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Job Submission and Execution

Job Submission

When allocating computational resources for the job, specify:

  1. a suitable queue for your job (the default is qprod)
  2. the number of computational nodes (required)
  3. the number of cores per node (not required)
  4. the maximum wall time allocated to your calculation, note that jobs exceeding the maximum wall time will be killed
  5. your Project ID
  6. a Jobscript or interactive switch

Submit the job using the qsub command:

$ qsub -A Project_ID -q queue -l select=x:ncpus=y,walltime=[[hh:]mm:]ss[.ms] jobscript

The qsub command submits the job to the queue, i.e. it creates a request to the PBS Job manager for allocation of specified resources. The resources will be allocated when available, subject to the above described policies and constraints. After the resources are allocated, the jobscript or interactive shell is executed on the first of the allocated nodes.

Note

ncpus=y is usually not required, because the smallest allocation unit is an entire node. The exception are corner cases for qviz and qfat on Karolina.

Job Submission Examples

$ qsub -A OPEN-0-0 -q qprod -l select=64,walltime=03:00:00 ./myjob

In this example, we allocate 64 nodes, 36 cores per node, for 3 hours. We allocate these resources via the qprod queue, consumed resources will be accounted to the project identified by Project ID OPEN-0-0. The jobscript myjob will be executed on the first node in the allocation.

$ qsub -q qexp -l select=4 -I

In this example, we allocate 4 nodes, 36 cores per node, for 1 hour. We allocate these resources via the qexp queue. The resources will be available interactively.

$ qsub -A OPEN-0-0 -q qnvidia -l select=10 ./myjob

In this example, we allocate 10 NVIDIA accelerated nodes, 24 cores per node, for 24 hours. We allocate these resources via the qnvidia queue. The jobscript myjob will be executed on the first node in the allocation.

$ qsub -A OPEN-0-0 -q qfree -l select=10 ./myjob

In this example, we allocate 10 nodes, 24 cores per node, for 12 hours. We allocate these resources via the qfree queue. It is not required that the project OPEN-0-0 has any available resources left. Consumed resources are still accounted for. The jobscript myjob will be executed on the first node in the allocation.

All qsub options may be saved directly into the jobscript. In such cases, it is not necessary to specify any options for qsub.

$ qsub ./myjob

By default, the PBS batch system sends an email only when the job is aborted. Disabling mail events completely can be done as follows:

$ qsub -m n

Dependency Job Submission

To submit dependent jobs in sequence, use the depend function of qsub.

First submit the first job in a standard manner:

$ qsub -A OPEN-0-0 -q qprod -l select=64,walltime=02:00:00 ./firstjob
123456[].isrv1

Then submit the second job using the depend function:

$ qsub -W depend=afterok:123456 ./secondjob

Both jobs will be queued, but the second job won't start until the first job has finished successfully.

Below is the list of arguments that can be used with -W depend=dependency:jobid:

Argument Description
after This job is scheduled after jobid begins execution.
afterok This job is scheduled after jobid finishes successfully.
afternotok This job is scheduled after jobid finishes unsucessfully.
afterany This job is scheduled after jobid finishes in any state.
before This job must begin execution before jobid is scheduled.
beforeok This job must finish successfully before jobid begins.
beforenotok This job must finish unsuccessfully before jobid begins.
beforeany This job must finish in any state before jobid begins.

Useful Tricks

All qsub options may be saved directly into the jobscript. In such a case, no options to qsub are needed.

$ qsub ./myjob

By default, the PBS batch system sends an email only when the job is aborted. Disabling mail events completely can be done like this:

$ qsub -m n

Advanced Job Handling

Selecting Turbo Boost Off

Note

For Barbora only.

Intel Turbo Boost Technology is on by default. We strongly recommend keeping the default.

If necessary (such as in the case of benchmarking), you can disable Turbo for all nodes of the job by using the PBS resource attribute cpu_turbo_boost:

$ qsub -A OPEN-0-0 -q qprod -l select=4 -l cpu_turbo_boost=0 -I

More information about the Intel Turbo Boost can be found in the TurboBoost section

Advanced Examples

In the following example, we select an allocation for benchmarking a very special and demanding MPI program. We request Turbo off, and 2 full chassis of compute nodes (nodes sharing the same IB switches) for 30 minutes:

$ qsub -A OPEN-0-0 -q qprod
    -l select=18:ibswitch=isw10:mpiprocs=1:ompthreads=16+18:ibswitch=isw20:mpiprocs=16:ompthreads=1
    -l cpu_turbo_boost=0,walltime=00:30:00
    -N Benchmark ./mybenchmark

The MPI processes will be distributed differently on the nodes connected to the two switches. On the isw10 nodes, we will run 1 MPI process per node with 16 threads per process, on isw20 nodes we will run 16 plain MPI processes.

Although this example is somewhat artificial, it demonstrates the flexibility of the qsub command options.

