 or later is installed, you can skip this task.

Docker and nvidia-docker2 are not included in DGX OS Server version 2.x or earlier. If DGX OS Server version 2.x or earlier is installed on your DGX-1, you must install Docker and nvidia-docker2 on the system. Currently, there are two utilities that have been developed: nvidia-docker and nvidia-docker2. You can determine which are installed on your system by running:

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$ nvidia-docker version

  • If the response is NVIDIA Docker: 1.0.x, then you are using nvidia-docker.
  • If the response is NVIDIA Docker: 2.0.x (or later), then you are using nvidia-docker2.

Procedure

  1. Install Docker.
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    $ sudo apt-key adv --keyserver hkp://p80.pool.sks-keyservers.net:80 --recv-keys 58118E89F3A912897C070ADBF76221572C52609D 
$ echo deb https://apt.dockerproject.org/repo ubuntu-trusty main | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/docker.list 
$ sudo apt-get update 
$ sudo apt-get -y install docker-engine=1.12.6-0~ubuntu-trusty
  2. Download and install nvidia-docker2.
    1. Download the .deb file that contains v1.0.1 of nvidia-docker2 and nvidia-docker-plugin from GitHub.
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      $ wget -P /tmp https://github.com/NVIDIA/nvidia-docker/releases/download/v1.0.1/nvidia-docker_1.0.1-1_amd64.deb
    2. Install nvidia-docker2 and nvidia-docker-plugin and then delete the .deb file you just downloaded.
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      $ sudo dpkg -i /tmp/nvidia-docker*.deb && rm /tmp/nvidia-docker*.deb

2.2. Preventing IP Address Conflicts With Docker

To ensure that your DGX system can access the network interfaces for Docker containers, ensure that the containers are configured to use a subnet distinct from other network resources used by your DGX system. By default, Docker uses the 172.17.0.0/16 subnet. If addresses within this range are already used on your DGX system’s network, change the Docker network to specify the IP address of the DNS server, bridge IP address range, and container IP address range to be used by your GPU containers. Consult your network administrator to find out which IP addresses are used by your network.

Note:

If your network does not use addresses in the default Docker IP address range, no changes are needed and you can omit this task.


This task requires sudo privileges.

2.2.1. Version 3.1.1 And Later: Preventing IP Address Conflicts Between Docker And DGX

About this task

To ensure that the DGX can access the network interfaces for Docker containers, configure the containers to use a subnet distinct from other network resources used by the DGX. By default, Docker uses the 172.17.0.0/16 subnet. If addresses within this range are already used on the DGX network, change the Docker network to specify the bridge IP address range and container IP address range to be used by Docker containers.

Before you begin

This task requires sudo privileges.

Procedure

  1. Open the /etc/systemd/system/docker.service.d/docker-override.conf file in a plain-text editor, such as vi.
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    $ sudo vi /etc/systemd/system/docker.service.d/docker-override.conf
  2. Append the following options to the line that begins ExecStart=/usr/bin/dockerd, which specifies the command to start the dockerd daemon:
    • --bip=bridge-ip-address-range
    • --fixed-cidr=container-ip-address-range
    bridge-ip-address-range
    The bridge IP address range to be used by Docker containers, for example, 192.168.127.1/24.
    container-ip-address-range
    The container IP address range to be used by Docker containers, for example, 192.168.127.128/25.

    This example shows a complete /etc/systemd/system/docker.service.d/docker-override.conf file that has been edited to specify the bridge IP address range and container IP address range to be used by Docker containers.

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    [Service]
ExecStart=
ExecStart=/usr/bin/dockerd -H fd:// -s overlay2 --default-shm-size=1G --bip=192.168.127.1/24 --fixed-cidr=192.168.127.128/25
LimitMEMLOCK=infinity
LimitSTACK=67108864

    Note:

    Starting with DGX release 3.1.4, the option --disable-legacy-registry=false is removed from the Docker CE service configuration file docker-override.conf. The option is removed for compatibility with Docker CE 17.12 and later.

