Windows® HPC Non-Exclusive Jobs
Windows HPC allows three choices for the Cluster AffinityType setting:
- No Jobs: Affinity is not set for any jobs
- Non Exclusive Jobs (default): Affinity is not set for exclusive jobs
- All Jobs: Affinity is set for all jobs
If the AffinityType is set to “No Jobs,” then we can allow non-exclusive jobs in many cases, but non-exclusive jobs will be disallowed if you specify an explicit host list (because all resources on all specified hosts are used), if you specify nodes and cores (to ensure that the job has exclusive access to the specified number of nodes), or if you specify multi-threading (to prevent a single task from being split across hosts). If the AffinityType is set to “Non Exclusive Jobs,” then exclusive jobs will be disallowed for all cases, the same as the restrictions for the previous release.
The previous job submission dialog always has the “exclusive” check box disabled for Windows HPC jobs, so that “exclusive” jobs cannot be submitted to a Windows HPC cluster. The “exclusive” check box is now enabled for Windows HPC jobs. This allows you to submit exclusive jobs to a Windows HPC cluster. If this check box is checked, but the submission parameters and Windows HPC cluster AffinityType do not allow submission of an exclusive job, then an error message is displayed when you submit or preview the job.
Setting the Windows HPC Cluster Affinity Type
A Windows HPC Cluster administrator is able to modify the Affinity Type setting for the cluster. The administrator should start the Windows HPC Cluster Manager. The first step is to select the Configuration button on the lower left pane, then select the Deployment To-do List in the upper left pane. Then, the upper right pane displays the Deployment To-do List, as shown below.
Next, the "Configure job scheduler policies and settings" should be selected. This is under the heading "Optional deployment tasks."
The Job Scheduler Configuration dialog box pops up, as shown below.
Next, select the "Affinity" tab should be selected.
The cluster administrator may now select a radio button to select the desired Affinity Type:
- All jobs
- Non-Exclusive jobs
- No jobs
In order to submit non-exclusive jobs, the "No jobs" option should be selected. The "Non-Exclusive jobs" option may be selected, but this will not allow non-exclusive Ansys Electromagnetics jobs to be submitted to the cluster. The "All jobs" option is not supported for Ansys Electromagnetics jobs. The OK or Apply buttons may be used to apply the selected option to the cluster.
Examples with "Submissions with Nodes are for exclusive usage by this job" Unchecked and Checked
Most of the following screen shots are for the same project file submitted to a Windows HPC cluster with the AffinityType set to "No Jobs". The scheduler resource selection parameters are the same for all of these screen shots:
- MinCoresPerNode=4
- MaxCoresPerNode=4
The first set of screen shots show submission of a job to a Windows HPC cluster in which the "Use automatic settings" check box is not checked, and the resource selection method is "Specify Number of Tasks and Cores". The exclusive setting for the job is controlled by the "Nodes are for exclusive usage by this job" check box. In previous releases, this check box was always disabled and checked for Windows HPC jobs. Now, it is enabled, and the user may select whether it is checked or unchecked. If it is checked, then the behavior is the same as previous releases. If it is unchecked, then the job is submitted with the exclusive parameter for the job set to false.
The following screen shot shows this configuration with a Submit Job with Task and Cores specified and nodes as non-exclusive.
The next figure shows Preview for the job submission indicating that the exclusive parameter for the job is false.
Jobs may only be submitted using this resource selection method with the exclusive parameter set to false if all three of the following conditions are met:
- The cluster AffinityType is "No Jobs",
- There is no multiprocessing, and
- There is no limit on the number of tasks per node.
If any of these requirements are not met, then the job is not submitted or previewed, and an error message appears. The following figure shows this configuration.
The following figure and screen shot ErrorMsgTasksAndCoresNonExMP.png shows the error message box shown to the user.
The next example shows submission of a job to a Windows HPC cluster in which the "Use automatic settings" check box is checked, and the resource selection method is "Specify Number of Nodes and Cores". If you select Use automatic settings with Num variations to distribute set to 1, Optimetrics variations will be solved sequentially. Other distribution types will be distributed automatically. It does distribute frequencies, domains, and use of multiple level domains. If you set Num variations to distribute to 2 or more, Optimetrics variations will be solved in parallel. Other distribution types will be distributed automatically. The exclusive setting for the job is controlled by the "Nodes are for exclusive usage by this job" check box. In previous releases, this check box was always disabled and checked for Windows HPC jobs. Now, it is enabled, and the user may select whether it is checked or unchecked. If it is checked, then the behavior is the same as previous releases. If it is unchecked, then the job is not submitted or previewed because only exclusive jobs are allowed when using this resource selection method, and an error message box is shown to the user in this case. The following figure shows this configuration:
The following figure shows the error message.
The next example show submission of a job to a Windows HPC cluster in which the "Use automatic settings" check box is checked, and the resource selection method is "Specify Number of Cores and (Optional) RAM". The exclusive setting for the job is controlled by the "Nodes are for exclusive usage by this job" check box. In previous releases, this check box was always disabled and checked for Windows HPC jobs. Now, it is enabled, and you may select whether it is checked or unchecked. If it is checked, then the behavior is the same as previous releases. The following figure shows this configuration.
The following figure shows the Job Preview for this case, indicating that the exclusive parameter for the job is true.
If the exclusive check box is unchecked, then the job is submitted with the exclusive parameter set to false. The following figure shows this configuration.
The following figurescreen shot PreviewCoresAndRAMNonEx.png shows the Job Preview for this case, indicating that the exclusive parameter for the job is false.
The last example resembles the previous one, except that the Windows HPC cluster AffinityType is set to "Non Exclusive Jobs" in this case. The job is submitted with the "Use automatic settings" check box in the checked state, and the resource selection method set to "Specify Number of Cores and (Optional) RAM". Because the AffinityType is not "No Jobs", only exclusive jobs may be submitted to this cluster. If the exclusive check box is not checked, then the job is not submitted or previewed, and an error message box is displayed to the user. The following figure shows this configuration.
The following figure shows the error message.
