Moab Cluster Manager - Reservation Creation Screen

Standing Reservation Attributes

ATTRIBUTE	ACCESS
FORMAT	DEDICATED or SHARED
DEFAULT	---
DETAILS	If set to SHARED, allows a standing reservation to use resources already allocated to other non-job reservations. Otherwise, these other reservations block resource access.
EXAMPLE	moab.cfg SRCFG[test] ACCESS=SHARED Standing reservation test may access resources allocated to existing standing and administrative reservations.
ATTRIBUTE	ACCOUNTLIST
FORMAT	list of valid, comma delimited account names (see ACL Modifiers)
DEFAULT	---
DETAILS	Specifies that jobs with the associated accounts may use the resources contained within this reservation.
EXAMPLE	moab.cfg SRCFG[test] ACCOUNTLIST=ops,staff Jobs using the account ops or staff are granted access to the resources in standing reservation test.
ATTRIBUTE	APPLICATION
FORMAT	full path to application with optional command args
DEFAULT	---
DETAILS	Specifies that Moab should submit a job that launches the specified application inside the reservation when it becomes active.
EXAMPLE	moab.cfg SRCFG[test] APPLICATION="/usr/bin/my_app arg1 arg2" A job that launches my_app will be launched inside the reservation test when it becomes active.
ATTRIBUTE	CHARGEACCOUNT
FORMAT	any valid accountname
DEFAULT	---
DETAILS	Specifies the account to which moab will charge all idle cycles within the reservation (via the allocation manager)
EXAMPLE	moab.cfg SRCFG[test] CHARGEACCOUNT=jupiter Moab charges all idle cycles within reservations supporting standing reservation test to account jupiter.
ATTRIBUTE	CLASSLIST
FORMAT	list of valid, comma delimited classes/queues (see ACL Modifiers)
DEFAULT	---
DETAILS	Specifies that jobs with the associated classes/queues may use the resources contained within this reservation.
EXAMPLE	moab.cfg SRCFG[test] CLASSLIST=!interactive Jobs not using the class interactive are granted access to the resources in standing reservation test.
ATTRIBUTE	CLUSTERLIST
FORMAT	list of valid, comma delimited peer clusters (see Moab Workload Manager for Grids)
DEFAULT	---
DETAILS	Specifies that jobs originating within the listed clusters may use the resources contained within this reservation.
EXAMPLE	moab.cfg SRCFG[test] CLUSTERLIST=orion2,orion7 Moab grants jobs from the listed peer clusters access to the reserved resources.
ATTRIBUTE	COMMENT
FORMAT	<STRING> NOTE: if string contains whitespace, string should be enclosed in single or double quotes.
DEFAULT	---
DETAILS	Specifies a descriptive message associated with the standing reservation and all child reservations.
EXAMPLE	moab.cfg SRCFG[test] COMMENT='rsv for network testing' Moab annotates the standing reservation test and all child reservations with the specified message. These messages show up within Moab client commands, Moab web tools, and graphical administrator tools.
ATTRIBUTE	DAYS
FORMAT	one or more of the following (comma delimited) Mon, Tue, Wed, Thu, Fri, Sat, Sun or [ALL]
DEFAULT	[ALL]
DETAILS	Specifies which days of the week the standing reservation is active.
EXAMPLE	moab.cfg SRCFG[test] DAYS=Mon,Tue,Wed,Thu,Fri Standing reservation test is active Monday through Friday.
ATTRIBUTE	DEPTH
FORMAT	<INTEGER>
DEFAULT	2
DETAILS	Specifies the number of standing reservations created (one per period).
EXAMPLE	moab.cfg SRCFG[test] PERIOD=DAY DEPTH=7 Specifies that reservations are created for standing reservation test for today and the next six days.
ATTRIBUTE	DISABLE
FORMAT	<BOOLEAN>
DEFAULT	FALSE
DETAILS	Specifies that the standing reservation should no longer spawn child reservations.
EXAMPLE	moab.cfg SRCFG[test] PERIOD=DAY DEPTH=7 DISABLE=TRUE Specifies that reservations are created for standing reservation test for today and the next six days.
ATTRIBUTE	ENDTIME
FORMAT	[[[DD:]HH:]MM:]SS
DEFAULT	24:00:00
DESCRIPTION	Specifies the time of day the standing reservation period ends (end of day or end of week depending on PERIOD).
EXAMPLE	moab.cfg SRCFG[test] STARTTIME=8:00:00 SRCFG[test] ENDTIME=17:00:00 SRCFG[test] PERIOD=DAY Standing reservation test is active from 8:00 AM until 5:00 PM.
ATTRIBUTE	FLAGS
FORMAT	comma delimited list of zero or more flags listed in the reservation flags overview
DEFAULT	---
DESCRIPTION	Specifies special reservation attributes. See Managing Reservations - Flags for details.
EXAMPLE	moab.cfg SRCFG[test] FLAGS=BYNAME,DEDICATEDRESOURCE Jobs may only access the resources within this reservation if they explicitly request the reservation by name. Further, the reservation is created to not overlap with other reservations.
ATTRIBUTE	GROUPLIST
FORMAT	one or more comma delimited group names
DEFAULT	[ALL]
DESCRIPTION	Specifies the groups allowed access to this standing reservation. (See ACL Modifiers.)