  3. Save and close the /etc/systemd/system/docker.service.d/docker-override.conf file.
  4. Reload the Docker settings for the systemd daemon.
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    $ sudo systemctl daemon-reload
  5. Restart the docker service.
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    $ sudo systemctl restart docker

2.2.2. Version 2.x Or Earlier: Preventing IP Address Conflicts Between Docker And DGX

About this task

DGX OS versions 2.x and earlier include a version of the Ubuntu operating system that uses Upstart for managing services. Therefore, the dockerd daemon is configured through the /etc/default/docker file and managed through the service command.

Procedure

  1. Open the /etc/default/docker file for editing.
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    $ sudo vi /etc/default/docker
  2. Modify the /etc/default/docker file, specifying the correct bridge IP address and IP address ranges for your network. Consult your IT administrator for the correct addresses. For example, if your DNS server exists at IP address 10.10.254.254, and the 192.168.0.0/24 subnet is not otherwise needed by the DGX-1, you can add the following line to the /etc/default/docker file:
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    DOCKER_OPTS=”--dns 10.10.254.254 --bip=192.168.0.1/24 --
fixedcidr=192.168.0.0/24”
    If there is already a DOCKER_OPTS line, then add the parameters (text between the quote marks) to the DOCKER_OPTS environment variable.
  3. Save and close the /etc/default/docker file when done.
  4. Restart Docker with the new configuration.
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    $ sudo service docker restart

2.3. Configuring The Use Of Proxies

About this task

If your network requires the use of a proxy, you must ensure that APT is configured to download Debian packages through HTTP, HTTPS, and FTP proxies. Docker will then be able to access the NGC container registry through these proxies.

Procedure

  1. Open the /etc/apt/apt.conf.d/proxy.conf file for editing and ensure that the following lines are present:
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    Acquire::http::proxy "http://<username>:<password>@<host>:<port>/";
Acquire::ftp::proxy "ftp://<username>:<password>@<host>:<port>/";
Acquire::https::proxy "https://<username>:<password>@<host>:<port>/";
    Where:
    • username is your host username
    • password is your host password
    • host is the address of the proxy server
    • port is the proxy server port

  2. Save the /etc/apt/apt.conf.d/proxy.conf file.
  3. Restart Docker with the new configuration.
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    $ sudo service docker restart

2.4. Enabling Users To Run Docker Containers

About this task

To prevent the docker daemon from running without protection against escalation of privileges, the Docker software requires sudo privileges to run containers. Meeting this requirement involves enabling users who will run Docker containers to run commands with sudo privileges. Therefore, you should ensure that only users whom you trust and who are aware of the potential risks to the DGX of running commands with sudo privileges are able to run Docker containers.

Before allowing multiple users to run commands with sudo privileges, consult your IT department to determine whether you would be violating your organization's security policies. For the security implications of enabling users to run Docker containers, see Docker security.

You can enable users to run the Docker containers in one of the following ways:

  • Add each user as an administrator user with sudo privileges.

  • Add each user as a standard user without sudo privileges and then add the user to the docker group. This approach is inherently insecure because any user who can send commands to the docker engine can escalate privilege and run root-user operations.

    To add an existing user to the docker group, run this command:

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    $ sudo usermod -aG docker user-login-id

    user-login-id
    The user login ID of the existing user that you are adding to the docker group.

3. Preparing To Use The Container Registry


After you've set up your DGX-2, DGX-1, or DGX Station, you next need to obtain access to the NGC container registry where you can then pull containers and run neural networks, deploy deep learning models, and perform AI analytics in these containers on your DGX system.

For DGX-2, DGX-1, and DGX Station users, for step-by-step instructions on getting setup with the NGC container registry see the NGC Container Registry For DGX User Guide.

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