HP XC System Software Installation Guide Version 3.2

9 Installing and Using PBS Professional
This chapter addresses the following topics:
• “PBS Professional Overview” (page 151)
• “Before You Begin” (page 151)
• “Plan the Installation” (page 151)
• “Perform Installation Actions Specific to HP XC” (page 152)
• “Configure PBS Professional under HP XC” (page 152)
• “Replicate Execution Nodes” (page 153)
• “Enter License Information” (page 154)
• “Start the Service Daemons” (page 154)
• “Set Up PBS Professional at the User Level” (page 154)
• “Run HP MPI Tasks” (page 155)
9.1 PBS Professional Overview
PBS Professional™, distributed by Altair®, is an implementation of NASA’s Portable Batch
System (PBS). It provides a workload management solution for high-performance computing
systems and Linux clusters. You can install PBS Professional on an HP XC system as an alternative
to installing the Load Sharing Facility (LSF) from Platform Computing.
To download kits and obtain documentation for PBS Professional, see the following website:
http://www.altair.com/software/pbs_abo.htm
9.2 Before You Begin
Follow the installation instructions in the PBS Pro Quick Start Guide. Use the information in this
chapter as a companion document because it describes the minimum installation and configuration
of PBS Professional on an HP XC system.
See the PBS Professional Administrator Guide for information about other configuration options.
9.3 Plan the Installation
The first step in planning for the installation is determining the type of installation required for
each node. Choose one of the following installation types based on how you intend to use each
node:
• You must designate one node of the cluster (possibly the HP XC head node) as the PBS
server. This node runs the server and scheduler daemons. Other documentation might refer
to the PBS server as the front-end node.
• You can designate a number of nodes to run user tasks, referred to as PBS execution nodes.
Execution nodes run the PBS Professional MOM (Machine Oriented Miniserver) daemon.
On an HP XC system, you designate the compute nodes to function as PBS execution nodes.
You can choose to use all the compute nodes or a subset of the compute nodes. The PBS
server node (front-end node) is automatically designated as an execution node. See “Add
Nodes to the PBS Professional Configuration” (page 153) for more information.
• Optionally, you can designate a number of PBS client nodes. Client nodes do not run any
daemons and are not used to execute user tasks. The PBS Professional software is installed
on all client nodes, enabling these nodes to interact with the PBS server (the front-end node).
You can submit user tasks and monitor the tasks from a client node. In an HP XC system,
typically one or more nodes (other than the head node) are designated for interactive logins.
Because these servers are not used as compute nodes, you can configure them as PBS clients.
9.1 PBS Professional Overview 151