PlantSingleCell

Using Apptainer on VT ARC HPC Systems

This guide helps you set up and run containers using Apptainer (formerly Singularity) on Virginia Tech’s ARC clusters via terminal or Open OnDemand.

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Step 1: Load Apptainer

Apptainer is provided via the module system.

module load apptainer/1.4.0

Verify the installation:

apptainer --version

Expected output:

apptainer version 1.4.0

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Step 2: Run a Simple Test

Run a quick test using a lightweight container:

apptainer run docker://alpine echo "Hello from inside a container!"

Expected output:

Hello from inside a container!

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Step 3: Shell into a Container

You can get an interactive shell in a container like this:

apptainer shell docker://ubuntu:20.04

Try running some commands inside the container:

ls /
exit

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Step 4 (Optional): Build a .sif Container Image

If building is allowed on your node:

apptainer build ubuntu_20.04.sif docker://ubuntu:20.04

Then run offline using:

apptainer run ubuntu_20.04.sif echo "Offline run successful"

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Notes

• Apptainer is designed for secure, rootless container use on HPC.
• docker:// lets you run or build from Docker Hub images.
• Store .sif images in your $HOME or $WORK for persistent use.

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TL;DR Quick Start

module load apptainer/1.4.0
apptainer run docker://alpine echo "Hello from container"

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Resources

• Apptainer docs: https://apptainer.org
• VT ARC: https://arc.vt.edu