Job Management

Note

Check the status of your jobs using the qstat and check-pbs-jobs commands

$ qstat -a
$ qstat -a -u username
$ qstat -an -u username
$ qstat -f 12345.srv11

Example:

$ qstat -a

srv11:
                                                            Req'd Req'd   Elap
Job ID          Username Queue    Jobname    SessID NDS TSK Memory Time S Time
--------------- -------- --  |---|---| ------ --- --- ------ ----- - -----
16287.srv11 user1    qlong    job1         6183   4 64   --  144:0 R 38:25
16468.srv11 user1    qlong    job2         8060   4 64   --  144:0 R 17:44
16547.srv11 user2    qprod    job3x       13516   2 32   --  48:00 R 00:58

In this example user1 and user2 are running jobs named job1, job2, and job3x. job1 and job2 are using 4 nodes, 128 cores per node each. job1 has already run for 38 hours and 25 minutes, and job2 for 17 hours 44 minutes. So job1, for example, has already consumed 64 x 38.41 = 2,458.6 core-hours. job3x has already consumed 32 x 0.96 = 30.93 core-hours. These consumed core-hours will be converted to node-hours and accounted for on the respective project accounts, regardless of whether the allocated cores were actually used for computations.

The following commands allow you to check the status of your jobs using the check-pbs-jobs command, check for the presence of user's PBS jobs' processes on execution hosts, display load and processes, display job standard and error output, and continuously display (tail -f) job standard or error output.

$ check-pbs-jobs --check-all
$ check-pbs-jobs --print-load --print-processes
$ check-pbs-jobs --print-job-out --print-job-err
$ check-pbs-jobs --jobid JOBID --check-all --print-all
$ check-pbs-jobs --jobid JOBID --tailf-job-out

Examples:

$ check-pbs-jobs --check-all
JOB 35141.dm2, session_id 71995, user user2, nodes cn164,cn165
Check session id: OK
Check processes
cn164: OK
cn165: No process

In this example we see that job 35141.dm2 is not currently running any processes on the allocated node cn165, which may indicate an execution error:

$ check-pbs-jobs --print-load --print-processes
JOB 35141.dm2, session_id 71995, user user2, nodes cn164,cn165
Print load
cn164: LOAD: 16.01, 16.01, 16.00
cn165: LOAD:  0.01,  0.00,  0.01
Print processes
       %CPU CMD
cn164:  0.0 -bash
cn164:  0.0 /bin/bash /var/spool/PBS/mom_priv/jobs/35141.dm2.SC
cn164: 99.7 run-task
...

In this example, we see that job 35141.dm2 is currently running a process run-task on node cn164, using one thread only, while node cn165 is empty, which may indicate an execution error.

$ check-pbs-jobs --jobid 35141.dm2 --print-job-out
JOB 35141.dm2, session_id 71995, user user2, nodes cn164,cn165
Print job standard output:
======================== Job start  ==========================
Started at    : Fri Aug 30 02:47:53 CEST 2013
Script name   : script
Run loop 1
Run loop 2
Run loop 3

In this example, we see the actual output (some iteration loops) of the job 35141.dm2.

Note

Manage your queued or running jobs, using the qhold, qrls, qdel, qsig, or qalter commands

You may release your allocation at any time, using the qdel command

$ qdel 12345.srv11

You may kill a running job by force, using the qsig command

$ qsig -s 9 12345.srv11

Learn more by reading the PBS man page

$ man pbs_professional

Job Execution

Jobscript

Note

Prepare the jobscript to run batch jobs in the PBS queue system

The Jobscript is a user made script controlling a sequence of commands for executing the calculation. It is often written in bash, though other scripts may be used as well. The jobscript is supplied to the PBS qsub command as an argument, and is executed by the PBS Professional workload manager.

Note

The jobscript or interactive shell is executed on first of the allocated nodes.

$ qsub -q qexp -l select=4 -N Name0 ./myjob
$ qstat -n -u username

srv11:
                                                            Req'd Req'd   Elap
Job ID          Username Queue    Jobname    SessID NDS TSK Memory Time S Time
--------------- -------- --  |---|---| ------ --- --- ------ ----- - -----
15209.srv11     username qexp     Name0        5530   4 128    --  01:00 R 00:00
   cn17/0*32+cn108/0*32+cn109/0*32+cn110/0*32

In this example, the nodes cn17, cn108, cn109, and cn110 were allocated for 1 hour via the qexp queue. The myjob jobscript will be executed on the node cn17, while the nodes cn108, cn109, and cn110 are available for use as well.

The jobscript or interactive shell is by default executed in the /home directory:

$ qsub -q qexp -l select=4 -I
qsub: waiting for job 15210.srv11 to start
qsub: job 15210.srv11 ready

$ pwd
/home/username

In this example, 4 nodes were allocated interactively for 1 hour via the qexp queue. The interactive shell is executed in the /home directory.

Note

All nodes within the allocation may be accessed via SSH. Unallocated nodes are not accessible to the user.

The allocated nodes are accessible via SSH from login nodes. The nodes may access each other via SSH as well.

