Given the upcoming transition of the NCCS to a resource primarily dedicated to the new Integrated Modeling Virtual Institute (IMVI), expected to be approved in Sept 2026, the NCCS will be phasing out the Explore/ADAPT system over the next year. Existing tenants will continue to function as normal until the tentative decommission date of March 2027. We have, however, closed the Explore ADAPT program to new tenants. We apologize for any inconvenience.
- Explore/ADAPT Virtual Machine Environment
- VM Access & Log-in
- Using the Prism GPU Cluster
- Tools
- Using Cron on ADAPT
- Data Collections
- Shared Directories
- ABoVE users
Explore’s VM Environment
ADAPT’s virtualization (VM) environment provides all users access to a set of login nodes and standard Linux VMs for data discovery and analysis. Several common, scientific applications are preloaded on these virtual nodes.
- Multiple occurrences of that VM may also be requested.
- Users are given user level access to VMs (not root).
VM Utilization
ADAPT’s System Administrators will work with users to understand their requirements and provision resources.
*When VMs are no longer required, please submit a ticket to notify the ADAPT team so that VMs can be spun down and resources can be re-provisioned.
Operating Systems
| Explore/ADAPT |
|---|
| Rocky Linux 8,9 |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8,9 |
Use of ADAPT requires basic Linux usage skills. Please be sure you achieve competence in the concepts and commands explained in these resources, before using ADAPT:
- Introduction to Linux Tutorial
- More Advanced Linux Tutorial
- SATERN Linux shell-scripting course code: os_doss_a01_it_enus
- Linux Handbook on file-permissions and ownership
Software (Representative)
ADAPT users have employed the following software in their work:
| LINUX SOFTWARE | WINDOWS SOFTWARE |
|---|---|
| AMES Stereo Pipeline | ArcGIS Desktop |
| eCognition | ArcGIS Pro |
| Ganglia | eCognition (user must provide license) |
| GDAL | GNU Octave |
| Grads | IDL (user must provide license) |
| IDL (limited licenses available) | MATLAB (user must provide license) |
| Imagemagik | Qgis |
| Mapserver | R/R Studio |
| MATLAB (user must provide license) | |
| Maven | |
| NetCDF/HDF libraries | |
| PGSC GDAL | |
| Qgis | |
| R | |
| SciKit | |
| MongoDB | |
| Postgres |
When additional software is needed, users may load the software in local, personal directories. If the software requires elevated privileges, users may seek out assistance from ADAPT system administrators by contacting us.
Some of these tools have been made accessible through the module utility. This allows the user to log-in, run a few commands, and load pre-installed software into their environment, and begin using the software that they require. To learn more about the module command and the software it supports on ADAPT, go to the following page:
Accessing ADAPT VMs
NOTE: These instructions are for users who have configured streamlined their connection to NCCS systems.
| USER TYPES | ACCESSING WINDOWS VMs | ACCESSING LINUX VMs |
|---|---|---|
| WINDOWS USERS | Guacamole | $ ssh adapt.nccs.nasa.gov |
| MAC USERS | Guacamole | $ ssh adapt.nccs.nasa.gov |
| LINUX USERS | Guacamole | $ ssh adapt.nccs.nasa.gov |
NCCS Supported Tools
- Ganglia – Resource monitoring software (Linux)
- Guacamole – Web browser access to Windows virtual machines
- JupyterHub – Computational environment for creating Jupyter notebook documents
- Prism GPU Cluster – Systems using high-speed storage and GPUs to enable high-performance computing.
- SLURM Workload Manager – Job scheduler/running jobs
External Tools
- Filezilla – File transfer system (Mac, Windows, Linux)
- MobaXterm – ssh client with Xserver (Linux access through Windows)
- Qgis – Global imaging software (Linux)
- WinSCP – File transfer system (Windows)
Other Tools
- Python – high-level interpreted programming language.
Data Collections
ADAPT provides users access to centralized, commonly used data collections such as LANDSAT, MODIS, MERRA/MERRA2, and NGA.
- Datasets are not static–additional data is continually being added.
- If users identify new data that is of interest to an expanded audience, it can be staged for general access as well.
Access to NGA data requires a signed agreement and adherence to specific usage policies.
Storage
All file systems on ADAPT, including home and nobackup, are shared and accessible across all VMs.
Account Information
See information about account eligibility, set-up, and maintenance.