EXAMPLE	moab.cfg SRCFG[test] GROUPLIST=staff,ops,special SRCFG[test] CLASSLIST=interactive Moab allows jobs with the listed group IDs or which request the job class interactive to use the resources covered by the standing reservation.
ATTRIBUTE	HOSTLIST
FORMAT	one or more comma delimited host names or host expressions or the string class:<classname>. (See note that follows.)
DEFAULT	---
DESCRIPTION	Specifies the set of hosts that the scheduler can search for resources to satisfy the reservation. If specified using the class:X format, Moab only selects hosts that support the specified class. If TASKCOUNT is also specified, only TASKCOUNT tasks are reserved. Otherwise, all matching hosts are reserved.
EXAMPLE	moab.cfg SRCFG[test] HOSTLIST=node001,node002,node003 SRCFG[test] RESOURCES=PROCS:2;MEM:512 SRCFG[test] TASKCOUNT=2 Moab reserves a total of two tasks with 2 processors and 512 MB each, using resources located on node001, node002, and/or node003.
ATTRIBUTE	JOBATTRLIST
FORMAT	comma delimited list of one or more of the following job attributes PREEMPTEE, INTERACTIVE, or any generic attribute configured through NODECFG.
DEFAULT	---
DESCRIPTION	Specifies job attributes that grant a job access to the reservation. NOTE: Values can be specified with a != assignment to only allow jobs NOT requesting a certain feature inside the reservation. NOTE: To enable/disable reservation access based on requested node features, use the parameter NODETOJOBATTRMAP.
EXAMPLE	moab.cfg SRCFG[test] JOBATTRLIST=PREEMPTEE Preemptible jobs can access the resources reserved within this reservation.
ATTRIBUTE	MAXTIME
FORMAT	[[[DD:]HH:]MM:]SS[+]
DEFAULT	---
DESCRIPTION	Specifies the maximum time for jobs allowable. (Can be used with Affinity to attract jobs with same MAXTIME.)
EXAMPLE	moab.cfg SRCFG[test] MAXTIME=1:00:00+ Jobs with a time of 1:00:00 are attracted to this reservation.
ATTRIBUTE	NODEFEATURES
FORMAT	comma delimited list of node features
DEFAULT	---
DESCRIPTION	Specifies the required node features for nodes that are part of the standing reservation.
EXAMPLE	moab.cfg SRCFG[test] NODEFEATURES=wide,fddi All nodes allocated to the standing reservation must have both the wide and fddi node attributes.
ATTRIBUTE	OS
FORMAT	operating system
DEFAULT	---
DESCRIPTION	Specifies the operating system that should be in place during the reservation. Moab provisions this OS at reservation start and restores the original OS at reservation completion.
EXAMPLE	moab.cfg SRCFG[test] OS=SUSE91 The resources allocated to the reservation are provisioned to SUSE 9.1 during the life of the reservation and restored to their original OS at the end of the reservation.
ATTRIBUTE	OWNER
FORMAT	<CREDTYPE>:<CREDID> where <CREDTYPE> is one of USER, GROUP, ACCT, QoS, CLASS or CLUSTER and <CREDTYPE> is a valid credential id of that type.
DEFAULT	---
DESCRIPTION	Specifies the owner of the reservation. NOTE: for sandbox reservations, sandboxes are applied to a specific peer only if OWNER is set to CLUSTER:<PEERNAME>.
EXAMPLE	moab.cfg SRCFG[test] OWNER=USER:tom User tom owns the reservation and may be granted special privileges associated with that ownership.
ATTRIBUTE	PARTITION
FORMAT	a valid partition name
DEFAULT	[ALL]
DESCRIPTION	Specifies the partition in which to create the standing reservation.
EXAMPLE	moab.cfg SRCFG[test] PARTITION=OLD The standing reservation will only select resources from partition OLD.
ATTRIBUTE	PERIOD
FORMAT	one of DAY, WEEK, or INFINITY
DEFAULT	DAY
DESCRIPTION	Specifies the period of the standing reservation.
EXAMPLE	moab.cfg SRCFG[test] PERIOD=WEEK Each standing reservation covers a one week period.
ATTRIBUTE	PROCLIMIT
FORMAT	<QUALIFIER><INTEGER> <QUALIFIER> may be one of the following <, <=, ==, >=, >
DEFAULT	---
DESCRIPTION	Specifies the processor limit for jobs requesting access to this standing reservation.
EXAMPLE	moab.cfg SRCFG[test] PROCLIMIT<=4 Jobs requesting 4 or fewer processors are allowed to run.
ATTRIBUTE	PSLIMIT
FORMAT	<QUALIFIER><INTEGER> <QUALIFIER> may be one of the following <, <=, ==, >=, >
DEFAULT	---
DESCRIPTION	Specifies the processor-second limit for jobs requesting access to this standing reservation.
EXAMPLE	moab.cfg SRCFG[test] PSLIMIT<=40000 Jobs requesting 40000 or fewer processor-seconds are allowed to run.
ATTRIBUTE	QOSLIST
FORMAT	zero or more valid, comma delimited QoS names
DEFAULT	---
DESCRIPTION	Specifies that jobs with the listed QoS names can access the reserved resources.
EXAMPLE	moab.cfg SRCFG[test] QOSLIST=hi,low,special Moab allows jobs using the listed QOS's access to the reserved resources.
ATTRIBUTE	RESOURCES
FORMAT	semicolon delimited <ATTR>:<VALUE> pairs where <ATTR> may be one of PROCS, MEM, SWAP, or DISK
DEFAULT	PROCS:-1  (All processors available on node)
