Matplotlib: display plot on a remote machine

Question

I have a python code doing some calculation on a remote machine, named A. I connect on A via ssh from a machine named B. Is there a way to display the figure on

Answer 1

I have used IPython to solve the related problem. The steps are as follows:

Step 1: Install IPython and Jupyter in the remote machine (A) locally (assuming no root privilege) using the following commands:

pip install --user ipython
pip install --user jupyter 

Update matplotlib:

pip install --user -U matplotlib

Step 2:

Run Jupyter with no browser from the code directory in the remote machine (A):

cd PATH/TO/THE/CODE
jupyter notebook --no-browser --port=8080

After this command, a URL will be given something similar to below:

http://localhost:8080/?token=5528ab1eeb3f621b90b63420f8bbfc510edf71f21437c4e2

Step 3:

Now open another terminal in the local machine (B) and connect to the remote machine (A) using ssh:

ssh -N -L 8080:localhost:8080 user_id@remote.host

The port number has to be same in step 2 and step 3. In this example, the port number is 8080.

Step 4:

Copy and paste the URL in the step 3 to a browser in your local machine (B).

Now, the notebook in the remote machine can be used through the browser and plot can be generated using the data in the remote machine.