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Managing LSF Desktop Support


This chapter describes how to manage LSF desktop support, from starting and stopping desktop servers to managing upgrades to the desktop client software.

Contents

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Starting the Desktop Servers

Many of the components of the LSF desktop support start automatically when the desktop server is started. However, in some instances, you may need to start a component manually.

To start the desktop server:

  1. Make sure that Apache and Tomcat are started. If not, do the following:
    1. Log in as root.
    2. Change the directory to the LSF desktop support home directory:
      cd ACH_TOP/etc
      
    3. Run the following command:
      lsfac_daemons start
      
  2. Run the following command as LSF administrator:
    badmin hstartup host_name
    

    where host_name is the name of the desktop server. This starts the desktop server.

To start a desktop client manually:

  1. On the desktop client machine, go to the Services Control Panel.
  2. Find the service called SED in the list of services.
  3. Start SED.

To start EGO managed Web services manually

If EGO management of LSF desktop support services is enabled, you must use an EGO command to start a managed service.

From the command line, enter the command:

egosh service start LSFDesktopApache LSFDesktopTomcat

Important


With EGO management of LSF desktop support services enabled, you should not use the command lsfac_daemons to start Apache or Tomcat services. Instead, you should use the egosh command to start these services.

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Stopping the Desktop Servers

Use the following procedures to stop the LSF desktop support components.

To stop the desktop server:

  1. Run the following command as LSF administrator:
    badmin hshutdown host_name
    

    where host_name is the desktop server. This stops the desktop server.

  2. Stop Apache and Tomcat, by doing the following:
    1. Log in as root.
    2. Change the directory to the LSF desktop support home directory:
      cd ACH_TOP/etc
      
    3. Run the following command:
      lsfac_daemons stop
      

To stop a desktop client manually:

  1. On the desktop client machine, go to the Services Control Panel.
  2. Find the service SED in the list of services.
  3. Stop SED.

To stop EGO managed Web services manually

If EGO management of LSF desktop support services is enabled, you must use an EGO command to stop a managed service.

From the command line, enter the command:

egosh service stop LSFDesktopApache LSFDesktopTomcat

EGO shuts down Apache and Tomcat services on all LSF desktop support hosts.

Important


With EGO management of LSF desktop support services enabled, you should not use the command lsfac_daemons to stop Apache or Tomcat services. Instead, you should use the egosh command to stop these services.

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Authenticating Users and Controlling User Access

This section describes digest authentication. By default, digest authentication is disabled. If you have not enabled digest authentication, as described in Converting the LSF Server Host to a Desktop Server, you can skip this section.

User authentication

The desktop server installation creates two digest-authenticated logins within the Apache configuration.

The following users are created:

User name Password Purpose
desktop
desktop
Administrative access to the servlet Web pages.
admin
admin
For the desktop clients to authenticate when requesting work and transferring files.

The following groups are created that contain the users:

To modify a user password:

  1. Change to: $ACH_TOP/apache/bin/htdigest
  2. Type: $ACH_TOP/apache/conf/digest.db ActiveCluster user_name, where you want to change the password for the specified user name.


    Note: If you want to create a new password file (digest.db), use the -c option. For example, type: htdigest [ -c ] digest.db ActiveCluster user_name

  3. When prompted, follow on-screen instructions to change the password. Note that once you enter the password, it is hashed and encrypted by the MD5 algorithm.


    Note: Digest passwords cannot be longer than eight characters.

For information on adding additional users, refer to the Apache documentation.

Controlling User Access to Directories

You can use digest authentication, described in Authenticating Users and Controlling User Access, to control access to directories.