DESCRIPTION	Specifies what resources constitute a single standing reservation task. (Each task must be able to obtain all of its resources as an atomic unit on a single node.) Supported resources currently include the following: PROCS (number of processors) MEM (real memory in MB) DISK (local disk in MB) SWAP (virtual memory in MB)
EXAMPLE	moab.cfg SRCFG[test] RESOURCES=PROCS:1;MEM:512 Each standing reservation task reserves one processor and 512 MB of real memory.
ATTRIBUTE	ROLLBACKOFFSET
FORMAT	[[[DD:]HH:]MM:]SS
DEFAULT	---
DESCRIPTION	Specifies the minimum time in the future at which the reservation may start. This offset is rolling meaning the start time of the reservation will continuously roll back into the future to maintain this offset. Rollback offsets are a good way of providing guaranteed resource access to users under the conditions that they must commit their resources in the future or lose dedicated access. (See QoS for more info about quality of service and service level agreements; also see Rollback Reservation Overview.)
EXAMPLE	moab.cfg SRCFG[ajax] ROLLBACKOFFSET=24:00:00 TASKCOUNT=32 SRCFG[ajax] PERIOD=INFINITY ACCOUNTLIST=ajax The standing reservation guarantees access to up to 32 processors within 24 hours to jobs from the ajax account.
ATTRIBUTE	STARTTIME
FORMAT	[[[DD:]HH:]MM:]SS
DEFAULT	00:00:00:00 (midnight)
DESCRIPTION	Specifies the time of day/week the standing reservation becomes active. Whether this indicates a time of day or time of week depends on the setting of the PERIOD attribute. NOTE: If specified within a reservation profile, a value of 0 indicates the reservation should start at the earliest opportunity.
EXAMPLE	moab.cfg SRCFG[test] STARTTIME=08:00:00 SRCFG[test] ENDTIME=17:00:00 SRCFG[test] PERIOD=DAY The standing reservation will be active from 8:00 a.m. until 5:00 p.m. each day.
ATTRIBUTE	TASKCOUNT
FORMAT	<INTEGER>
DEFAULT	0 (unlimited tasks)
DESCRIPTION	Specifies how may tasks should be reserved for the reservation.
EXAMPLE	moab.cfg SRCFG[test] RESOURCES=PROCS:1;MEM:256 SRCFG[test] TASKCOUNT=16 Standing reservation test reserves 16 tasks worth of resources; in this case, 16 processors and 4 GB of real memory.
ATTRIBUTE	TIMELIMIT
FORMAT	[[[DD:]HH:]MM:]SS
DEFAULT	-1 (no time based access)
DESCRIPTION	Specifies the maximum allowed overlap between the standing reservation and a job requesting resource access.
EXAMPLE	moab.cfg SRCFG[test] TIMELIMIT=1:00:00 Moab allows jobs to access up to one hour of resources in the standing reservation.
ATTRIBUTE	TIMELOGIC
FORMAT	AND or OR
DEFAULT	OR
DESCRIPTION	NOTE: TIMELOGIC is not supported in Moab. Under Maui, this attribute specifies how TIMELIMIT access status will be combined with other standing reservation access methods to determine job access. If TIMELOGIC is set to OR, a job is granted access to the reserved resources if it meets the TIMELIMIT criteria or any other access criteria (such as USERLIST). If TIMELOGIC is set to AND, a job is granted access to the reserved resources only if it meets the TIMELIMIT criteria and at least one other access criteria. NOTE: As TIMELOGIC is not supported in Moab, use the required ACL marker, * instead. Equivalent functionality can be enabled by setting something like the following: SRCFG[special] TIMELIMIT=1:00:00*.
EXAMPLE	moab.cfg SRCFG[special] TIMELIMIT=1:00:00 SRCFG[special] TIMELOGIC=AND SRCFG[special] QOSLIST=high low special- SRCFG[special] ACCCOUNTLIST=!projectX,!Y
ATTRIBUTE	TPN (Tasks Per Node)
FORMAT	<INTEGER>
DEFAULT	0 (no TPN constraint)
DESCRIPTION	Specifies the minimum number of tasks per node that must be available on eligible nodes.
EXAMPLE	moab.cfg SRCFG[2] TPN=4 SRCFG[2] RESOURCES=PROCS:2;MEM:256 Moab must locate at least four tasks on each node that is to be part of the reservation. That is, each node included in standing reservation 2 must have at least 8 processors and 1 GB of memory available.
ATTRIBUTE	TRIGGER
FORMAT	see 20.1 Triggers for syntax
DEFAULT	N/A
DESCRIPTION	Specifies event triggers to be launched by the scheduler under the scheduler's ID. These triggers can be used to conditionally cancel reservations, modify resources, or launch various actions at specified event offsets. See 20.1 Triggers for more detail.
EXAMPLE	moab.cfg SRCFG[fast] TRIGGER=EType=start,Offset=5:00:00,AType=exec,Action="/usr/local/domail.pl" Moab launches the domail.pl script 5 hours after any fast reservation starts.
ATTRIBUTE	USERLIST
FORMAT	comma delimited list of users
DEFAULT	---
DESCRIPTION	Specifies which users have access to the resources reserved by this reservation. (See ACL Modifiers.)
EXAMPLE	moab.cfg SRCFG[test] USERLIST=bob,joe,mary Users bob, joe and mary can all access the resources reserved within this reservation.

