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TIR Nodes

TIR Nodes are fully collaborative environments that make AI development possible. They combine the power of containers, Jupyter Labs, and AI/ML frameworks to create a readily usable workspace for you and your entire team.

Some of the most common use cases are:

  • Run a script or notebook to fine-tune a Large Language Model (LLM) on a single GPU using PyTorch or Hugging Face train.
  • Run a script or notebook to tokenize and fine-tune LLMs or Diffusion models with multiple GPUs (single machine) using DeepSpeed and Accelerate.
  • Open and run a Jupyter notebook (.ipynb) from platforms like GitHub, Kaggle, or Colab.
  • Download and review datasets stored on TIR or other platforms like Hugging Face.
  • Download and test models like Stable Diffusion or any LLM.
Note

A TIR node is a fully functional coding environment. If you prefer to work with the command line (shell) over Jupyter Labs, you can configure SSH on a notebook (node). This way, you can upload your data using SFTP or sync your code with Git tools and run the scripts as you would on your local system.

Getting Started with Nodes on TIR​

  • 1. User needs to log in using myaccount credentials and select the TIR AI platform to use resources on TIR.

  • 2. User will land on the TIR landing page and create a project using the "Create project" button.

  • 3. NOTE: The project will be created in the user's private workspace.

  • 4. Once you are in the newly created project, click on "Nodes" in the side panel to launch the resource.

  • 5. User can select from the available images to create a node.

Note

User can also filter the nodes based on the need using TIR pre-built, Container Registry, and Base OS.

  • 1. Next, you can choose a CPU or GPU plan. Feel free to choose the Free Tier plan for this exercise.

  • 2. User needs to select the GPU or CPU required plan. In the case of CPU, the user can always select the Free Tier Plan in the exploration stage. In the case of GPU, if the required plan is not available, the user can always request the plan, and we will notify the user once it is available via email.

  • 3. Choose an appropriate name for your node and select the type of nodes as New Notebook or Import Notebook. If Import Notebook is selected, then the user needs to provide the URL for the node.

Note

Choosing New Notebook will open an empty JupyterLab, while Import Notebook will give the user the flexibility to seamlessly pull publicly available nodes from GitHub or Colab.

  • 1. Select the workspace size you want to create. Please note, by default, 30 GB of free workspace is provided with each node.

  • 2. (Optional) Set Enable SSH Access switch to enabled to add or select your SSH key.

  • 3. When the node is ready, you will see both Jupyter Labs and SSH options (if configured). Choose any of these to access the node environment.

Node Options​

TIR nodes are extremely powerful and flexible. While most configurations have a default to make the user's life easier, sometimes you may need to tweak the knobs. The following are the configurations that you can tweak in a node environment:

  • Enable SSH: You can enable SSH access on the node using a public key or password (not recommended). If you decide to enable SSH after starting a node, you will have to first stop the node before making changes.

  • Disk Size: Each TIR node can have a disk size of up to 5000GB. The default is 30GB. The selected disk will be mounted at /home/jovyan in your node environment. We recommend using this path as your workspace so in case of restarts, your content will be persistent. Since TIR is container-native, the changes that you make to any other paths on the node will not be persisted on restarts. You can extend the disk size after starting the container as well. This workspace will be deleted when the associated node is deleted.

Note

Please raise a support ticket if you need more than 5TB of disk workspace.

  • Local NVME Storage: Only available for H100 plans. This fast local storage will be available at /mnt/local and only for the duration of the run. We recommend using this path when you need faster writes (e.g., save model checkpoints) or reads. Be sure to move this data to the EOS bucket or under /home/jovyan before shutting down the node. This type of storage is fixed and cannot be expanded at any time during the node cycle.

  • Plan (Pricing): You can choose between an hourly or committed plan. We recommend using committed plans as they offer discounts and may also offer access to local NVME storage (for H100 plans only).

  • Node Image: TIR environments are container-native. You can use pre-built images with well-known frameworks like PyTorch, Transformers, or customize the pre-built images. You can make your own images TIR-compatible using the image builder utility. We recommend starting with pre-built images. In case you need to install packages from pip or apt-get, we recommend doing so from a jupyter notebook (.ipynb) or maintaining requirements.txt.

