Running BATCH jobs
Unfortunately, Athena does not allow users to run programs while they are
logged out ("batch jobs"). If you have a program that requires a lot of
time to run, there are a couple of options you have to consider:
First, see if your department can help you out. A professor with an Athena
workstation on his or her desk may be willing to let you run a long job over
the weekend. (You will still need olc's help if your job will run longer
than your kerberos tickets will last, since once they expire you won't have
access to any lockers.)
Second, you can try using a workstation in Barker or Hayden, since the
library closes at night. If you are able to obtain one of those
workstations early enough to set up your job, be sure to turn on a
screensaver when you leave. You can use the xss screensaver
program for this. Type:
xss-button &
This should give you a small icon. To activate the screen saver, push
the middle mouse button with the mouse cursor on top of the icon and
drag the mouse to "Activate Screensaver" on the menu. Let go, and
your screen should lock.
Note that normally, after twenty minutes, this allows any user to reboot you
should he need the machine. If your job requires a longer run than
overnight, you should get back to that workstation as soon as Barker
re-opens or you will be logged out.
Finally, the Athena machines in the Building 37-332 cluster are
available for long unattended jobs from 5:00 PM Fridays until 8:00
AM Mondays. No machines will be logged out during this time. At
8:00 AM on Mondays any unattended machine from the weekend (or over
the 30 minute limit) will be logged out. We will monitor the use of
these machines, and may adjust the number of systems available for
this purpose accordingly.
last updated: 3/29/2002
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