Customize a Notebook Instance Using a Lifecycle Configuration Script - Amazon SageMaker
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Customize a Notebook Instance Using a Lifecycle Configuration Script

To install packages or sample notebooks on your notebook instance, configure networking and security for it, or otherwise use a shell script to customize it, use a lifecycle configuration. A lifecycle configuration provides shell scripts that run only when you create the notebook instance or whenever you start one. When you create a notebook instance, you can create a new lifecycle configuration and the scripts it uses or apply one that you already have.

You can also use a lifecycle configuration script to access Amazon services from your notebook. For example, you can create a script that lets you use your notebook to control other Amazon resources, such as an Amazon EMR instance.

We maintain a public repository of notebook lifecycle configuration scripts that address common use cases for customizing notebook instances at https://github.com/aws-samples/amazon-sagemaker-notebook-instance-lifecycle-configuration-samples.

Note

Each script has a limit of 16384 characters.

The value of the $PATH environment variable that is available to both scripts is /usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/bin:/usr/sbin:/sbin:/bin. The working directory, which is the value of the $PWD environment variable, is /.

View CloudWatch Logs for notebook instance lifecycle configurations in log group /aws/sagemaker/NotebookInstances in log stream [notebook-instance-name]/[LifecycleConfigHook].

Scripts cannot run for longer than 5 minutes. If a script runs for longer than 5 minutes, it fails and the notebook instance is not created or started. To help decrease the run time of scripts, try the following:

  • Cut down on necessary steps. For example, limit which conda environments in which to install large packages.

  • Run tasks in parallel processes.

  • Use the nohup command in your script.

You can see a list of notebook instance lifecycle configurations you previously created by choosing Lifecycle configuration in the SageMaker console. You can attach a notebook instance lifecycle configuration when you create a new notebook instance. For more information about creating a notebook instance, see Create a Notebook Instance.

To create a lifecycle configuration

  1. Open the SageMaker console at https://console.amazonaws.cn/sagemaker/.

  2. On the left side under SageMaker dashboard, choose Lifecycle configurations.

  3. From the Lifecycle configurations page, choose the Notebook Instance tab.

  4. Choose Create configuration.

  5. For Name, type a name using alphanumeric characters and "-", but no spaces. The name can have a maximum of 63 characters.

  6. (Optional) To create a script that runs when you create the notebook and every time you start it, choose Start notebook.

  7. In the Start notebook editor, type the script.

  8. (Optional) To create a script that runs only once, when you create the notebook, choose Create notebook.

  9. In the Create notebook editor, type the script configure networking.

  10. Choose Create configuration.