  • Configuration: TIR offers a variety of CPU and GPU options. We recommend using A100 or H100 for the best performance.

  • Update Node: You can upgrade or downgrade both the configuration (e.g., upgrade from CPU to GPU) and Plan (e.g., hourly to committed) of a node if desired. This is a useful option when restarting nodes and the original hardware plan (GPU) on the node is no longer available.

  • Stop Node: If the plan and configuration allow, you can stop a node and restart it. In the case of an hourly plan, you will not be billed for the GPU or CPU when the node is in a stopped state. However, if your disk usage is beyond the free tier, you will be charged for it.

  • Delete Node: When a node is deleted, all the resources associated with it will be deleted, including the workspace (disk).

Node Statuses​

  • Waiting: The node instance is being deployed on the hardware of your choice.
  • Running: The node is active, and you can use either Jupyter Labs or SSH (if enabled) to access it.
  • Stopped: The node is not assigned to any machine. However, the workspace (disk mounted at /home/jovyan) will continue to exist until you delete the node. Depending on the size of the disk, you will be charged for the usage.

How to Create Node?​

To create a Node, you have to click on Create Node, which is at the right corner of the page.

Create Node

After clicking on the Create Node button, a page will appear. Now select the Node image option from TIR PRE-BUILT, BASE OS, and CONTAINER REGISTRY. Additionally, you can also perform the search on the Node Images.

Node Image Selection

The Base OS node image does not come with JupyterLab pre-installed.

Base OS Node

When installing an image from the Container Registry, the user must specify whether the selected image includes JupyterLab pre-installed or not.

Container Registry Node

After selecting the machine, the Resource page will appear. At this stage, choose a plan based on either CPU or GPU requirements.

Node Resource Selection

Additionally, you can filter CPU and GPU resources based on your specific requirements for a more tailored selection.

CPU Filter

At this step, the user can also add the required dataset to the node being created.

Node Storage

The user is prompted to provide the essential details before the node is created.

Node Details

After all steps are completed, the Node Summary details will be displayed.

Node Summary

After clicking on the 'Create' button, the page will redirect to the 'Manage Nodes' page and display all details there.

Manage Nodes

Node Details​

Overview​

You can see the Node Details and Plan Details under the Overview tab.

Node Overview

Disk Size​

You can see the details disk size and also You can change the Disk size as per your requirements.

Disk Size

For updating the disk size you have to change the disk size and then click on update button.

Update Disk Size

Metrics​

You can see the Metrics graph in CPU Utilization, Memory Utilization & Interval.

Metrics Graph

You can see the one-month activity as per your requirement in days & hours.

One Month Activity

Associated Datasets​

You can also see the Associated Datasets with two different datasets- Mounted & Unmounted. You can also Unmount.

Associated Datasets

SSH Key​

You can see the SSH Key Details under ssh key tab.

SSH Key Details

Update SSH Key​

Note

Only one SSH key can be added to a Launch Node from Sidebar.

You can launch the node from the left side of the Node name.

Launch Node

Note

When the user wants to change the SSH key kindly first stop the node then change the SSH key.

Change SSH Key

Add SSH Key After Node Creation​

Note

When the user wants to add the SSH key after Notebook creation, kindly first stop the node then add the SSH key.

After Notebook Creation

SSH Key Notebook

Node Actions​

You can see the actions like Launch Node, Stop, Update Node, Delete.

Node Actions

Launch Node​

After clicking on Launch Node, Node will be launched and it should be visible like this.

Node Launched 1

Node Launched 2

Stop​

For Stopping the Notebook you have to click on Stop button and the Node will be stopped.

Stop Node

Update Node​

You can update Node, For updating the Node You have to click on Update button.

Update Node

Note

Node must be in Stop state before updating the Node.

Delete Node​

For Deleting the Node you have to click on Delete button.

Delete Node

Launch Node from Sidebar​

You can launch the node from the left side of the Node name.

Launch from Sidebar

Advance Filter on Node​

You can locate the node by entering its name in the search bar.

Node Search

You can access advanced filter options by clicking on this button.

Search Button

You can apply the advanced filter configurations and then click the search button.

Advanced Search