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Server Pipelines

Our lab has access to powerful computing resources and support through the Center for High-Throughput Computing (CHTC). Our core bioinformatics and image processing pipelines will be deployed through CHTC servers. All pipelines will be maintained on GitHub and associated with Docker environments to ensure reproducibility. Many of our pipelines will use Nextflow.

In general, pipelines will be run in three steps:

  • Staging: input files will be transferred to the CHTC server from lab storage
  • Pipeline: files will be processed using established pipelines
  • Output: desired outputs will be transferred from the CHTC server to lab storage

A. Center for High-throughput Computing (CHTC)

Consult official CHTC and HTCondor documentation before getting started. Register for an account using this form.

The HTC System

  1. Execute (Compute) nodes

    The CHTC has an extensive set of execute nodes. Our lab has secured a prioritized node that can be accessed on-demand using a designated flag.

    • Typical nodes: 20 cores, 128 GB RAM
    • High-memory nodes: e.g., 80 cores, 4 TB RAM
    • GPUs for machine learning jobs
    • Dedicated lab node: 40 cores (80 hyperthreading), 512 GB RAM, 3.8 TB HD

  2. Submit nodes

    Jobs on the CHTC are deployed from submit nodes. You can ssh into our assigned submit node (submit2) to run and monitor jobs using your UW net-id and password.

    ssh {net-id}@submit2.chtc.wisc.edu

    Note: If you correctly updated your ~/.bash_profile by following the macOS environment setup instructions, then you can use the simple submit to ssh into the node.

  3. File system

    Each net-id is associated with a home folder, where we manage job submission scripts. Our lab also has a shared staging folder, for transfer of large files in and out of the CHTC system. The CHTC does not use a shared file system, but you can request the storage you need for any given job.

    ├── home/{net-id}/                    [quota: 20 GB, submit script dir]
└── staging/groups/zamanian_group/    [quota: 1 TB | 100k files]
    └── input/                        [input dir: unprocessed (raw) data]
    └── output/                       [output dir: processed job outputs]
    └── WBP.tar.gz                    [permanent storage of WBP data]

Deploying Pipelines

  1. Staging - transfer input data for processing (ResearchDrive -> CHTC)

    1A. Globus transfer

    In almost all cases, you will use Globus to transfer your input data from ResearchDrive to the CHTC staging input folder. Globus is the fastest and most secure transfer method, and allows for transfer from any file system that has a Globus endpoint installed. Most raw data on ResearchDrive is unarchived and uncompressed. However, our pipelines expect a single archived folder (.tar) as input and will deliver a single archived folder as output. Use the workflow below to transfer an unarchived folder on ResearchDrive to CHTC input and archive it after arrival. See the KB for further instructions.

    Globus transfer
    1. Login to the Globus web interface with your NetID
    2. If transferring from a personal computer, install and start Globus Connect Personal.
    3. In the web interface, set the view to two panels using the icon on the top right.
    4. On one side of the interface, click Collection and choose the desired endpoint (chtc#staging, wisc-drive-mzamanian, or your personal computer).
    5. Choose the other endpoint for the other side of the interface.
    6. Type /staging/groups/zamanian_group/ into the Path box of the chtc#staging collection and press Enter (you may be required to login with your NetID again).
    7. Navigate to the desired directories.
    8. Drag and drop files to transfer them; you will receive an email upon transfer completion.
    9. Exit the SSH once finished transferring to/from ResearchDrive.
    10. Login to the transfer server and archive the directories in input/ and metadata/ with the command tar -cvf {plate}.tar {plate}. To loop this command for several files, use: for f in *NJW*; do tar -cvf $f.tar $f; done (use a regular expression that will work for your folders).
    11. Delete the original, unarchived directories.

    1B. Command line transfer with smbclient

    It is also possible to transfer via smbclient using the terminal. The following code will also archive the data upon arrival.

    ResearchDrive -> CHTC transfer of unarchived raw data folder (archived on arrival)
    # Log into transfer server and navigate to staging input dir
ssh {net-id}@transfer.chtc.wisc.edu
cd /staging/groups/zamanian_group/input/

# Example of transferring sequencing data
smbclient -k //research.drive.wisc.edu/mzamanian/ -D "UWBC-Dropbox/Bioinformatics Resource Center" -Tc 201105_AHLVWJDSXY.tar "201105_AHLVWJDSXY"

# Example of transferring ImageXpress data
smbclient -k //research.drive.wisc.edu/mzamanian/ -D "ImageXpress/raw" -Tc 20201118-p01-MZ_172.tar "20201118-p01-MZ_172.tar"
    ResearchDrive -> CHTC transfer of unarchived metadata folder (archived on arrival)
    # Log into transfer server and navigate to staging metadata dir
ssh {net-id}@transfer.chtc.wisc.edu
cd /staging/groups/zamanian_group/metadata/

# Example of transferring ImageXpress metadata
smbclient -k //research.drive.wisc.edu/mzamanian/ -D "ImageXpress/metadata" -Tc 20201118-p01-MZ_172.tar "20201118-p01-MZ_172"

    Note: If you correctly updated your ~/.bash_profile by following the macOS environment setup instructions, then you can use the simple transfer to ssh into the node.