The Apache server configuration file (httpd.config) used by the desktop server has directives to control access using digest authentication. An administrator can change which groups or users have permission to access which directories and locations. The desktop server installation configures security as follows:

This directory.... Can be accessed by these groups...
lsf_datadir/*
admin and desktop
SED/*
admin and desktop
stats/*
admin
servlet/SedSoap
admin and desktop
servlet/DynamicSedConfig
admin and desktop
servlet/P2PStatus
admin
servlet/StatusViewer
admin

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Viewing Overall Job Statistics

When you want to see overall job statistics in LSF desktop support, you can use the LSF desktop support Web page. This option is available only if your site uses directory services.

To view overall job statistics for the LSF desktop support environment:

  1. Open a Web browser.
  2. Go to http://host_name/servlet/Statistics, where host_name is the name of the LSF desktop support Directory Services host. The Status page is displayed in XML format.

    The following statistics are displayed:

    • <TotalPCs>--The number of unique desktops participating
    • <NumberOfDownloadedJobs>--The number of jobs downloaded
    • <NumberOfCompletedJobs>--The number of jobs completed
    • <HarvestCPUTime>--The amount of CPU time (in seconds) harvested in this project

    The statistics are updated every five minutes.

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Viewing the Job Statistics of a Desktop Server

When you want to see the status of the desktop servers at a glance, you can use the LSF desktop support Web pages.

To view the job statistics of a desktop server:

  1. In a Web browser, open http://host_name, where host_name is the name of the desktop server.


    Note: You will be prompted to log in with the user name and password defined in in $APACHE_HOME/conf/digest.db.

  2. Click the View hosts and queued jobs link.

    The Status page opens.

  3. Click Host Activity. The Host Activity page opens.

    The Host Activity page displays the following information:

    • The number of jobs done within a certain number of hours
    • The number of jobs exited within a certain number of hours
    • The total desktop client CPU time (in seconds) used within a certain number of hours

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Viewing the Status of a Job

You can look at the status of one or more jobs in the LSF desktop support using the LSF desktop support Web pages.

To view the status of one or more jobs:

  1. In a Web browser, open http://host_name, where host_name is the name of the desktop server.


    Note: You will be prompted to log in with the user name and password defined in in $APACHE_HOME/conf/digest.db.

  2. Click the View hosts and queued jobs link.

    The Status page opens.

  3. Click Job Status. The Job Status page opens.

    The Job Status page displays the following information:

    • Running Jobs--The number of jobs running in LSF desktop support
    • Waiting Jobs--The number of jobs waiting in LSF desktop support
    • Completed Jobs--The number of jobs completed in LSF desktop support
    • Downloaded Jobs From Desktop Server--The number of jobs the desktop client downloaded from WS.


      Downloaded Jobs in previous releases has changed to Downloaded Jobs From Desktop Server to distinguish it from Downloaded Jobs From LSF Master.

    • Dispatched Jobs--The number of jobs MED dispatched to WS. This number includes re-dispatched jobs.
    • Redispatched Jobs--The number of jobs MED redispatched to WS. Redispatch can occur, for example, when a user pauses a running job. MED will delete the old job from WS and redispatch the job to WS.
    • Downloaded Jobs From LSF Master--The total number of jobs the LSF master host (mbatchd) dispatched to the LSF desktop support server (MED).
    • Downloaded Jobs From LSF Master Today--The number of jobs mbatchd dispatched to MED today.
    • A list of all jobs in the LSF desktop support by job ID:
      • The current status of each job
      • If the job is running, it indicates on which desktop client it is running
      • If the job recently completed, it indicates the time it took to run, and the actual CPU time used

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Viewing Desktop Client Statistics

You can view the following information about a desktop client:

To view the desktop client job statistics:

  1. In a Web browser, open http://host_name, where host_name is the name of the desktop server.


    Note: You will be prompted to log in with the user name and password defined in in $APACHE_HOME/conf/digest.db.

  2. Click the View hosts and queued jobs link.

    The Status page opens.

