Platform LSF Administration Guide Version 6.2

Chapter 41
Job Email, and Job File Spooling
Administering Platform LSF
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The job reads its input from file job_in. Standard output is stored in file job_out,
and standard error is stored in file
job_err.
Size of job email
Some batch jobs can create large amounts of output. To prevent large job output files
from interfering with your mail system, you can use the LSB_MAILSIZE_LIMIT
parameter in
lsf.conf to limit the size of the email containing the job output
information.
By default, LSB_MAILSIZE_LIMIT is not enabled—no limit is set on size of batch job
output email.
If the size of the job output email exceeds LSB_MAILSIZE_LIMIT, the output is saved
to a file under JOB_SPOOL_DIR, or the default job output directory if
JOB_SPOOL_DIR is undefined. The email informs users where the job output is
located.
If the
-o or -oo option of bsub is used, the size of the job output is not checked
against LSB_MAILSIZE_LIMIT.
LSB_MAILSIZE
environment
variable
LSF sets LSB_MAILSIZE to the approximate size in KB of the email containing job
output information, allowing a custom mail program to intercept output that is larger
than desired. If you use the LSB_MAILPROG parameter to specify the custom mail
program that can make use of the LSB_MAILSIZE environment variable, it is not
necessary to configure LSB_MAILSIZE_LIMIT.
LSB_MAILSIZE is not recognized by the LSF default mail program. To prevent large
job output files from interfering with your mail system, use LSB_MAILSIZE_LIMIT to
explicitly set the maximum size in KB of the email containing the job information.
LSB_MAILSIZE
values
The LSB_MAILSIZE environment variable can take the following values:
◆ A positive integer
If the output is being sent by email, LSB_MAILSIZE is set to the estimated mail
size in KB.
◆ -1
If the output fails or cannot be read, LSB_MAILSIZE is set to -1 and the output is
sent by email using LSB_MAILPROG if specified in
lsf.conf.
◆ Undefined
If you use the output or error options (
-o, -oo, -e, or -eo) of bsub, the output
is redirected to an output file. Because the output is not sent by email in this case,
LSB_MAILSIZE is not used and LSB_MAILPROG is not called.
If the
-N option is used with the output or error options of bsub, LSB_MAILSIZE
is not set.
Directory for job output
The output and error options (-o, -oo, -e, and -eo) of the bsub and bmod commands
can accept a file name or directory path. LSF creates the standard output and standard
error files in this directory. If you specify only a directory path, job output and error files
are created with unique names based on the job ID so that you can use a single directory
for all job output, rather than having to create separate output directories for each job.