Quest Analytics Nodes
The Quest Analytics Nodes provide RStudio, Jupyter, and SAS Studio interfaces directly in an internet browser. They use the same data storage system as Quest. They are suitable for interactive workflows that require low or moderate computational resources. The Quest Analytics Nodes are available to all Quest users with a current allocation.
Please include the Acknowledgment of Use for Quest when publishing research done using Quest Analytics Nodes.
Connect
To use the Quest Analytics Nodes, users must:
- Have an active Quest allocation
- Be on the Northwestern network; off-campus users must use the Northwestern VPN to connect.
Users can connect using any web browser. Go to:
- Jupyterhub: https://jupyterhub.quest.northwestern.edu
- RStudio: https://rstudio.quest.northwestern.edu
- SAS Studio: https://sasstudio.quest.northwestern.edu
Log in with your NetID and password.
For more information on using the Quest Analytics Nodes, including transferring files and managing software package installation, see the Quest Analytics Nodes documentation.
Usage Guidelines
The Quest Analytics Nodes are suitable for small and moderately sized interactive jobs only. Users running computationally intensive analyses may have their sessions cancelled or be asked to convert their work to run as a scheduled job on Quest. Users who generate exceptionally large temporary files may be contacted to alter their workflow. Sessions generally time out after one hour of inactivity.
SAS Studio sessions are limited to 4 GB of RAM (memory) per user. Jupyter and RStudio users are asked to be aware of memory use when analyzing large data sets. Users utilizing a large amount of memory, especially those using over 60 GB of RAM, may be asked to move their analysis to other systems. Researchers requiring high memory limits for analysis should contact quest-help@northwestern.edu to discuss options.
Users of the Quest Analytics Nodes are subject to the same guidelines and restrictions as all other users of Quest. Note in particular that Quest is not approved for storage or analysis of restricted data, and it may not be used for commercial purposes.
Technical Details
Software
Information about the packages available in the default environment for Jupyter can be found in the Quest Documentation: Quest Analytics Node Default Environment. However, users can create their own conda environments with different Python versions or libraries installed and use them within JupyterHub. Instructions are available in the Quest documentation.
The RStudio Server version is 2024.12.0 and runs with R version 4.4.0. The Quest Analytics Nodes run the Open Source Edition of RStudio server, which does not allow users to individually select their version of R from within RStudio or run multiple R sessions simultaneously.
SAS is version 9.4 with maintenance release 4 applied (STAT module is version 14.2). Packages are restricted to those available in the Education Analytical Suite.
Hardware
The Quest Analytics Nodes is comprised of four nodes, each with 64 CPU cores and 2 TB of RAM. When you connect to the nodes using the links above, you are automatically directed to one of the four nodes. All nodes use the same Quest file system, so your files, packages, and settings are available from all nodes.
Users cannot directly connect to a specific node. If you refresh the page or lose connection to the server, you may be reconnected to a different node and lose access to your previous session.