NOTE: The HOSTLIST attribute is treated as host regular expression so foo10 will map to foo10, foo101, foo1006, and so forth. To request an exact host match, the expression can be bounded by the carat and dollar symbol expression markers as in ^foo10$.

7.1.5.2.1 Standing Reservation Overview

A standing reservation is similar to a normal administrative reservation in that it also places an access control list on a specified set of resources. Resources are specified on a per-task basis and currently include processors, local disk, real memory, and swap. The access control list supported for standing reservations includes users, groups, accounts, job classes, and QoS levels. Standing reservations can be configured to be permanent or periodic on a daily or weekly basis and can accept a daily or weekly start and end time. Regardless of whether permanent or recurring on a daily or weekly basis, standing reservations are enforced using a series of reservations, extending a number of periods into the future as controlled by the DEPTH attribute of the SRCFG parameter.

The following examples demonstrate possible configurations specified with the SRCFG parameter.

Example 1 Basic Business Hour Standing Reservation

SRCFG[interactive] TASKCOUNT=6 RESOURCES=PROCS:1,MEM:512
SRCFG[interactive] PERIOD=DAY DAYS=MON,TUE,WED,THU,FRI
SRCFG[interactive] STARTTIME=9:00:00 ENDTIME=17:00:00
SRCFG[interactive] CLASSLIST=interactive

NOTE: When using the SRCFG parameter, attribute lists must be delimited using the comma (,), pipe (|), or colon (:) characters; they cannot be space delimited. For example, to specify a multi-class ACL, specify SRCFG[test] CLASSLIST=classA,classB.

NOTE: Only one STARTTIME and one ENDTIME value can be specified per reservation. If varied start and end times are desired throughout the week, complementary standing reservations should be created. For example, to establish a reservation from 8:00 p.m. until 6:00 a.m. the next day during business days, two reservations should be created—one from 8:00 p.m. until midnight, and the other from midnight until 6:00 a.m. Jobs can run across reservation boundaries allowing these two reservations to function as a single reservation that spans the night.

The preceding example fully specifies a reservation including the quantity of resources requested using the TASKCOUNT and RESOURCES attributes. In all cases, resources are allocated to a reservation in units called tasks where a task is a collection of resources that must be allocated together on a single node. The TASKCOUNT attribute specifies the number of these tasks that should be reserved by the reservation. In conjunction with this attribute, the RESOURCES attribute defines the reservation task by indicating what resources must be included in each task. In this case, the scheduler must locate and reserve 1 processor and 512 MB of memory together on the same node for each task requested.

As mentioned previously, a standing reservation reserves resources over a given time frame. The PERIOD attribute may be set to a value of DAY, WEEK, or INFINITY to indicate the period over which this reservation should recur. If not specified, a standing reservation recurs on a daily basis. If a standing reservation is configured to recur daily, the attribute DAYS may be specified to indicate which days of the week the reservation should exist. This attribute takes a comma-delimited list of days where each day is specified as the first three letters of the day in all capital letters: MON or FRI. The preceding example specifies that this reservation is periodic on a daily basis and should only exist on business days.

The time of day during which the requested tasks are to be reserved is specified using the STARTTIME and ENDTIME attributes. These attributes are specified in standard military time HH:MM:SS format and both STARTTIME and ENDTIME specification is optional defaulting to midnight at the beginning and end of the day respectively. In the preceding example, resources are reserved from 9:00 a.m. until 5:00 p.m. on business days.

The final aspect of any reservation is the access control list indicating who or what can use the reserved resources. In the preceding example, the CLASSLIST attribute is used to indicate that jobs requesting the class interactive should be allowed to use this reservation.

7.1.5.2.2 Specifying Reservation Resources

In most cases, only a small subset of standing reservation attributes must be specified in any given case. For example, by default, RESOURCES is set to PROCS=-1 which indicates that each task should reserve all of the processors on the node on which it is located. This, in essence, creates a one task equals one node mapping. In many cases, particularly on uniprocessor systems, this default behavior may be easiest to work with. However, in SMP environments, the RESOURCES attribute provides a powerful means of specifying an exact, multi-dimensional resource set.

NOTE: An examination of the parameters documentation show that the default value of PERIOD is DAYS. Thus, specifying this parameter in the preceding above was unnecessary. It was used only to introduce this parameter and indicate that other options exist beyond daily standing reservations.

