Backend.AI Web UI

Make AI Accessible: Backend.AI Web UI (web/app) for End-user / DevOps / SysAdmin.

For more information, see manual.

Changelog

View changelog

Role

Backend.AI Web UI focuses to

• Both desktop app (Windows, macOS and Linux) and web service
• Provide both basic administration and user mode
  • Use CLI for detailed administration features such as domain administration
• Versatile devices ready such as mobile, tablet and desktop
• Built-in websocket proxy feature for desktop app

User Features

• Session management
  • Set default resources for runs
  • Monitor current resources sessions using
  • Choose and run environment-supported apps
  • Web-based Terminal for each session
  • Fully-featured Visual Studio Code editor and environments
• Inference service management
  • Set / reserve endpoint URL for inference
  • Autoscaling setup
• Pipeline
  • Experiments (with SACRED / Microsoft NNI / Apache MLFlow)
  • AutoML (with Microsoft NNI / Apache MLFlow)
  • Manages container streams with pipeline vfolders
  • Storage proxy for fast data I/O between backend.ai cluster and user
  • Checks queue and scheduled jobs
• Storage management
  • Create / delete folders
  • Upload / download files (with upload progress)
  • Integrated SSH/SFTP server (app mode only)
  • Share folders with friends / groups
• Node management
  • See calculation nodes in Backend.AI cluster
  • Live statistics of bare-metal / VM nodes
• Statistics
  • User resource statistics
  • Session statistics
  • Workload statistics
  • Per-node statistics
  • Insight (working)
• Configurations
  • User-specific web / app configurations
  • System maintenances
  • Beta features
  • WebUI logs / errors
• License
  • Check current license information (for enterprise only)
• Plugins
  • Per-site specific plugin architecture
  • Device plugins / storage plugins
• Help & manuals
  • Online manual

Management Features

• Kernel managements
  • List supported kernels
  • Add kernel
  • Refresh kernel list
  • Categorize repository
  • Add/update resource templates
  • Add/remove docker registries
• User management
  • User creation / deletion / key management / resource templates
• Keypair management
  • Allocate resource limitation for keys
  • Add / remove resource policies for keys
• Manager settings
  • Add /setting repository
  • Plugin support
• Proxy mode to support various app environments (with node.js (web), electron (app) )
  • Needs backend.ai-wsproxy package
• Service information
  • Component compatibility
  • Security check
  • License information
• Work with Web server (github/lablup/backend.ai-webserver)
  • Delegate login to web server
  • Support userid / password login

Setup Guide

Baked versions

backend.ai-webui production version is also served as backend.ai-app and refered by backend.ai-webserver as submodule. If you use backend.ai-webserver, you are using latest stable release of backend.ai-webui.

Configuration

Backend.AI Web UI uses config.toml located in app root directory. You can prepare many config.toml.[POSTFIX] in configs directory to switch various configurations.

NOTE: Update only config.toml.sample when you update configurations. Any files in configs directory are auto-created via Makefile.

These are options in config.toml. You can refer the role of each key in config.toml.sample

Debug mode

When enabling debug mode, It will show certain features used for debugging in both web and app respectively.

Debugging in web browser

• Show raw error messages
• Enable creating session with manual image name

Debugging in app(electron)

If you want to run the app(electron) in debugging mode, you have to first initialize and build the Electron app.

If you have initialized and built the app(electron), please run the app(electron) in debugging mode with this command:

$ make test_electron

You can debug the app.

Branches

• main : Development branch
• release : Latest release branch
• feature/[feature-branch] : Feature branch. Uses git flow development scheme.
• tags/v[versions] : version tags. Each tag represents release versions.

Development Guide

Backend.AI Web UI is built with

• lit-element as webcomponent framework
• react as library for web UI
• pnpm as package manager
• rollup as bundler
• electron as app shell
• watchman as file change watcher for development

Code of conduct

View Code of conduct for community guidelines.

Initializing

$ pnpm i

If this is not your first-time compilation, please clean the temporary directories with this command:

$ make clean

You must perform first-time compilation for testing. Some additional mandatory packages should be copied to proper location.

$ make compile_wsproxy

To run relay-compiler with the watch option(pnpm run relay -- --watch) on a React project, you need to install watchman. If you use Homebrew on Linux, it's a great way to get a recent Watchman build. Please refer to the official installation guide.

Developing / testing without bundling

On a terminal:

$ pnpm run build:d   # To watch source changes

On another terminal:

$ pnpm run server:d  # To run dev. web server

On yet another terminal:

$ pnpm run wsproxy  # To run websocket proxy

If you want to change port for your development environment, Add your configuration to /react/.env.development file in the project:

PORT=YOURPORT

Defaultly, PORT is 9081

Lint Checking

$ pnpm run lint  # To check lints

Unit Testing

The project uses Playwright as E2E testing framework and Jest as JavaScript testing framework.

