I am taking my first steps with ipython notebook and I installed it successfully on a remote server of mine (over SSH) and I started it using the following command:
ipython notebook --ip='*' ---pylab=inline --port=7777
I then checked on http://myserver.sth:7777/ and the notebook was running just fine. I then wanted to close the SSH connection with the server and keep ipython running in the background. When I did this, I couldn't connect to myserver.sth:7777 anymore. Once I connected again to the remote server by SSH, I could connect again to the notebook. I then tried to use screen to start ipython: I created a new screen by screen -S ipy, I started ipython notebook as above and I used Ctrl+A,D to detach the screen and exit to the TTY. I could still connect remotely to the notebook. I then closed the SSH connection and I got a 404 NOT FOUND error when I tried to access my previously stored notebook and I couldn't see it on the list of notebook at http://myserver.sth:7777/. I tried to create a new notebook, but I got a 500 Internal Server Error.
I also tried running ipython notebook with and without using sudo.
Any ideas?
Rather than use screen, perhaps you could switch to an init script or supervisord to keep IPython notebook up and running.
Let's assume you go the supervisord route:
Install supervisord
Install supervisord using your package manager. For ubuntu it's named supervisor.
apt-get install supervisor
If you decide to install supervisor through pip, you'll have to set up its init.d script yourself.
Write a supervisor configuration file for IPython
The configuration file tells supervisor what to run and how.
After you install supervisor, it should have created /etc/supervisor/supervisord.conf. These lines should exist in the file:
[include]
files = /etc/supervisor/conf.d/*.conf
If they contain these lines, you're in good shape. I only show them to demonstrate where it expects new configuration files. Your configuration file can go there, named something like /etc/supervisor/conf.d/ipynb.conf.
Here's a sample configuration that was generated by Chef by an ipython-notebook-cookbook that runs the notebook in a virtualenv:
[program:ipynb]
command=/home/ipynb/.ipyvirt/bin/ipython notebook --profile=cooked
process_name=%(program_name)s
numprocs=1
numprocs_start=0
autostart=true
autorestart=true
startsecs=1
startretries=3
exitcodes=0,2
stopsignal=QUIT
stopwaitsecs=10
user=ipynb
redirect_stderr=false
stdout_logfile=AUTO
stdout_logfile_maxbytes=50MB
stdout_logfile_backups=10
stdout_capture_maxbytes=0
stdout_events_enabled=false
stderr_logfile=AUTO
stderr_logfile_maxbytes=50MB
stderr_logfile_backups=10
stderr_capture_maxbytes=0
stderr_events_enabled=false
environment=HOME="/home/ipynb",SHELL="/bin/bash",USER="ipynb",PATH="/home/ipynb/.ipyvirt/bin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/local/games:/usr/games",VIRTUAL_ENV="/home/ipynb/.ipyvirt"
directory=/home/ipynb
serverurl=AUTO
The above supervisor config also relies on an IPython notebook configuration (located at /home/ipynb/.ipython/profile_cooked/ipython_notebook_config.py). This makes configuration much easier (as you can also set up your password hash and many other configurables).:
c = get_config()
# Kernel config
# Make matplotlib plots inline
c.IPKernelApp.pylab = 'inline'
# The IP address the notebook server will listen on.
# If set to '*', will listen on all interfaces.
# c.NotebookApp.ip= '127.0.0.1'
c.NotebookApp.ip='*'
# Port to host on (e.g. 8888, the default)
c.NotebookApp.port = 8888 # If you want it on 80, I recommend iptables rules
# Open browser (probably want False)
c.NotebookApp.open_browser = False
Re-read and update, now that you have the configuration file
supervisorctl reread
supervisorctl update
Reality
In reality, I used to use a Chef cookbook to do the entire installation and configuration. However, using configuration management with tiny stuff like this is a bit of overkill (unless you're orchestrating these in automation).
Nowadays I use Docker images for IPython notebook, orchestrating via JupyterHub or tmpnb.
