Services

With version 0.7, JupyterHub adds support for 'Services'.

JupyterHub's definition of a Service

When working with JupyterHub, a Service is defined as a process that interacts with the Hub's REST API. A Service may perform a specialized action or specific task. For example, each of these tasks can be a unique Service:

shutting down individuals' single user notebook servers that have been idle for some time
registering additional web servers which should use the Hub's authentication and be served behind the Hub's proxy.

Two main characteristics help define a Service:

Is the Service managed by JupyterHub?
Does the Service have a web server that should be added to the proxy's table?

Currently, a Service may be either a 'Managed Service' which is managed by JupyterHub, or an 'External Service' which runs its own web server and communicates operation instructions via the Hub's API.

Properties of a Service

If a command is specified for launching the Service, the Service will be started and managed by the Hub.

If a url is specified for where the Service runs its own web server, JupyterHub will add the Service to the Hub's proxy at /service/:service-name.

Managed Service

If a Service is started by the Hub and the Hub is responsible for the Service's actions, the Service is referred to as a Managed Service of JupyterHub. Managed Services can only be a local subprocesses of the Hub. The Hub will take care of starting these processes and restarting them if they stop.

While Managed Services share some similarities with notebook Spawners, there are no plans for Managed Services to support the same spawning abstractions as a notebook Spawner. If you wish to run Services in Docker or other deployment environments, the Service can be registered as an External Service, as described below.

Launching a Managed Service

A Managed Service is characterized by its specified command for launching the Service. For example, the configuration of a 'cull idle' notebook server Managed Service would include the Service name, True setting for being administered by the Hub, and the command to launch the Service:

c.JupyterHub.services = [
    {
        'name': 'cull-idle',
        'admin': True,
        'command': ['python', '/path/to/cull-idle.py', '--interval']
    }
]

In addition to the command to launch the Service, a Managed Service may also be configured with additional optional parameters, which describe the environment needed to start the process:

env: dict additional environment variables for the Service.
user: str name of the user to run the server as if different from the Hub. Requires Hub to be root.
cwd: path directory in which to run the Service, if different from the Hub directory.

The Hub will pass the following environment variables to launch the Service:

JUPYTERHUB_SERVICE_NAME:   the name of the service
JUPYTERHUB_API_TOKEN:      API token assigned to the service
JUPYTERHUB_API_URL:        URL for the JupyterHub API (default, http://127.0.0.1:8080/hub/api)
JUPYTERHUB_BASE_URL:       Base URL of the Hub (https://mydomain[:port]/)
JUPYTERHUB_SERVICE_PREFIX: URL path prefix of this service (/services/:service-name/)

For the previous example, these environment variables would be passed when starting the 'cull idle' Service:

JUPYTERHUB_SERVICE_NAME: 'cull-idle'
JUPYTERHUB_API_TOKEN: API token assigned to the service
JUPYTERHUB_API_URL: http://127.0.0.1:8080/hub/api
JUPYTERHUB_BASE_URL: https://mydomain[:port]
JUPYTERHUB_SERVICE_PREFIX: /services/cull-idle/

External Services

To meet your specific use case needs, you may use your own Service management tools, such as Docker or systemd, to manage a JupyterHub Service. These External Services, unlike Managed Services, are not subprocesses of the Hub. You must tell JupyterHub which API token the External Service is using to perform its API requests. Each External Service will need a unique API token because the Hub authenticates each API request and the API token is used to identify the originating Service or user.

An example of an externally managed service with admin access and running its own web server:

c.JupyterHub.services = [
    {
        'name': 'my-web-service',
        'url': 'https://10.0.1.1:1984',
        'api_token': 'super-secret',
    }
]

Writing your own services

TODO

Authenticating with the Hub