dgx-spark-playbooks/nvidia/dgx-spark-mcp-server

DGX Spark MCP Server Playbook

This playbook installs and configures the DGX Spark MCP Server, a tool that provides hardware-aware Apache Spark optimization for NVIDIA DGX systems via the Model Context Protocol (MCP).

Overview

The DGX Spark MCP Server enables MCP clients (like Claude Desktop or Claude Code) to:

• Detect Hardware: Automatically read DGX GPU topology, memory, and CPU specs.
• Optimize Spark: Generate tuned Spark configurations (spark-submit args) based on detected hardware and workload type (ETL, ML Training, Inference).
• Monitor: Check real-time GPU availability before submitting jobs.

Prerequisites

• NVIDIA DGX System (or compatible GPU server)
• NVIDIA Drivers installed (nvidia-smi available)
• Node.js 18+
• Root access (for systemd service installation)

Directory Structure

.
├── config/
│   └── default.json       # Default configuration
├── deploy/
│   └── dgx-spark-mcp.service # Systemd service file
└── scripts/
    └── install.sh         # Automated installer

Installation

1. Run the installer:

   sudo ./scripts/install.sh
   

   This script will:

   • Install dgx-spark-mcp globally via npm.
   • Create a dedicated system user (dgx).
   • Setup logging directory /var/log/dgx-spark-mcp.
   • Install and start the systemd service.

2. Verify Installation:

   systemctl status dgx-spark-mcp
   

Configuration

The configuration file is located at /etc/dgx-spark-mcp/config.json.

Key Settings

• mcp.transport: stdio (default) or sse.
• hardware.enableGpuMonitoring: Set to true to enable real-time nvidia-smi queries.
• logging.level: info or debug.

Usage with Claude Desktop

Add the following to your claude_desktop_config.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "dgx-spark": {
      "command": "dgx-spark-mcp"
    }
  }
}

Troubleshooting

Service fails to start? Check logs:

journalctl -u dgx-spark-mcp -f

Permission denied? Ensure the dgx user has permissions to access nvidia-smi. You may need to add the user to the video group:

usermod -a -G video dgx