General Information
* Your name: * Your email address: * MIT status:
* denotes a required field (Your responses will be
used internally, for data collation only; contact information may be
used to inform you of project outcome, or if you indicate an interest in
possible pilot testing.)
Please characterize the types of long jobs you now run (or would
like to) on Athena:
What software do your jobs use?
How long does a typical job take, on what type of machine?
Are these jobs for a course, thesis, or other (please explain)?
With what department are these jobs associated?
Overview of Proposed Athena "longjobs" Service
Types of Jobs Supported
Key Features:
any software available on Athena cluster machines which is
capable of running in a non-interactive mode will be supported
programs which require an X display will NOT be supported
jobs will execute on machines comparable to cluster workstations
How much would the inability to run programs requiring an X display
hurt your ability to make good use of the service?
To what extent would you be satisfied with using standard
cluster hardware (in particular, CPU speed, disk size, memory)?
User Interaction
Key Features:
users could submit a job from any Athena workstation, via a
typical UNIX command line interface
a job would consist of a script of the same shell commands that
would be entered during a normal login session
jobs would execute from the user's Athena home directory
log files would optionally be emailed or saved to user's directory
users could monitor and control job status and be notified, via
email and/or Zephyr when a job begins and/or ends
authentication and authorization would be based on the user's
Kerberos principal
to deal with problems inherent in short-lived Kerberos tickets,
options may include forwarding a long-lived renewable ticket
examples of basic usage
Do you have a strong preference for an interface which prompts
for submission parameters? If so, text-based or graphical?
In the event a system failure prevents your job from completing,
what would you expect for notification/resolution?
To what extent would you be satisfied with the use of long-lived
Kerberos tickets? (technical details)
Job Scheduling
Key Features:
jobs would be queued, with positioning possibly adjusted for
fairness and prevention of abuse
each execution machine will run only one job at a time; no
contention for CPU cycles or other resources while the job runs
jobs would be subject to a strict limit of elapsed time, maximum
to be determined but probably on the order of a day or two
How necessary or useful would you consider a mechanism to reserve
access for course work or other special needs?
What would you consider an acceptable amount of time for a job
to wait in a queue before starting?
Would you want a way for the user to specify a job's priority?
Would there be an accounting or billing component?
It is an open question whether there would be an accounting or billing
component. Experience with prototype Athena batch facilities and with
other services leads us to be concerned that a completely unrestricted
longjobs service will be overused to the extent that those with real
needs could be frozen out and frustrated. Billing has the advantage
that it discourages abuse, and can provide a rate base to fund
expansion of a genuinely popular service. For course work, an
allotted quota of free time may be deemed more appropriate; some
other options are discussed in the service description .
What sort of accounting/billing model would be most appropriate?
Do you feel that a billing component would result in you
choosing not to use the system?
Do you believe that a billing component would be useful to
improve system availability? If not, are there other
alternatives you can suggest?
If fees are charged, what level would be acceptable? (e.g., one
ballpark estimate suggests a rate of $1/hour)
Would you be willing to pay different rates for different
levels of service? (e.g., more for rush jobs)
Additional Questions
In addition to the questions above, we would appreciate your answers
to the following:
How would you rate the overall suitability of the outlined solution
for your needs:
How much would you expect to use such a service? Please estimate
monthly usage in terms of:
Would you be interested in participating in pilot testing, if this
project moves ahead?
Please add any additional comments, questions, or suggestions:
Thank you!
