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DGX Spark Onboarding

Setup and Configuration

Mouse & Keyboard

  1. Power on the system
  2. The first-time setup utility will start automatically on the connected display
  3. Use your wired keyboard and mouse (already connected) to navigate
  4. Use a USB keyboard or Bluetooth keyboard:
    1. USB devices can be plugged in at any time and should start working, even if detected improperly.
    2. Bluetooth devices can be put into pairing mode and will generally still pair while on the “Get Started” screen (exception - keyboards that require a passcode to type in won’t work on this screen). Once you click on “Get Started,” Bluetooth pairing stops, so you will have to power cycle to try again.
  5. Follow the on-screen prompts to complete the setup process

Mobile (keyboardless)

  1. Power on the system. This creates a Wi-Fi hotspot that you will use to connect to the system and continue the setup process. The SSID and password for the Wi-Fi hotspot are printed on a sticker attached to the Quick Start Guide included with your DGX Spark’s packaging.
  2. From another computer, connect to the Spark’s Wi-Fi hotspot using the SSID and password provided on the Quick Start Guide. A captive portal page will open in the default web browser on your computer. If it does not open automatically, use your browser to navigate to the Spark’s system setup page listed on the Quick Start Guide.
  3. Follow the on-screen prompts to continue the setup process. When the DGX Spark joins your network, its Wi-Fi hotspot will turn off and your computer will reconnect to the device through your Wi-Fi network to resume the setup process. If you are not able to connect to the DGX Spark after it joins your network, you must connect a display/keyboard/mouse to continue.

Installing applications

Docker

Docker should be pre-installed on the spark. It includes NVIDIA Container Runtime for Docker which allows docker containers to access the GPU without any additional setup.

To test, use: docker ps

You may see permission denied, if this is the case, you need to add yourself to the docker group, use

Bash
sudo usermod -aG docker $USER
newgrp docker
And test again: docker ps

If you see something like the following, docker has been set up successfully

Text Only
CONTAINER ID    IMAGE    COMMAND    CREATED    STATUS    PORTS    NAMES

Ollama

To install ollama, simply run curl -fsSL https://ollama.com/install.sh | sh

By default, the ollama server will only be available on localhost. To expose it to the wider network, run the following steps: 1. Edit the systemd service by calling

Bash
systemctl edit ollama.service
This will open an editor.

  1. Add

    Systemd
    #### Editing /etc/systemd/system/ollama.service.d/override.conf
#### Anything between here and the comment below will become the contents of the drop-in file

[Service]
Environment="OLLAMA_HOST=0.0.0.0:11434"

#### Edits below this comment will be discarded

  2. Save and exit, then reload systemd and restart ollama:

    Bash
    sudo systemctl daemon-reload
sudo systemctl restart ollama

Onboarding New Users

To ensure any new users are automatically added to docker, edit /etc/adduser.conf to add docker to EXTRA_GROUPS and change ADD_EXTRA_GROUPS to 1.

Bash
## list of groups that new non-system users will be added to
## if ADD_EXTRA_GROUPS is non-zero or set on the command line.
## Default: EXTRA_GROUPS="users"
EXTRA_GROUPS="users docker"

## Setting this to something other than 0 will cause adduser to add
## newly created non-system users to the list of groups defined by
## EXTRA_GROUPS.
## Default: ADD_EXTRA_GROUPS=0
ADD_EXTRA_GROUPS=1

To add a new user, run:

Bash
sudo adduser <username>
This will give you an interactive prompt to set their name and password. Once signed in, each user can change their own password by using the passwd command.

Resetting the Device

Download recovery image from DGX Spark Recovery Image. Follow steps outlined here to extract and run the recovery scripts.

Preloaded Software

DGX Dashboard

The DGX Spark comes with a built-in dashboard that provides an overview of the system’s current operational metrics, the ability to apply updates, change some system settings, and access local Jupyter Notebooks.

The dashboard can be accessed locally by clicking on the “Show Apps” button in the bottom left corner of the Ubuntu desktop. Then, in the app grid, select the “DGX Dashboard” shortcut to open the dashboard in your default web browser.

Nvidia Sync

Nvidia Sync is an application installed on the user’s own device that allows for seamless connection to any DGX sparks on the same network. It will automatically configure SSH keys and allow for seamless access to an SHH session in the terminal, a session through a compatible IDE (e.g. VSCode), and direct access to the DGX dashboard.