Example 2: Host Constrained Standing Reservation

Although the first example did specify a quantity of resources to reserve, it did not specify where the needed tasks were to be located. If this information is not specified, Moab attempts to locate the needed resources anywhere it can find them. The Example 1 reservation essentially discovers hosts where the needed resources can be found. If the SPACEFLEX reservation flag is set, then the reservation continues to float to the best hosts over the life of the reservation. Otherwise, it will be locked to the initial set of allocated hosts.

If a site wanted to constrain a reservation to a subset of available resources, this could be accomplished using the HOSTLIST attribute. The HOSTLIST attribute is specified as a comma-separated list of hostnames and constrains the scheduler to only select tasks from the specified list. This attribute can exactly specify hosts or specify them using host regular expressions. The following example demonstrates a possible use of the HOSTLIST attribute:

SRCFG[interactive] DAYS=MON,TUE,WED,THU,FRI
SRCFG[interactive] PERIOD=DAY
SRCFG[interactive] STARTTIME=10:00:00 ENDTIME=15:00:00
SRCFG[interactive] RESOURCES=PROCS:2,MEM:256
SRCFG[interactive] HOSTLIST=node001,node002,node005,node020
SRCFG[interactive] TASKCOUNT=6
SRCFG[interactive] CLASSLIST=interactive

Note that the HOSTLIST attribute specifies a non-contiguous list of hosts. Any combination of hosts may be specified and hosts may be specified in any order. In this example, the TASKCOUNT attribute is also specified. These two attributes both apply constraints on the scheduler with HOSTLIST specifying where the tasks can be located and TASKCOUNT indicating how many total tasks may be allocated. In this example, six tasks are requested but only four hosts are specified. To handle this, if adequate resources are available, the scheduler may attempt to allocate more than one task per host. For example, assume that each host is a quad-processor system with 1 GB of memory. In such a case, the scheduler could allocate up to two tasks per host and even satisfy the TASKCOUNT constraint without using all of the hosts in the hostlist.

NOTE: It is important to note that even if there is a one to one mapping between the value of TASKCOUNT and the number of hosts in HOSTLIST, the scheduler will not necessarily place one task on each host. If, for example, node001 and node002 were 8 processor SMP hosts with 1 GB of memory, the scheduler could locate up to four tasks on each of these hosts fully satisfying the reservation taskcount without even partially using the remaining hosts. (Moab will place tasks on hosts according to the policy specified with the NODEALLOCATIONPOLICY parameter.) If the hostlist provides more resources than what is required by the reservation as specified via TASKCOUNT, the scheduler will simply select the needed resources within the set of hosts listed.

7.1.5.2.3 Enforcing Policies Via Multiple Reservations

Single reservations enable multiple capabilities. Combinations of reservations can further extend a site's capabilities to impose specific policies.

Example 3: Reservation Stacking

If HOSTLIST is specified but TASKCOUNT is not, the scheduler will pack as many tasks as possible onto all of the listed hosts. For example, assume the site added a second standing reservation named debug to its configuration that reserved resources for use by certain members of its staff using the following configuration:

SRCFG[interactive] DAYS=MON,TUE,WED,THU,FRI
SRCFG[interactive] PERIOD=DAY
SRCFG[interactive] STARTTIME=10:00:00 ENDTIME=15:00:00
SRCFG[interactive] RESOURCES=PROCS:2,MEM:256
SRCFG[interactive] HOSTLIST=node001,node002,node005,node020
SRCFG[interactive] TASKCOUNT=6
SRCFG[interactive] CLASSLIST=interactive

SRCFG[debug]       HOSTLIST=node001,node002,node003,node004
SRCFG[debug]       USERLIST=helpdesk
SRCFG[debug]       GROUPLIST=operations,sysadmin
SRCFG[debug]       PERIOD=INFINITY

The new standing reservation is quite simple. Since RESOURCES is not specified, it will allocate all processors on each host that is allocated. Since TASKCOUNT is not specified, it will allocate every host listed in HOSTLIST. Since PERIOD is set to INFINITY, the reservation is always in force and there is no need to specify STARTTIME, ENDTIME, or DAYS.

The standing reservation has two access parameters set using the attributes USERLIST and GROUPLIST. This configuration indicates that the reservation can be accessed if any one of the access lists specified is satisfied by the job. In essence, reservation access is logically OR'd allowing access if the requester meets any of the access constraints specified. In this example, jobs submitted by either user helpdesk or any member of the groups operations or sysadmin can use the reserved resources. (See ACL Modifiers.)

Unless ACL Modifiers are specified, access is granted to the logical OR of access lists specified within a standing reservation and granted to the logical AND of access lists across different standing reservations. A comparison of the standing reservations interactive and debug in the preceding example indicates that they both can allocate hosts node001 and node002. If node001 had both of these reservations in place simultaneously and a job attempted to access this host during business hours when standing reservation interactive was active. The job could only use the doubly reserved resources if it requests the run class interactive and it meets the constraints of reservation debug—that is, that it is submitted by user helpdesk or by a member of the group operations or sysadmin.

