How do I add a kernel on a remote machine in IPython (Jupyter) Notebook?

Question

Dropdown menu in the top-right of the UI on a local machine (PC):

Kernel-> 
    Change kernel->
        Python 2 (on a local PC)
        Python 3 (on a local PC)
        My new kernel (on a remote PC)

Answer 1

The IPython notebook talks to the kernels over predefined ports. To talk to a remote kernel, you just need to forward the ports to the remote machine as part of the kernel initialisation, the notebook doesn't care where the kernel is as long as it can talk to it.

You could either set up a wrapper script that gets called in the kernel spec file (https://ipython.org/ipython-doc/dev/development/kernels.html#kernel-specs) or use a module that can help you set up and manage different kinds of remote kernels: (pip install remote_ikernel; https://bitbucket.org/tdaff/remote_ikernel).

If you are using remote_ikernel, and have ssh access to the machine, the following command will set up the entry in the drop down list:

remote_ikernel manage --add \
    --kernel_cmd="ipython kernel -f {connection_file}" \
    --name="Remote Python" --interface=ssh \
    --host=my_remote_machine