Bulletin 119 - 2004 Jul 06

1. Successful job submission from gale to SX-6
2. Jobs failing with "Exceeded CPU limit".
3. Intel compilers on cherax
4. SX-6 User Notice 2004-01 - password problem
5. SYSTEM CHANGE NOTICE 2004-A002 - Scheduling Improvements

Job submission from gale to the SX-6 system is preferred using /SX/local/nqsII/bin/qsub, as this will add the new "-A account" option automatically.

The other valid option is /usr/bin/nqsII/qsub.

The command "which qsub" will determine the default qsub that your environment will execute.

The two CPU time parameter settings for NQSII on the SX-6 system are the "per process" value and the "per Job" value. These can be specified as -

#PBS -l cputim_job time_value1
#PBS -l cputim_prc time_value2

time_value can be seconds (e.g. 123) or, mins:secs or hours:mins:secs

These are described in the online man pages: on the TX7 via "sxman qsub" and in the NQSII User's Guide at http://bannerman.hpc.csiro.au/hpccc/userdocs/NEC/NQSII/frame.html

Chapter 5 Request Operation
Section 5.1.1 Batch Request Operation
        Options During Submitting:
                b. Resource Limit Options
                        cputim_job

The Intel Fortran and C++ compilers on cherax were upgraded on 2004-06-29 15:45. The compilers are now both version 8.0.

You may need to re-login to have a correct path to the Fortran compiler: use efc -V to check.

The Fortran compiler now likes to be called 'ifort'. The C++ compiler now likes to be called 'icc'.

Release notes for both the C++ and Fortran compilers can be found by following the links from

or as text files on cherax:

    /opt/intel/FortranReleaseNotes.txt
    /opt/intel/C++ReleaseNotes.txt

Note: The Fortran compiler release note contains: Compatibility

You must recompile all Fortran sources that were compiled with earlier compilers, including those that create .mod files. Third-party libraries will also need to be rebuilt - if you are using third-party libraries, please let us know which ones through Intel Premier Support at https://premier.intel.com. A document describing Intel Fortran 7 porting considerations is available from http://developer.intel.com/software/products/compilers/flin/ or from Intel Premier Support.

The NCAR graphics package 4.3.1 has been recompiled with the new Intel compilers - use 'pkgenv ncarg' to make it available in your environment.

DATE: 2004-07-05 morning

SYMPTOM: Some SX-6 Jobs may have aborted with invalid user names during an interval of a few minutes

CAUSE: A system administration error made the NIS user validation database unavailable briefly

STATUS: The problem was corrected promptly. Aborted jobs should be resubmitted.

CONTACT: John Stern

DATE OF CHANGE: 2004-07-08 09:30 AEST

SYSTEMS AFFECTED: SX-6s

SOFTWARE AFFECTED: ERSII, NQSII

IMPACT: Improvements to scheduling

1. Better measurement of the processing load on each node
2. Acceleration of jobs as they near completion (through raised priority)
3. Better assignment of operational jobs on nodes

DETAILS:

1. Operational ensemble jobs requiring more than one CPU in a job should be run in the bmrtmn queue from the date of change.
2. These jobs should include the NQSII parameter -l cpunum_prc=7, and also have export F_RSVTASK=1 before any program execution.
3. Other jobs should experience improved scheduling without changes being made.

CONTACT: Rob. Bell

NOTICE APPROVAL: HPCCC Manager