As a rule, the scheduler does not stack reservations unless it must. If adequate resources exist, it can allocate reserved resources side by side in a single SMP host rather than on top of each other. In the case of a 16 processor SMP host with two 8 processor standing reservations, 8 of the processors on this host will be allocated to the first reservation, and 8 to the next. Any configuration is possible. The 16 processor hosts can also have 4 processors reserved for user John, 10 processors reserved for group Staff, with the remaining 2 processors available for use by any job.

Stacking reservations is not usually required but some site administrators choose to do it to enforce elaborate policies. There is no problem with doing so as long as you can keep things straight. It really is not too difficult a concept; it just takes a little getting used to. See the Reservation Overview section for a more detailed description of reservation use and constraints.

As mentioned earlier, by default the scheduler enforces standing reservations by creating a number of reservations where the number created is controlled by the DEPTH attribute. Each night at midnight, the scheduler updates its periodic non-floating standing reservations. By default, DEPTH is set to 2, meaning when the scheduler starts up, it will create two 24-hour reservations covering a total of two days worth of time—a reservation for today and one for tomorrow. For daily reservations, at midnight, the reservations roll, meaning today's reservation expires and is removed, tomorrow's reservation becomes today's, and the scheduler creates a new reservation for the next day.

With this model, the scheduler continues creating new reservations in the future as time moves forward. Each day, the needed resources are always reserved. At first, all appears automatic but the standing reservation DEPTH attribute is in fact an important aspect of reservation rolling, which helps address certain site specific environmental factors. This attribute remedies a situation that might occur when a job is submitted and cannot run immediately because the system is backlogged with jobs. In such a case, available resources may not exist for several days out and the scheduler must reserve these future resources for this job. With the default DEPTH setting of two, when midnight arrives, the scheduler attempts to roll its standing reservations but a problem arises in that the job has now allocated the resources needed for the standing reservation two days out. Moab cannot reserve the resources for the standing reservation because they are already claimed by the job. The standing reservation reserves what it can but because all needed resources are not available, the resulting reservation is now smaller than it should be, or is possibly even empty.

If a standing reservation is smaller than it should be, the scheduler will attempt to add resources each iteration until it is fully populated. However, in the case of this job, the job is not going to release its reserved resources until it completes and the standing reservation cannot claim them until this time. The DEPTH attribute allows a site to specify how deep into the future a standing reservation should reserve its resources allowing it to claim the resources first and prevent this problem. If a partial standing reservation is detected on a system, it may be an indication that the reservation's DEPTH attribute should be increased.

In Example 3, the PERIOD attribute is set to INFINITY. With this setting, a single, permanent standing reservation is created and the issues of resource contention do not exist. While this eliminates the contention issue, infinite length standing reservations cannot be made periodic.

Example 4: Multiple ACL Types

In most cases, access lists within a reservation are logically OR'd together to determine reservation access. However, exceptions to this rule can be specified by using the required ACL marker—the asterisk (*). Any ACL marked with this symbol is required and a job is only allowed to use a reservation if it meets all required ACLs and at least one non-required ACL (if specified). A common use for this facility is in conjunction with the TIMELIMIT attribute. This attribute controls the length of time a job may use the resources within a standing reservation. This access mechanism can be AND'd or OR'd to the cumulative set of all other access lists as specified by the required ACL marker. Consider the following example configuration:

SRCFG[special] TASKCOUNT=32
SRCFG[special] PERIOD=WEEK
SRCFG[special] STARTTIME=1:08:00:00  
SRCFG[special] ENDTIME=5:17:00:00
SRCFG[special] NODEFEATURES=largememory
SRCFG[special] TIMELIMIT=1:00:00*
SRCFG[special] QOSLIST=high,low,special-
SRCFG[special] ACCCOUNTLIST=!projectX,!projectY

The above configuration requests 32 tasks which translate to 32 nodes. The PERIOD attribute makes this reservation periodic on a weekly basis while the attributes STARTTIME and ENDTIME specify the week offsets when this reservation is to start and end. (Note that the specification format has changed to DD:HH:MM:SS.) In this case, the reservation starts on Monday at 8:00 a.m. and runs until Friday at 5:00 p.m. The reservation is enforced as a series of weekly reservations that only cover the specified time frame. The NODEFEATURES attribute indicates that each of the reserved nodes must have the node feature largememory configured.

As described earlier, TIMELIMIT indicates that jobs using this reservation can only use it for one hour. This means the job and the reservation can only overlap for one hour. Clearly jobs requiring an hour or less of wallclock time meet this constraint. However, a four-hour job that starts on Monday at 5:00 a.m. or a 12-hour job that starts on Friday at 4:00 p.m. also satisfy this constraint. Also, note the TIMELIMIT required ACL marker, *; it is set indicating that jobs must not only meet the TIMELIMIT access constraint but must also meet one or more of the other access constraints. In this example, the job can use this reservation if it can use the access specified via QOSLIST or ACCOUNTLIST; that is, it is assigned a QoS of high, low, or special , or the submitter of the job has an account that satisfies the !projectX and !projectY criteria. See the QoS Overview for more info about QoS configuration and usage.