    For ImageXpress data, an entire experiment may include >10 plates that will take hours to days to transfer. To facilitate batch transfers, we have included two scripts in the input/ and metadata/ directories of /staging/groups/zamanian_group/ to help with batch transfer.

    Batch transfer via custom scripts and screen
    1. Use a terminal text editor (e.g., vim or nano) to edit the plate list in /staging/groups/zamanian_group/input/plates.txt such that there is a single plate name per line. Also include a blank line at the end of the file.
    2. Use the commands sh transfer_images.sh (from the input/ directory) and sh transfer_metadata.sh (from the metadata/ directory) to transfer the images and metadata, respectively.
    3. Use the screen tool to maintain a continuous process in the background, allowing you to close your SSH session.
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    # Log into transfer server and navigate to staging input dir
ssh {net-id}@transfer.chtc.wisc.edu
cd /staging/groups/zamanian_group/input/

# Start a screen named 'transfer'
screen -S transfer

# Initiate the transfer
sh transfer_images.sh

# Detach from the screen by pressing Ctrl+a and then d
# Reattach to the screen
screen -r transfer

# Close the screen
exit

    1C. Drag-and-drop transfer

    Transferring input data should be performed with Globus (1A) or background smblient processes (1B). However, smaller files such as metadata or auxiliary parameter files can be moved to the staging directory or one's home directory on the submit server with drag-and-drop SFTP clients such as Transmit, CyberDuck, or FileZilla.

    1D. Command line transfer with scp

    A final option for transfer of small files is via the scp command:

    # transfer to staging
scp [local file] {net-id}@transfer.chtc.wisc.edu:/staging/groups/zamanian_group/input/

# transfer to home
scp [local file] {net-id}@submit2.chtc.wisc.edu:/home/{net-id}
    Warning!

    Do not use options 1C or 1D for the transfer of many files or large files >100 MB, as these methods are unstable and can be unpredictable. For batch transfer or transfer of large files, the recommended method is Globus (1A).

  2. Pipeline - Submit and manage CHTC jobs

    CHTC uses HTCondor for job scheduling. Submission files should follow lab conventions and be consistent with the CHTC documentation. Two example submit scripts with annotations are shown below. This submit scripts (Core_RNAseq-nf.sub/wrmXpress.sub) load a pre-defined Docker environment and run a bash executable script (Core_RNAseq-nf.sh/wrmXpress.sh) with defined arguments on the execute node. Other options define log files, resource requirements, and transfer of files in/out of home. Large files should not be transferred in/out of home, but you may need to transfer auxiliary files (for example, the parameters YAML file for wrmXpress jobs). We transfer in our large data through /staging/groups/zamanian_group/input/ and we move job output files to /staging/groups/zamanian_group/output/ within the job executable script to avoid their transfer to home upon job completion. The only files that should be transferred back to home are small log files.

    Example CHTC job submission scripts (.sub / .sh)
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    # Core_RNAseq-nf.sub
# Input data in /staging/{net-id}/input/$(dir)
# Run: condor_submit Core_RNAseq-nf.sub dir=191211_AHMMC5DMXX script=Core_RNAseq-nf.sh

# request Zamanian Lab server
Accounting_Group = PathobiologicalSciences_Zamanian

# load docker image; request execute server with staging
universe = docker
docker_image = zamanianlab/chtc-rnaseq:v1
Requirements = (Target.HasCHTCStaging == true)

# executable (/home/{net-id}/) and arguments
executable = $(script)
arguments = $(dir)

# log, error, and output files
log = $(dir)_$(Cluster)_$(Process).log
error = $(dir)_$(Cluster)_$(Process).err
output = $(dir)_$(Cluster)_$(Process).out

# transfer files in-out of /home/{net-id}/
transfer_input_files =
should_transfer_files = YES
when_to_transfer_output = ON_EXIT

# memory, disk and CPU requests
request_cpus = 80
request_memory = 500GB
request_disk = 1500GB

# submit 1 job
queue 1
### END

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    #!/bin/bash

# set home () and mk dirs
export HOME=$PWD
mkdir input work output

# echo core, thread, and memory
echo "CPU threads: $(grep -c processor /proc/cpuinfo)"
grep 'cpu cores' /proc/cpuinfo | uniq
echo $(free -g)

# transfer input data from staging ($1 is ${dir} from args)
cp -r /staging/groups/zamanian_group/input/$1.tar input
cd input && tar -xvf $1.tar && rm $1.tar && mv */*/* $1 && cd ..

