Win2008 HPC Cluster Job management creation job

A Windows HPC Server 2008 Cluster Job is a request to a resource on a cluster and is the payload of the task to run on those resources. Cluster jobs can be simple, with only one task or many tasks to cover. The most common types of jobs are MPI jobs, parameter cleanup jobs, and task flow jobs.

To create a job, you define a set of properties that determine how the job will run. The job template for the job will provide default values for any job attributes that you do not specify. For more information about job templates, see job Templates.

After you define a job property, you can add one or more tasks to the job. The task must include the command to run. If a task uses a Microsoft messaging interface (MS-MPI) application, the task command must precede the mpiexec.

You can define how tasks work by setting task properties. Tasks can include properties, such as input, output, and error files to use. You can also specify task properties that are similar to job properties in terms of the required nodes, the number of processors required, the run-time limit, and the node exclusivity.

By defining dependencies between tasks, you can define the order in which tasks are run.

(i) New job

You can create a Windows HPC Server 2008 Cluster job by specifying job properties, which include the priority of the job, any restrictions on the running time of the job, and a description of the candidate resources for the job, which can include the following properties: The requested node, the node group, the minimum memory per node, Maximum memory per node, minimum number of cores per node, and maximum number of cores per node. All of these properties are optional: The job template for the job will provide a default value for any job attributes that you do not specify.

New Job

In the actions pane of Job management, click New Job.

In the left pane of the New Job dialog box, click Job Details, and then provide the following details for the job:

In the Job Name text box, type a name for the job.

In the job Template Drop-down list, select the template.

In the left pane of the New Job dialog box, click Task List.

To add a task to a job:

To create a new task, point to the Add button, click the down arrow, and then click Basic Tasks or parameter tasks. In the Task dialog box, provide information about the task, and then click Save to add the task to the job and return to the new Job dialog box.

To add a saved task to a job, point to the Add button, click the down arrow, and then click From Task File. Navigate to the location of the task XML file and click Open to add the task to the job and return to the new Job dialog box.

In the New Job dialog box, you can see a list of tasks that have been added.

Optionally, you can set the order in which the tasks are run. Click the Dependencies button to open the Task Dependencies dialog box.

Use the New Job dialog box to set up additional job properties as needed.

Click Submit.

(ii) Adding MPI tasks

Jobs that handle parallel tasks through the Microsoft Messaging Interface (MS-MPI) need to use the mpiexec command, so commands for parallel tasks must be in the following format: Mpiexec [mpi_options] <myapp.exe> [ Arguments], where Myapp.exe is the name of the application to run. The mpiexec command has a number of parameters through which you can control MPI process locations, network associations, and other run-time parameters.

Add MPI Task

In the HPC Cluster Administrator, the option to add a task is in the new job, modify job, and copy Job dialog boxes. As an example, the following procedure describes how to add a task in the New Job dialog box.