7.1.5.2.4 Affinity

Reservation ACLs allow or deny access to reserved resources but they may be configured to also impact a job's affinity for a particular reservation. By default, jobs gravitate toward reservations through a mechanism known as positive affinity. This mechanism allows jobs to run on the most constrained resources leaving other, unreserved resources free for use by other jobs that may not be able to access the reserved resources. Normally this is a desired behavior. However, sometimes, it is desirable to reserve resources for use only as a last resort—using the reserved resources only when there are no other resources available. This last resort behavior is known as negative affinity. Note the '-' (hyphen or negative sign) following the special in the QOSLIST values. This special mark indicates that QoS special should be granted access to this reservation but should be assigned negative affinity. Thus, the QOSLIST attribute specifies that QoS high and low should be granted access with positive affinity (use the reservation first where possible) and QoS special granted access with negative affinity (use the reservation only when no other resources are available).

Affinity status is granted on a per access object basis rather than a per access list basis and always defaults to positive affinity. In addition to negative affinity, neutral affinity can also be specified using the equal sign (=) as in QOSLIST[0] normal= high debug= low-.

7.1.5.2.5 ACL Modifiers

ACL modifiers allow a site to change the default behavior of ACL processing. By default, a reservation can be accessed if one or more of its ACLs can be met by the requestor. This behavior can be changed using the deny or required ACL modifier, as in the following table:

Modifier	Symbol	Description	Example
Not	! (exclamation point)	If attribute is met, the requestor is denied access regardless of any other satisfied ACLs.	moab.cfg SRCFG[test] GROUPLIST=staff USERLIST=!steve Allow access to all staff members other than Steve.
Required	* (asterisk)	All required ACLs must be satisfied for requestor access to be granted.	moab.cfg SRCFG[test] QOSLIST=*high MAXTIME=*2:00:00 Only jobs in QoS high that request less than 2 hours of walltime are granted access.
XOR	^ (carat)	All attributes of the type specified other than the ones listed in the ACL satisfy the ACL.	moab.cfg SRCFG[test] QOSLIST=^high All jobs other than those requesting QoS high are granted access.
CredLock	& (ampersand)	Matching jobs will be REQUIRED to run on the resources reserved by this reservation.	moab.cfg SRCFG[test] USERLIST=&john All of John's jobs must run in this reservation.
HPEnable (hard policy enable)	~ (tilde)	ACLs marked with this modifier are ignored during soft policy scheduling and are only considered for hard policy scheduling once all eligible soft policy jobs start.	moab.cfg SRCFG[johnspace] USERLIST=john CLASSLIST=~debug All of John's jobs are allowed to run in the reservation at any time. Debug jobs are also allowed to run in this reservation but are only considered after all of John's jobs are given an opportunity to start. John's jobs are considered before debug jobs regardless of job priority. NOTE: If HPEnable and Not markers are used in conjunction, then specified credentials are blocked-out of the reservation during soft-policy scheduling.

Note the ACCOUNTLIST values in Example 4 are preceded with an exclamation point, or NOT symbol. This indicates that all jobs with accounts other than projectX and projectY meet the account ACL. Note that if a !<X> value (!projectX) appears in an ACL line, that ACL is satisfied by any object not explicitly listed by a NOT entry. Also, if an object matches a NOT entry, the associated job is excluded from the reservation even if it meets other ACL requirements. For example, a QoS 3 job requesting account projectX is denied access to the reservation even though the job QoS matches the QoS ACL.

Example 5: Binding Users to Reservations at Reservation Creation

# create a 4 node reservation for john and bind all of john's jobs to that reservation

> mrsvctl -c -a user=&john -t 4              

7.1.5.2.6 Reservation Ownership

Reservation ownership allows a site to control who owns the reserved resources during the reservation time frame. Depending on needs, this ownership may be identical to, a subset of, or completely distinct from the reservation ACL. By default, reservation ownership implies resource accountability and resources not consumed by jobs are accounted against the reservation owner. In addition, ownership can also be associated with special privileges within the reservation.

Ownership is specified using the OWNER attribute in the format <CREDTYPE>:<CREDID>, as in OWNER=USER:john. To enable john's jobs to preempt other jobs using resources within the reservation, the SRCFG attribute FLAG should be set to OWNERPREEMPT. In the example below, the jupiter project chooses to share resources with the saturn project but only when it does not currently need them.

Example 6: Limited Shared Access

ACCOUNTCFG[jupiter] PRIORITY=10000

SRCFG[jupiter] HOSTLIST=node0[1-9]
SRCFG[jupiter] PERIOD=INFINITY
SRCFG[jupiter] ACCOUNTLIST=jupiter,saturn-
SRCFG[jupiter] OWNER=ACCOUNT:jupiter
SRCFG[jupiter] FLAGS=OWNERPREEMPT
SRCFG[jupiter] PERIOD=INFINITY

7.1.5.2.7 Partitions

A reservation can be used in conjunction with a partition. Since HOSTLIST defaults to ALL, configuring a standing reservation on a partition allows constraints to be (indirectly) applied to a partition.

Example 7: Time Constraints by Partition

The following example places a 3-day wall-clock limit on two partitions and a 64 processor-hour limit on jobs running on partition small.

