4. Enroot

Overview

• 4.1 Enroot - Introduction
• 4.2 Enroot - Images from Nvidia NGC
• 4.3 Enroot - GPU Enable Images

The LRZ AI Systems use the Enroot container framework provided by NVIDIA, to run jobs in isolated environments and is available on Compute Nodes. Enroot allows users to define custom software stacks and operates entirely in user space. It is a simple tool that turns container or OS images into unprivileged sandboxes, keeping the file system separate but without heavy isolation.

E-Commands

Running containerized applications with the Enroot framework follows a slightly different workflow compared to other container technologies. We also recommend reviewing the Enroot documentation for a deeper understanding (see here) in particular regarding the various arguments that can be used in conjunction with the commands listed below. In the most cases, you’ll only need the first three:

• enroot import - downloads an image from a container registry, e.g. from Nvidia's NGC Catalog or Docker Hub
• enroot create -  creates a container filesystem from a container image 
• enroot start - starts a container
• enroot export - creates a container image from a container
• enroot remove - deletes the specified container on the node 
• enroot list - lists all available containers on the node

Please note: These commands only run on the Compute Nodes, not the Login Nodes.