Calculations on allocated nodes may be executed remotely via the MPI, SSH, pdsh, or clush. You may find out which nodes belong to the allocation by reading the $PBS_NODEFILE file

$ qsub -q qexp -l select=4 -I
qsub: waiting for job 15210.srv11 to start
qsub: job 15210.srv11 ready

$ pwd
/home/username

$ sort -u $PBS_NODEFILE
cn17.bullx
cn108.bullx
cn109.bullx
cn110.bullx

$ pdsh -w cn17,cn[108-110] hostname
cn17: cn17
cn108: cn108
cn109: cn109
cn110: cn110

In this example, the hostname program is executed via pdsh from the interactive shell. The execution runs on all four allocated nodes. The same result would be achieved if the pdsh were called from any of the allocated nodes or from the login nodes.

Example Jobscript for MPI Calculation

Note

Production jobs must use the /scratch directory for I/O

The recommended way to run production jobs is to change to the /scratch directory early in the jobscript, copy all inputs to /scratch, execute the calculations, and copy outputs to the /home directory.

#!/bin/bash

cd $PBS_O_WORKDIR

SCRDIR=/scratch/project/open-00-00/${USER}/myjob
mkdir -p $SCRDIR

# change to scratch directory, exit on failure
cd $SCRDIR || exit

# copy input file to scratch
cp $PBS_O_WORKDIR/input .
cp $PBS_O_WORKDIR/mympiprog.x .

# load the MPI module
# (Always specify the module's name and version in your script;
# for the reason, see https://docs.it4i.cz/software/modules/lmod/#loading-modules.)
ml OpenMPI/4.1.1-GCC-10.2.0-Java-1.8.0_221

# execute the calculation
mpirun -pernode ./mympiprog.x

# copy output file to home
cp output $PBS_O_WORKDIR/.

#exit
exit

In this example, a directory in /home holds the input file input and the mympiprog.x executable. We create the myjob directory on the /scratch filesystem, copy input and executable files from the /home directory where the qsub was invoked ($PBS_O_WORKDIR) to /scratch, execute the MPI program mympiprog.x and copy the output file back to the /home directory. mympiprog.x is executed as one process per node, on all allocated nodes.

Note

Consider preloading inputs and executables onto shared scratch memory before the calculation starts.

In some cases, it may be impractical to copy the inputs to the /scratch memory and the outputs to the /home directory. This is especially true when very large input and output files are expected, or when the files should be reused by a subsequent calculation. In such cases, it is the users' responsibility to preload the input files on the shared /scratch memory before the job submission, and retrieve the outputs manually after all calculations are finished.

Note

Store the qsub options within the jobscript. Use the mpiprocs and ompthreads qsub options to control the MPI job execution.

Example Jobscript for MPI Calculation With Preloaded Inputs

Example jobscript for an MPI job with preloaded inputs and executables, options for qsub are stored within the script:

#!/bin/bash
#PBS -q qprod
#PBS -N MYJOB
#PBS -l select=100:mpiprocs=1:ompthreads=16
#PBS -A OPEN-00-00

# job is run using project resources; here ${PBS_ACCOUNT,,} translates to "open-00-00"
SCRDIR=/scratch/project/${PBS_ACCOUNT,,}/${USER}/myjob

# change to scratch directory, exit on failure
cd $SCRDIR || exit

# load the MPI module
# (Always specify the module's name and version in your script;
# for the reason, see https://docs.it4i.cz/software/modules/lmod/#loading-modules.)
ml OpenMPI/4.1.1-GCC-10.2.0-Java-1.8.0_221

# execute the calculation
mpirun ./mympiprog.x

#exit
exit

In this example, input and executable files are assumed to be preloaded manually in the /scratch/project/open-00-00/$USER/myjob directory. Because we used the qprod queue, we had to specify which project's resources we want to use, and our PBS_ACCOUNT variable will be set accordingly (OPEN-00-00). ${PBS_ACCOUNT,,} uses one of the bash's built-in functions to translate it into lower case.

Note the mpiprocs and ompthreads qsub options controlling the behavior of the MPI execution. mympiprog.x is executed as one process per node, on all 100 allocated nodes. If mympiprog.x implements OpenMP threads, it will run 16 threads per node.

Example Jobscript for Single Node Calculation

Note

The local scratch directory is often useful for single node jobs. Local scratch memory will be deleted immediately after the job ends.

Example jobscript for single node calculation, using local scratch memory on the node:

#!/bin/bash

# change to local scratch directory
cd /lscratch/$PBS_JOBID || exit

# copy input file to scratch
cp $PBS_O_WORKDIR/input .
cp $PBS_O_WORKDIR/myprog.x .

# execute the calculation
./myprog.x

# copy output file to home
cp output $PBS_O_WORKDIR/.

#exit
exit

In this example, a directory in /home holds the input file input and the executable myprog.x. We copy input and executable files from the /home directory where the qsub was invoked ($PBS_O_WORKDIR) to the local /scratch memory /lscratch/$PBS_JOBID, execute myprog.x and copy the output file back to the /home directory. myprog.x runs on one node only and may use threads.

Other Jobscript Examples

Further jobscript examples may be found in the software section and the Capacity computing section.