System requirements

The setup procedures will guide you through configuring your system to meet each requirement. However, you might find it helpful to understand the system requirements before you begin.

Requirements to install MultiCluster

MultiCluster is a licensed product; you will have to obtain a license from Platform Computing in order to run MultiCluster.

You can use MultiCluster to link two or more LSF clusters. Then, the participating clusters can be configured to share resources.

MultiCluster files are automatically installed by LSF’s regular Setup program (lsfinstall). Install LSF and make sure each cluster works properly as a standalone cluster before you proceed to configure MultiCluster.

Requirements for MultiCluster communication between 2 clusters

  • The local master host must be configured to communicate with the remote cluster:

    • The local cluster can only communicate with other clusters if they are specified in lsf.shared. .

    • If the RemoteClusters section in lsf.cluster.cluster_name is defined, the local cluster has a list of recognized clusters, and is only aware of those clusters.

  • The local master host must be able to contact the master host of the remote cluster:

    • The valid master host list for remote clusters is used to locate the current master host on that cluster and ensure that any remote host is a valid master host for its cluster.

    • Participating clusters must use the same port numbers for the LSF daemons RES, mbatchd, and sbatchd, and the LIM daemon. By default, all clusters have the identical settings.

Requirements for resource sharing between 2 clusters

  • The local cluster must use the same resource definitions as the remote cluster:

    • Clusters should have common definitions of host types, host models, and resources. Each cluster finds this information in lsf.shared.

  • A host cannot belong to more than one cluster.

  • The local cluster and the remote cluster must have compatible configurations, with the resource owner sharing the resource and the resource consumer seeking to use the resource.

Requirements for jobs to run across clusters

  • The user must have a valid user account in each cluster.

    • By default, LSF expects that the user accounts will have the same name in each cluster. If clusters do not share a file system and common user name space, you can configure account mapping.

  • LSF must be able to transfer job files and data files between clusters.

  • Dynamic IP addressing is not supported across clusters. LSF client hosts require a fixed IP address to communicate with a host that belongs to another cluster.

  • If you use floating client hosts, do not share lsf.conf files. You must configure separate lsf.conf files for each cluster.

  • If you use static clients (listed in lsf.cluster.cluster_name), you may choose to share one lsf.conf file across multiple clusters. LSF client hosts can only use servers in their local cluster, so if you do this, you must have at least one host from each cluster listed in the LSF_SERVER_HOSTS line. To improve performance, configure separate lsf.conf files for each cluster instead of sharing lsf.conf.