9 Using LSF

The Load Sharing Facility (LSF) from Platform Computing Corporation is a batch system resource manager used on the HP XC system. LSF is an integral part of the HP XC environment.

On an HP XC system, a job is submitted to LSF, which places the job in a queue and allows it to run when the necessary resources become available. In addition to launching jobs, LSF provides extensive job management and information capabilities. LSF schedules, launches, controls, and tracks jobs that are submitted to it according to the policies established by the HP XC site administrator.

Two types of LSF are available for installation on the HP XC:•Standard LSF

This product is the popular batch system produced by Platform Computing Corporation that has become an industry standard.

For full information about LSF, refer to the standard LSF documentation set, which is described in the "Related Information" section of this manual. LSF manpages are also available online on the HP XC

system.•LSF-HPC integrated with SLURM (LSF-HPC)

This product is the High Performance LSF product from Platform Computing Corporation and has been integrated with SLURM to take advantage of SLURM's scalable, efficient resource management and parallel job support.

The intended primary use of the HP XC system determined which of these LSF products was installed.

Using LSF-HPC (page 67) LSF-HPC describes the extended parallel support capabilities available to the user when LSF-HPC is installed on the HP XC system.

Either Standard LSF or LSF-HPC are installed on the HP XC. The system administrator installs one or the other during system installation.

This chapter addresses the following topics:

•Using Standard LSF on an HP XC System (page 67)•Using LSF-HPC (page 67)

Using Standard LSF on an HP XC System

The information for using Standard LSF is provided in the LSF documentation. This documentation is on the HP XC installation disk and manpages are online.

Standard LSF is installed and configured on all nodes of the HP XC system by default. Nodes without the compute role are closed with '0' job slots available for use.

The LSF environment is set up automatically for the user on login; LSF commands and their manpages are readily accessible:

•The bhosts command is useful for viewing LSF batch host information.•The lshosts command provides static resource information.•The lsload command provides dynamic resource information.•The bsub command is used to submit jobs to LSF.•The bjobs command provides information on batch jobs.

For more information on using Standard LSF on the HP XC system, see the Platform LSF documentation available on the HP XC documentation disk.

Using LSF-HPC

On an HP XC system, a job is submitted to LSF-HPC, which places the job in a queue and allows it to run when the necessary resources become available. In addition to launching jobs, LSF-HPC provides extensive

Using Standard LSF on an HP XC System 67