Remote Visualization

ParaView Support
1

Hello,
I would like to use Paraview to visualize results on a remote server, but l’m at a loss for how to set it up. I’ve tried following the instructions laid out in the user guide as well as those from the pdf linked to the FAQ topic in this forum, but haven’t had any luck.

My situation is this. I’m currently working from home on a Windows 10 laptop. I have a desktop computer in the office that I run all my simulations on. The office desktop is behind a firewall. Currently, to connect to that desktop from a terminal, I VPN into the office network, then open a ubuntu terminal on my Windows laptop and ssh into the office desktop. Can anyone help me understand how to make a connection between these two machines using Paraview?

2

You can set up the client-server framework, I think, but that seems like a lot of work for what you’re trying to do. Wouldn’t it be easier to use a remote desktop to access your office computer and run Paraview there directly? Many organizations have remote desktop capability in place already. The client-server features of Paraview are (in my experience) more useful when you’re attempting to access a remote cluster where you intend to use multiple nodes using MPI.

Perhaps I’ve misunderstood your needs.

3

I forgot to mention that the office desktop is running a linux based operating system, Centos 7, while my laptop is running Windows. I haven’t figured out a way of doing a remote desktop between Centos and Windows.

4

I figured it might be something like that. I’ve used xrdp to make win->linux connections before, though my IT team actually configured everything. Paraview can also communicate with a remote server process using SSH. I’ve done that following the instructions here ( Setting up a ParaView Server - KitwarePublic), but others will be far better equipped to help you with that than I am.

As an aside, I’ve found the win10 build of openssh (just type ssh in a cmd window or powershell) to work very well. I only use WSL occasionally for things like rsync anymore.

5

Thank you for your input! I’ll see if I have any success with the instructions you linked.

6

Do not do that, but indeed use the link @woodscn shared.

7

I’ve tried following the instructions in the paraview guide. Here’s what I’m doing:

  1. VPN into my office network.
  2. Log onto the desktop via ssh. This is the machine where I run my simulations and I would like to treat as the server).
  3. Run pvserver on the office desktop. Output is as follows:
    Waiting for client… 
  •  Connection URL: cs://localhost.localdomain:11111*

  •  Accepting connection(s): localhost.localdomain:11111*
  1. On my laptop, with paraview open, I create a configuration to connect to the server by clicking the connection button and selecting “Add Server.” I’m imputing the following settings:
    Name: localhost
    Server Type: Client/Server
    Host: localhost
    Port: 11111
    Startup Type: left as default manual
  2. I then attempt to connect using this profile. I get the following output from Paraview:

ERROR: In C:\glr\builds\paraview\paraview-ci\build\superbuild\paraview\src\VTK\Common\System\vtkClientSocket.cxx, line 51
vtkClientSocket (0000022DBF7E3BE0): Failed to connect to server localhost:11111

ERROR: In C:\glr\builds\paraview\paraview-ci\build\superbuild\paraview\src\Remoting\Core\vtkTCPNetworkAccessManager.cxx, line 392
vtkTCPNetworkAccessManager (0000022DA047FC10): Connect timeout.

I’m guessing I have the “Host” setting in my configuration set up incorrectly, but I’m not sure. Any idea what I’m doing wrong here?

8

I suspect that you’ll probably have to use ssh to set up port forwarding. I don’t remember the syntax precisely, but I believe the option you’re looking for is -L. Basically, you want to forward port 11111 on your client machine to port 11111 on the remote machine.

9

port forwarding.

Indeed, this is documented here: 7. Remote and parallel visualization — ParaView Documentation 5.11.0 documentation