Playwright test

To perform E2E tests, you must run complete Backend.AI cluster before starting test. On a terminal:

$ pnpm run server:d  # To run dev. web server

On another terminal:

$ pnpm run test      # Run tests (tests are located in `tests` directory)

Jest test

To perform JavaScript test, On a terminal;

$ pnpm run test  # For ./src
$ cd ./react && pnpm run test  # For ./react

Electron (app mode) development / testing

Live testing

On a terminal:

$ pnpm run server:d    # To run test server

OR

$ pnpm run server:p    # To run compiled source

On another terminal:

$ pnpm run electron:d  # Run Electron as dev mode.

Development tools

Recommended: VSCode Relay GraphQL Extension

For developing with Relay in your React application, it is highly recommended to install the VSCode Relay GraphQL extension. This extension provides various features to enhance your development experience with Relay.

Installation Steps:

1. Open VSCode and navigate to the Extensions view.
2. Search for Relay and find the Relay - GraphQL extension by Meta.
3. Click the Install button to add the extension to your VSCode.

Configuration: After installing the extension, add the following configuration to your ./vscode/settings.json file:

{
  "relay.rootDirectory": "react"
}

Serving Guide

Preparing bundled source

$ make compile

Then bundled resource will be prepared in build/rollup. Basically, both app and web serving is based on static serving sources in the directory. However, to work as single page application, URL request fallback is needed.

If you want to create the bundle zip file,

$ make bundle

will generate compiled static web bundle at ./app directory. Then you can serve the web bundle via webservers.

Serving with nginx

If you need to serve with nginx, please install and setup backend.ai-wsproxy package for websocket proxy. Bundled websocket proxy is simplified version for single-user app.

This is nginx server configuration example. [APP PATH] should be changed to your source path.

server {
    listen      443 ssl http2;
    listen [::]:443 ssl http2;
    server_name [SERVER URL];
    charset     utf-8;

    client_max_body_size 15M;   # maximum upload size.

    root [APP PATH];
    index index.html;

    location / {
        try_files $uri /index.html;
    }
    keepalive_timeout 120;

    ssl_certificate [CERTIFICATE FILE PATH];
    ssl_certificate_key [CERTIFICATE KEY FILE PATH];
}

Building docker image using docker-compose

Make sure that you compile the Web UI.

e.g. You will download the backend.ai-webserver package.

$ make compile

Backend.AI WebServer

Good for develop phase. Not recommended for production environment.

Note: This command will use Web UI source in build/rollup directory. No certificate will be used therefore web server will serve as HTTP.

Copy webserver.example.conf in docker_build directory into current directory as webserver.conf and modify configuration files for your needs.

$ docker-compose build webui-dev  # build only
$ docker-compose up webui-dev     # for testing
$ docker-compose up -d webui-dev  # as a daemon

Visit http://127.0.0.1:8080 to test web server.

Backend.AI WebServer with SSL

Recommended for production.

Note: You have to enter the certificates (chain.pem and priv.pem) into certificates directory. Otherwise, you will have an error during container initialization.

Copy webserver.example.ssl.conf in docker_build directory into current directory as webserver.conf and modify configuration files for your needs.

$ docker-compose build webui  # build only
$ docker-compose up webui     # for testing
$ docker-compose up -d webui  # as a daemon

Visit https://127.0.0.1:443 to test web server serving. Change 127.0.0.1 to your production domain.

Removing

$ docker-compose down

Manual image build

$ make compile
$ docker build -t backendai-webui .

Testing / Running example

Check your image name is backendai-webui_webui or backendai-webui_webui-ssl. Otherwise, change the image name in the script below.

$ docker run --name backendai-webui -v $(pwd)/config.toml:/usr/share/nginx/html/config.toml -p 80:80 backendai-webui_webui /bin/bash -c "envsubst '$$NGINX_HOST' < /etc/nginx/conf.d/default.template > /etc/nginx/conf.d/default.conf && nginx -g 'daemon off;'"
$ docker run --name backendai-webui-ssl -v $(pwd)/config.toml:/usr/share/nginx/html/config.toml -v $(pwd)/certificates:/etc/certificates -p 443:443 backendai-webui_webui-ssl /bin/bash -c "envsubst '$$NGINX_HOST' < /etc/nginx/conf.d/default-ssl.template > /etc/nginx/conf.d/default.conf && nginx -g 'daemon off;'"

Building / serving with webserver

If you need to serve as webserver (ID/password support) without compiling anything, you can use pre-built code through webserver submodule.

To download and deploy web UI from pre-built source, do the following in backend.ai repository:

$ git submodule update --init --checkout --recursive

Running websocket proxy with node.js

This is only needed with pure ES6 dev. environment / browser. Websocket proxy is embedded in Electron and automatically starts.

$ pnpm run wsproxy

If webui app is behind an external http proxy, and you have to pass through it to connect to a webserver or manager server, you can set EXT_HTTP_PROXY environment variable with the address of the http proxy. Local websocket proxy then communicates with the final destination via the http proxy. The address should include the protocol, host, and/or port (if exists). For example,

$ export EXT_HTTP_PROXY=http://10.20.30.40:3128 (Linux)
$ set EXT_HTTP_PROXY=http://10.20.30.40:3128 (Windows)

Even if you are using Electron embedded websocket proxy, you have to set the environment variable manually to pass through a http proxy.

