Bulletin 169 - 2007 May 30

1. Scheduling changes on the SX-6 system
2. New User Account Applications
3. farrer functionality
4. CSIRO planning for advanced scientific computing

Note: "CSIRO" items can apply to BoM users of cherax and burnet

In order to provide better turnaround for multi-node jobs on the SX-6 system, several changes have been made to scheduling recently.

These include:

• allowing higher priority jobs to start on nodes before resources are free on the nodes (although there is an increased risk that resources will be exhausted, e.g. memory).

• lengthening the time a job is guaranteed to run from 1 to 5 minutes, before it may be eligible for checkpointing - this reduces the churning of jobs

• allowing 2-CPU jobs to go into the bm rather than the bmml queue. Such jobs when submitted explicitly to the bm queue (rather than the sx queue) will pack onto nodes rather than spread.

• restricting the spread of operational and operational development single-CPU jobs to fewer nodes (from 15 down to 10). This gives full-node and multi-node jobs a better chance of finding free nodes.

• using the Enhanced Resource Scheduler (ERS) to heavily reduce the job rank of multiple jobs from the one user, and then using a local script to linearly spread the job ranking of the jobs. This will help to prevent multiple jobs from the one user flooding the system.

We are examining various options to put a higher weight on jobs that have waited a long time to start or restart, or on the multi-node queues.

User can give set a range or priorities on their jobs, and this has been found to be very effective - see hpcbull 162, item 2.

With the scheduling changes, we are getting better allocation of jobs onto nodes, and recently had several days when the daily average number of CPUs allocated to running jobs exceeded 190.

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Bureau and CSIRO staff and their collaborators can now apply for HPCCC accounts online on the HPCCC website by using the "Application for HPCCC User Account".

The web form can be found by going directly to - http://www.hpccc.gov.au/hpccc/user_news_advice/user_information/user_accounts.shtml
or by selecting "User News and Advice" from the left-hand menu at http://hpccc.gov.au, and then clicking the link labelled "Establishing User Accounts" near the bottom of the "User News and Advice" page.

The web form will assist and guide users in submitting a complete application, so there will be fewer delays in processing HPCCC user account applications.

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We believe that the functionality that used to be provided by farrer is now adequately provided by cherax and by interactive nodes on the burnet cluster. If any former farrer uses want to let us know about their needs please drop us a line at

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CSIRO IM&T are developing a strategic plan for advanced scientific computing in CSIRO for the period 2007-2010 and will be soliciting input from a range of stakeholders including representatives from divisions and flagships. Feedback from individual staff is also welcome.

The plan will address the growth of scientific computing services required by the increased focus on computational science across CSIRO, as one of four priority areas in the Science Investment Process (SIP). Such growth requires a coordinated strategy to drive the provision of high performance computing services through IM&T, the evolution of effective budgeting of computational requirements through SIP, and engagement with partner organisations through HPCCC and the National Collaborative Research Infrastructure Framework (NCRIS). It is planned to have the strategy developed by the end of August 2007.

The principal developers of the plan will be Alf Uhlherr (CMHT), Brennan Arrold (IM&T Consulting Team), and John Morrissey (IM&T Technology Planning).

For further details contact:
Alf Uhlherr ( , (03) 9545 8107 ) or
Brennan Arrold ( , (02) 6214 2918 ).