# clone nextflow git repo
git clone https://github.com/zamanianlab/Core_RNAseq-nf.git

# run nextflow command
export NXF_OPTS='-Xms1g -Xmx8g'
nextflow run Core_RNAseq-nf/WB-pe.nf -w work -c Core_RNAseq-nf/chtc.config --dir $1\
   --star --qc --release "WBPS15" --species "brugia_malayi" --prjn "PRJNA10729" --rlen "150"

# rm files you don't want transferred back to /home/{net-id}
rm -r work input

# tar output folder and delete it
cd output && tar -cvf $1.tar $1 && rm -r $1 && cd ..

# remove staging output tar if there from previous run
rm -f /staging/groups/zamanian_group/output/$1.tar

# mv large output files to staging output folder; avoid their transfer back to /home/{net-id}
mv output/$1.tar /staging/groups/zamanian_group/output/

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    # Input data: /staging/groups/zamanian_group/input/${plate}.tar
# Parameters: $HOME/${plate}.yml
# Run: condor_submit wrmXpress.sub script=wrmXpress.sh

# request Zamanian Lab server
Accounting_Group = PathobiologicalSciences_Zamanian

# load docker image; request execute server with large data staging
universe = docker
docker_image = zamanianlab/chtc-wrmxpress:v1
Requirements = (Target.HasCHTCStaging == true)

# executable (/home/{net-id}/) and arguments
executable = $(script)
arguments = $(plate)

# log, error, and output files
log = $(plate)_$(Cluster)_$(Process).log
error = $(plate)_$(Cluster)_$(Process).err
output = $(plate)_$(Cluster)_$(Process).out

# transfer files in-out of /home/{net-id}/
transfer_input_files = $(plate).yml
should_transfer_files = YES
when_to_transfer_output = ON_EXIT

# memory, disk and CPU requests
request_cpus = 1
request_memory = 8GB
request_disk = 10GB

# submit a job for each directory in plate_list.txt
queue plate from plate_list.txt
### END

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    #!/bin/bash

# set home () and mk dirs
export HOME=$PWD
mkdir input
mkdir metadata
mkdir output/
mkdir work/

git clone https://github.com/zamanianlab/wrmXpress.git

# echo core, thread, and memory
echo "CPU threads: $(grep -c processor /proc/cpuinfo)"
grep 'cpu cores' /proc/cpuinfo | uniq
echo $(free -g)

# transfer and decompress input data from staging ($1 is ${dir} from args)
tar -xf /staging/groups/zamanian_group/input/$1.tar -C input/

# deprecated
# cp -r /staging/groups/zamanian_group/input/$1.tar input
# cd $input && tar --strip-components 5 -xvf $1.tar && cd $HOME

# transfer and decompress metadata from staging ($1 is ${dir} from args)
tar -xf /staging/groups/zamanian_group/metadata/$1.tar -C metadata

# deprecated
# cd metadata && tar -xvf $1.tar && rm $1.tar && mv */*/* $1 && cd $HOME

# run the wrapper
python Core_imgproc/wrapper.py $1.yml $1

# tar output folder and delete it
mv output $1
mv $1.yml $1
tar -cvf $1.tar $1 && rm -r $1

# remove staging output tar if there from previous run
rm -f /staging/groups/zamanian_group/output/$1.tar

# mv large output files to staging output folder; avoid their transfer back to /home/{net-id}
mv $1.tar /staging/groups/zamanian_group/output/

    Log into submit node to submit a job,

    ssh {net-id}@submit2.chtc.wisc.edu

condor_submit Core_RNAseq-nf.sub dir=191211_AHMMC5DMXX script=Core_RNAseq-nf.sh
    Other useful commands for monitoring and managing jobs
    # check on job status
  condor_q

# remove a specific job
  condor_rm [job id]

# remove all jobs for user
  condor_rm $USER

# interative shell to running job on remote machine
  condor_ssh_to_job [job id]
  exit

  3. Output - transfer output data (CHTC -> ResearchDrive)

    To transfer your job output folder from the CHTC staging output directory to Research Drive, it is easist to use an SFTP client (e.g., CyberDuck, Transmit, FileZilla) to transfer the tar files to your local computer, and then from your local computer to ResearchDrive. It also possible to use the command line:

    CHTC -> ResearchDrive transfer with smbclient
    # log into CHTC staging server and navigate to output folder
ssh {net-id}@transfer.chtc.wisc.edu
cd /staging/groups/zamanian_group/output/

# connect to lab ResearchDrive
smbclient -k //research.drive.wisc.edu/mzamanian

# turn off prompting and turn on recursive
smb: \> prompt
smb: \> recurse

# navigate to ResearchDrive dir for processed data (example)
smb: \> cd /ImageXpress/proc/

# transfer output data folder (example)
smb: \> mput 20201119-p01-MZ_200.tar

    Output data can also be transferred to your computer directly from the CHTC (as shown in the command below), or from the mounted ResearchDrive if the data have already been moved to ResearchDrive.

    scp -r {net-id}@transfer.chtc.wisc.edu:/staging/groups/zamanian_group/output/[dir] .

