R Shiny Server

Owned by Dylan Perkins, created
Last updated: Mar 02, 2022 by TLBrewer
2 min read

The content on this page describes the R Shiny Server specialty service that we offer.

Contents

https://arccwiki.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/DOCUMENTAT/pages/64192662

https://arccwiki.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/DOCUMENTAT/pages/33184

About Shiny Server

RStudio lets you put Shiny web applications and interactive documents online in the way that works best for you. At UWyo, ARCC hosts a version of the open-source Shiny Server from RStudio. Shiny-server is open-source and is not the PRO version. Anything that requires the pro version is not available in this build.

Open Source Shiny Server provides a platform on which you can host multiple Shiny applications on a single server, each with their own URL or port. It enables you to support non-websocket-enabled browsers like Internet Explorer 10, and is available under an AGPLv3 license.

Getting Started with ARCC’s Shiny Server

Prerequisites

It is the users’ responsibility to have a few things in place before they can use the R Shiny Server

  • Duo mobile or have alternative means to enter a two-factor authentication

  • Pulse Secure installed on their devices for VPN access

  • An ssh client (e.g. MobaXTerm) or access to a Unix terminal 

  • A working Shiny app that they have built locally and packages that go along with the R version you are using

Next steps

Contact ARCC at arcc-info@uwyo.edu to describe your use case for Shiny Server. Access to this server must be limited so please keep the list of users on a project small, ideally only a person or two. All code put on the server should be vetted first. 

Using the Shiny Server

Step 1

Users will then need to ssh to <projectname>.arcc.uwyo.edu which will automatically create a home directory on the shiny server. The first login will create a “Xauthority” file if it does not exist, subsequent logins will not have this issue.

Step 2

Users will then have to transfer any R code and data that their app will use into their shiny-server directory using secure copy (scp) with their username and password with 2FA. There are also a few things to be aware of before doing the transfer.

  • The main program must be named ‘app.R’

  • /shiny-server/apps is for Shiny apps

  • /shiny-server/logs is where failed app runs will show output.  The permissions are updated every 5 minutes, so make a run, get an error, wait 5 minutes and you’ll see your log.  ****--- this will be improved

  • Data is presented through proxy server@ https://pathfinder.arcc.uwyo.edu:<port>

Step 2a

Windows users might need to use sftp instead of scp to transfer the shiny app. This is because of permissions issues with the Windows Linux emulator.