Platform LSF Administration Guide Version 6.2

Chapter 8
Platform LSF Licensing
Administering Platform LSF
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Begin Parameters
PRODUCTS= LSF_Base LSF_Manager LSF_Sched_Fairshare
LSF_Sched_Parallel LSF_Sched_Preemption
LSF_Sched_Resource_Reservation LSF_Make
FLOAT_CLIENTS= 25
End Parameters
...
The FLOAT_CLIENTS parameter sets the size of your license pool in the cluster.
When the master LIM starts up, the number of licenses specified in
FLOAT_CLIENTS (or fewer) can be checked out for use as floating client licenses.
If the parameter FLOAT_CLIENTS is not specified in
lsf.cluster.cluster_name, or there is an error in either license.dat or in
lsf.cluster.cluster_name, the floating LSF client license feature is disabled.
5 Start the license server daemon.
See “Starting the license daemons” on page 182.
6 To allow your changes to take effect, reconfigure the cluster with the commands:
❖ lsadmin reconfig
❖ badmin reconfig
Warning
When the LSF floating client license feature is enabled, any host will be able
to submit jobs to the cluster. You can limit which hosts can be LSF floating
clients. See “Security issues with floating client licenses” on page 193.
Security issues with floating client licenses
If you want to install or have installed floating client licenses, it is important that you read
this section to inform yourself of the security issues. There are measures to compensate
for these security issues (see “Configuring security for LSF floating client licenses” on
page 194).
With LSF client licenses, when you list client hosts in
lsf.cluster.cluster_name,
there is a level of security defined since you specify the exact hosts that will be used by
the LSF system. Host authentication is done in this way.
With LSF floating client licenses, you should be aware of the security issues:
◆ Hosts that are not specified in lsf.cluster.cluster_name can submit requests.
This means any host can submit requests.
◆ Remote machines make it easier for users to submit commands with a fake user ID.
As a result, if an authorized user uses the user ID
lsfadmin, the user will be able
to run commands that affect the entire cluster or shut it down and cause problems
in the LSF system.