More on Queue Commands and Job Management

It is strongly advised that all heavy and time-consuming program executions be executed on Metis compute nodes. Any such program executed on the login node will be terminated.

Metis uses a resource manager (PBS) to control batch jobs and available resources for distributed high-performance computing. The following are the most basic and important tools that users can use to manage their jobs:

qsub

qsub - submit a pbs job

Syntax:    qsub [options] pbs_script_file

This creates and submits a pbs job in batch mode, wherein the task specified in the script file is executed in the background, using the resources specified in the script file or the options at time of job submission. The resource manager assigns an identification number (JobID) for the job, which the user can use to monitor and manage the job itself. For example:

user@metis qsub runmyjob.pbs

10125.cm

user@metis

The JobID assigned to the 'runmyjob.pbs' job is the leading number in the second line, which is 10125. Because the job is running in the background, all program output to standard out will be written to a log file. For the above example, the log file will be named ' runmyjob.pbs.o10125'. Messages printed to standard error can also appear in the same log file, or in a separate file named ' runmyjob.pbs.e10125'.

qstat

qstat - show status of pbs batch jobs

Syntax: qstat [options] [JobID]

Use this command to request the status of jobs, queues or batch servers. If JobID is not specified, a list of all the jobs currently running or waiting on the batch server will be printed. Job status can be checked under the 'S' column using the following legend:

R job is running

Q job is in queue, will start when resources are available

C job is finished

metis% qstat

metis%

qdel

qdel - delete pbs batch job

Syntax:    qdel [options] JobID

Use this command to delete a job on the server. If the job is still running, it will be terminated; otherwise, it will be removed from the queue.

Consult the main pages for qsub, qstat, and qdel for more details.