Build web server with specific configuration

You can prepare site-specific configuration as toml format. Also, you can build site-specific web bundle refering in configs directory.

Note: Default setup will build es6-bundled version. If you want to use es6-unbundled, make sure that your webserver supports HTTP/2 and setup as HTTPS with proper certification.

$ make web site=[SITE CONFIG FILE POSTFIX]

If no prefix is given, default configuration file will be used.

Example:

$ make web site=beta

You can manually modify config.toml for your need.

App Building Guide

Building Electron App

Electron building is automated using Makefile.

$ make clean      # clean prebuilt codes
$ make mac        # build macOS app (both Intel/Apple)
$ make mac_x64    # build macOS app (Intel x64)
$ make mac_arm64  # build macOS app (Apple Silicon)
$ make win        # build win64 app
$ make linux      # build linux app
$ make all        # build win64/macos/linux app

Windows x86-64 version

$ make win

Note: Building Windows x86-64 on other than Windows requires Wine > 3.0 Note: On macOS Catalina, use scripts/build-windows-app.sh to build Windows 32bitpackage. From macOS 10.15+, wine 32x is not supported. Note: Now the make win command support only Windows x64 app, therefore you do not need to use build-windows-app.sh anymore.

macOS version

All versions (Intel/Apple)

$ make mac

NOTE: Sometimes Apple silicon version compiled on Intel machine does not work.

Intel x64

$ make mac_x64

Apple Silicon (Apple M1 and above)

$ make mac_arm64

Building app with Code Signing (all platforms)

1. Export keychain from Keychain Access. Exported p12 should contain:

• Certificate for Developer ID Application
• Corresponding Private Key
• Apple Developer ID CA Certificate. Version of signing certificate (G1 or G2) matters, so be careful to check appropriate version! To export multiple items at once, just select all items (Cmd-Click), right click one of the selected item and then click "Export n item(s)...".

2. Set following environment variables when running make mac_*.

• BAI_APP_SIGN=1
• BAI_APP_SIGN_APPLE_ID="<Apple ID which has access to created signing certificate>"
• BAI_APP_SIGN_APPLE_ID_PASSWORD="<App-specific password of target Apple ID>"
• BAI_APP_SIGN_IDENTITY="<Signing Identity>"
• BAI_APP_SIGN_KEYCHAIN_B64="<Base64 encoded version of exported p12 file>"
• BAI_APP_SIGN_KEYCHAIN_PASSWORD="<Import password of exported p12 file>" Signing Identity is equivalent to the name of signing certificate added on Keychain Access.

Linux x86-64 version

$ make linux

Packaging as zip files

Note: Packaging usually performs right after app building. Therefore you do not need this option in normal condition.

Note: Packaging macOS disk image requires electron-installer-dmg to make macOS disk image. It requires Python 2+ to build binary for package.

Manual run to test Electron

Note: There are two Electron configuration files, main.js and main.electron-packager.js. Local Electron run uses main.js, not main.electron-packager.js that is used for real Electron app.

$ make dep            # Compile with app dependencies
$ pnpm run electron:d  # OR, ./node_modules/electron/cli.js .

The electron app reads the configuration from ./build/electron-app/app/config.toml, which is copied from the root config.toml file during make clean && make dep.

If you configure [server].webServerURL, the electron app will load the web contents (including config.toml) from the designated server. The server may be either a pnpm run server:d instance or a ./py -m ai.backend.web.server daemon from the mono-repo. This is known as the "web shell" mode and allows live edits of the web UI while running it inside the electron app.

Localization

Locale resources are JSON files located in resources/i18n.

Currently WebUI supports these languages:

• English
• Korean
• French
• Russian
• Mongolian
• Indonesian

Extracting i18n resources

Run

$ make i18n

to update / extract i18n resources.

Adding i18n strings

• Use _t as i18n resource handler on lit-element templates.
• Use _tr as i18n resource handler if i18n resource has HTML code inside.
• Use _text as i18n resource handler on lit-element Javascript code.

Example

In lit-html template:

<div>${_t('general.helloworld')}</div>

In i18n resource (en.json):

{
   "general":{
      "helloworld": "Hello World"
   }
}

Adding new language

1. Copy en.json to target language. (e.g. ko.json)
2. Add language identifier to supportLanguageCodes in backend-ai-webui.ts. e.g.

  @property({type: Array}) supportLanguageCodes = ["en", "ko"];

3. Add language information to supportLanguages in backend-ai-usersettings-general-list.ts.

Note: DO NOT DELETE 'default' language. It is used for browser language.

  @property({type: Array}) supportLanguages = [
    {name: _text("language.Browser"), code: "default"},
    {name: _text("language.English"), code: "en"},
    {name: _text("language.Korean"), code: "ko"}
  ];