B. Docker

We will user Docker to establish consistent environments (containers) for our established pipelines. We will maintain Docker images on Docker Hub under the organization name 'zamanianlab'. These images can be directly loaded from Docker Hub in our CHTC submit scripts. The Dockerfiles used to create these images should be maintained in our GitHub Docker Repo. Install Docker Desktop for Mac and create a Dockerhub account to be associated with our organization Docker Hub (zamanianlab).

Building Docker Images

  1. Create a lab Docker Hub repo (zamanianlab/{pipeline}), which is associated with a GitHub repo called {pipeline}

  2. Create Dockerfile and auxillary (e.g., yaml) files in a folder with the repo name in the Docker GitHub repo.

    The Dockerfile provides instructions to build a Docker image. In this case, we are starting with the official miniconda Docker image and then installing necessary conda packages into this image. You can search for existing Docker images on Docker Hub to build on, instead of starting from scratch.

    Dockerfile
    FROM continuumio/miniconda3
MAINTAINER mzamanian@wisc.edu

# install (nf tracing)
RUN apt-get update && apt-get install -y procps

# install conda packages
COPY conda_env.yml .
RUN \
   conda env update -n root -f conda_env.yml \
&& conda clean -a

    The following yml file lists conda packages to be installed. You can search for packages on Anaconda cloud.

    conda_env.yml
    conda_env.yaml
  name: rnaseq-nf

  channels:
    - bioconda
    - conda-forge
    - defaults

  dependencies:
    - python=3.8.5
    - nextflow=20.07.1
    - bwa=0.7.17
    - hisat2=2.2.1
    - stringtie=2.1.2
    - fastqc=0.11.9
    - multiQC=1.9
    - fastp=0.20.1
    - bedtools=2.29.2
    - bedops=2.4.39
    - sambamba=0.7.0
    - samtools=1.9
    - picard=2.20.6
    - bcftools=1.9
    - snpeff=4.3.1t
    - mrbayes=3.2.7
    - trimal=1.4.1
    - mafft=7.471
    - muscle=3.8.1551
    - seqtk=1.3
    - raxml=8.2.12
    - htseq=0.12.4
    - mirdeep2=2.0.1.2

  3. Build Docker image (provide a version number)

    cd [/path/to/Dockerfile]
docker build -t zamanianlab/chtc-rnaseq:v4 .

  4. Test Docker image interactively

    docker run -it --rm=TRUE zamanianlab/chtc-rnaseq:v4 /bin/bash
ctrl+D to exit

  5. Push Docker image to Docker Hub

    docker push zamanianlab/chtc-rnaseq:v4
    Some useful Docker commands
    # list docker images
  docker image ls (= docker images)

# remove images
  docker rmi [image]

## remove all docker containers
# run first because images are attached to containers
  docker rm -f $(docker ps -a -q)
# remove every Docker image
  docker rmi -f $(docker images -q)

Testing Docker Pipelines

Before deploying a new pipeline on large datasets, test the pipeline using subsampled data. You can test locally with subsampled data, on the CHTC server with subsampled data, and finally, run the pipeline on the CHTC server with your full dataset. An example is provided below, using RNAseq data.

  1. First, subsample your data into a more manageable size and store it in the staging subsampled folder.

  2. Run Docker container locally

    docker run -it --rm=TRUE zamanianlab/chtc-rnaseq:v2 /bin/bash

  3. Simulate the steps in your submit scripts

    Running commands in local Docker container
    # set home to working directory
export HOME=$PWD

# make input, work, and output directories for nextflow
mkdir input work outputs

# clone GitHub repo that contains pipeline in development
git clone https://github.com/zamanianlab/Core_RNAseq-nf.git

# transfer sub-sampled files from CHTC staging into your input folder
scp -r {net-id}@transfer.chtc.wisc.edu:/staging/groups/zamanian_group/subsampled/191211_AHMMC5DMXX.tar input

# run your pipeline commands

# example of a nextflow command using chtc-local.config matched to your hardware specs
nextflow run Core_RNAseq-nf/WB-pe.nf -w work -c Core_RNAseq-nf/chtc-local.config --dir "191211_AHMMC5DMXX" --release "WBPS14" --species "brugia_malayi" --prjn "PRJNA10729" --rlen "150"

  4. Make changes to your GitHub pipeline, push those changes to GitHub, pull those changes to your local container, and re-run the Nextflow command until the pipeline is behaving as expected.