SRCFG[smallrsv] PARTITION=small MAXTIME=3:00:00:00 PSLIMIT<=230400
SRCFG[bigrsv] PARTITION=big MAXTIME=3:00:00:00

7.1.5.2.8 Resource Allocation Behavior

As mentioned, standing reservations can operate in one of two modes, floating, or non-floating (essentially node-locked). A floating reservation is created when the flag SPACEFLEX is specified. If a reservation is non-floating, the scheduler allocates all resources specified by the HOSTLIST parameter regardless of node state, job load, or even the presence of other standing reservations. Moab interprets the request for a non-floating reservation as, "I want a reservation on these exact nodes, no matter what!"

If a reservation is configured to be floating, the scheduler takes a more relaxed stand, searching through all possible nodes to find resources meeting standing reservation constraints. Only Idle, Running, or Busy nodes are considered and further, only considered if no reservation conflict is detected. The reservation attribute ACCESS modifies this behavior slightly and allows the reservation to allocate resources even if reservation conflicts exist.

NOTE: If a TASKCOUNT is specified with or without a HOSTEXPRESSION, Moab will, by default, only consider up nodes for allocation. To change this behavior, the reservation flag IGNSTATE can be specified as in the following example:

SRCFG[nettest] GROUPLIST=sysadm
SRCFG[nettest] FLAGS=IGNSTATE
SRCFG[nettest] HOSTLIST=node1[3-8]
SRCFG[nettest] STARTTIME=9:00:00
SRCFG[nettest] ENDTIME=17:00:00

NOTE: Access to existing reservations can be controlled using the reservation flag IGNRSV.

Other standing reservation attributes not covered here include PARTITION and CHARGEACCOUNT. These parameters are described in some detail in the parameters documentation.

Example 8: Using Reservations to Guarantee Turnover

In some cases, it is desirable to make certain a portion of a cluster's resources are available within a specific time frame. The following example creates a floating reservation belonging to the jupiter account that guarantees 16 tasks for use by jobs requesting up to one hour.

SRCFG[shortpool] OWNER=ACCOUNT:jupiter
SRCFG[shortpool] FLAGS=SPACEFLEX
SRCFG[shortpool] MAXTIME=1:00:00
SRCFG[shortpool] TASKCOUNT=16
SRCFG[shortpool] STARTTIME=9:00:00
SRCFG[shortpool] ENDTIME=17:00:00
SRCFG[shortpool] DAYS=Mon,Tue,Wed,Thu,Fri

This reservation enables a capability similar to what was known in early Maui releases as shortpool. The reservation covers every weekday from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., reserving 16 tasks and allowing jobs to overlap the reservation for up to one hour. The SPACEFLEX flag indicates that the reservation may be dynamically modified—float—over time to re-locate to more optimal resources. In the case of a reservation with the MAXTIME ACL, this would include migrating to resources that are in use but that free up within the MAXTIME time frame. Additionally, because the MAXTIME ACL defaults to positive affinity, any jobs that fit the ACL attempt to use available reserved resources first before looking elsewhere.

7.1.5.2.9 Rolling Reservations

Rolling reservations are enabled using the ROLLBACKOFFSET attribute and can be used to allow users guaranteed access to resources, but the guaranteed access is limited to a time-window in the future. This functionality forces users to commit their resources in the future or lose access.

Example 9: Rollback Reservations

SRCFG[ajax] ROLLBACKOFFSET=24:00:00 TASKCOUNT=32
SRCFG[ajax] PERIOD=INFINITY ACCOUNTLIST=ajax

7.1.5.2.10 Managing Periodic Jobs with Standing Reservations

Moab can submit a particular application to the queue and have it launch inside the standing reservation when it becomes active. This is done using the APPLICATION attribute. Moab will submit and run a job inside the reservation (on all the nodes included in the reservation, for the duration of the reservation).

Example 10: Launching Applications within Reservations

SRCFG[my_app] PERIOD=DAY DAY=MON,WED,FRI STARTTIME=7:00:00 ENDTIME=10:00:00
SRCFG[my_app] OWNER=user:jbob USERLIST=jbob
SRCFG[my_app] APPLICATION=/u/jbob/my_app

7.1.5.2.11 Modifying Resources with Standing Reservations

Moab can customize compute resources associated with a reservation during the life of the reservation. This can be done generally using the TRIGGER attribute, or it can be done for operating systems using the shortcut attribute OS. If set, Moab dynamically reprovisions allocated reservation nodes to the requested operating system as shown in the following example:

SRCFG[provision] PERIOD=DAY DAY=MON,WED,FRI STARTTIME=7:00:00 ENDTIME=10:00:00
SRCFG[provision] OS=rhel4  # provision nodes to use redhat during reservation, restore when done

7.1.5.3 Managing Administrative Reservations

A default reservation with no ACL is termed a SYSTEM reservation. It blocks access to all jobs because it possesses an empty access control list. It is often useful when performing administrative tasks but cannot be used for enforcing resource usage policies.

Administrative reservations are created and managed using the mrsvctl command. With this command, all aspects of reservation time frame, resource selection, and access control can be dynamically modified. The mdiag -r command can be used to view configuration, state, allocated resource information as well as identify any potential problems with the reservation. The following table briefly summarizes commands used for common actions. More detailed information is available in the command summaries.

See Also

• SRCFG (configure standing reservations)
• RSVPROFILE (create reservation profiles)