Using project directories as home directories#

The projDirsAsHome option changes the AEN home directories from the standard /home/<username> location to the project directories and the location /projects/<username>/<project_name>/<username>/. This ensures that AEN and AEN apps will not be affected by configuration files in a user’s home directory, such as .bashrc or configuration files in subdirectories such as .ipython and .jupyter.

Package cache locations#

AEN version 4.1.3 stores the cache of packages in /home/<username>, while AEN versions 4.2.0 and higher store the cache of packages in /projects/<username>/<project_name>/<username>/. By moving the package cache to the same filesystem as the project, AEN versions 4.2.0 and higher can use hardlinks and save disk space and time when creating or cloning environments.

These package cache locations are not affected by the projDirsAsHome option.

After upgrading from AEN 4.1.3 to AEN 4.2.0 or higher, existing projects will still use the package cache in /home/<username>. Do not remove this cache, or the existing projects will break.

When users create new projects or install packages, the newly installed packages will use the new cache location.

If you wish to remove the older package cache in /home/<username>:

  • Upgrade AEN to 4.2.0 or higher.

  • Use conda remove to remove every non-default package in every project.

  • Use conda install to replace them. The replaced packages will link to the new package cache in /projects/<username>/<project_name>/<username>/.

  • You can now safely remove the older package cache.

Enabling projDirsAsHome#

NOTE: The projDirsAsHome option should be enabled immediately after performing the installation process and before any users have logged in to AEN. This ensures that users will not have home directories in different places due to some creating their home directories when the option was disabled and others creating their home directories when the option was enabled.

  1. In the /opt/wakari/wakari-compute/etc/wakari/wk-compute-launcher-config.json file, add the projDirsAsHome key value and set it to true.

    , "projDirsAsHome": true

    NOTE: You must add the comma at the beginning of the line. If you add this line as the last key, you must remove any comma at the end of the line.

  2. Restart the AEN compute service:

    sudo service wakari-compute restart
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