  3. Click Desktop Activity. The Desktop Activity page opens.

    The Desktop Activity page displays the following information:

    • A list of the desktop clients that ran work since midnight
    • The number of jobs done in the last hour on each desktop client
    • The number of jobs exited in the last hour on each desktop client
    • The total CPU time (in seconds) used in the last hour on each desktop client

To view the desktop client status:

  1. In a Web browser, open http://host_name, where host_name is the name of the desktop server.


    Note: You will be prompted to log in with the user name and password defined in in $APACHE_HOME/conf/digest.db.

  2. Click the View participating hosts link.

    The Desktop Status page opens.


    Tip: You can also access the Desktop Status page by selecting Desktop Status for the Status page for a particular host.

    The Desktop Status page displays the following information:

    • Desktop ID--A list of the desktop clients in this LSF desktop support
    • Version--The current version of the desktop client
    • Plug-in Version--The plug-in version of the desktop client
    • First Login--The date the desktop client first requested work
    • Last Login--The last time the desktop client requested work or returned status
    • Jobs--The number of jobs run by each desktop client
    • Status--The current status of the desktop client

Desktop client status

Idle--The desktop client can run a job but has not downloaded a job from the desktop server. By default, reported every 300 seconds when SED is idle.

Running--SED is running a job. By default, reported every 300 seconds when a job is running.

Suspend in Power saving mode--Desktop goes to power saving mode, for example, the desktop user selects Stand by from Windows shut down dialog to switch the system to power-saving mode.

Suspend in Screensaver mode--The desktop client is running in screen saver mode (Run when screen saver runs), and the screen saver stops running.

Suspend in Idle mode--The desktop client is running in idle mode (Run when idle), and the desktop client switches from idle to not idle. In idle mode, taking any action when the console is idle while a job is running, changes the status to Suspend in Idle mode.

Suspend in Logon mode--The desktop client is running in logon mode (Run when not logged on), and a user logs on to the desktop client.

Stop--The desktop client service is stopped. For example, in Run always mode, stops the SED service while a job is running changes the status to Stop.

Opt out--The desktop client is paused by user (Pause for 8 hours).

Unknown--The desktop client service has not reported for a long time (by default, for more than 600 seconds); for example, while the Tomcat application server is restarting.

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Viewing the State of EGO Managed Services

If EGO management of LSF desktop support services is enabled, you can use an EGO command to view the state of all managed services.

View the status of EGO services

From the command line, enter the command egosh service list

The state of each EGO service is displayed:

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Determining Which Desktop Clients are Active

You can see a list of desktop clients that are currently running jobs in an LSF desktop support.

To see which desktop clients are active:

  1. In a Web browser, open http://host_name, where host_name is the name of the desktop server.


    Note: You will be prompted to log in with the user name and password defined in in $APACHE_HOME/conf/digest.db.

  2. Click the View hosts and queued jobs link.

    The Status page opens.

  3. Click Active Desktops. The Active Desktops page opens.

    The Active Desktops page displays the following information:

    • A list of all the desktop clients in this environment that have run LSF desktop support jobs since midnight
    • The total number of active desktop clients in this environment since midnight

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Controlling Desktop Client Access

Overview

Under certain circumstances, you may want to restrict a desktop client's access to the desktop server to prevent it from requesting work. For example:

You can create either kind of list, depending on how many desktop clients you need to add to either list. For example, if you want to exclude only a few desktop clients, then you should create a blacklist, while if you want include only a few desktop clients, then you should create a whitelist.


Note: If you create both a blacklist and a whitelist, and the same desktop client is in both lists, then it is excluded from LSF desktop support, and cannot request work.

Identifying desktop clients

You can identify desktop clients in these lists using:

There are two ways to control which desktop clients can request work:

Default settings

The following table displays the default settings for how frequently hosts on these lists connect to the desktop server to request work:

Host type How frequently the hosts connect to the desktop server to request work
Hosts on the blacklist
every 30 days
Hosts on the whitelist
every 5 minutes
Other hosts
every 24 hours

To modify these settings, edit the following parameters in wscache.conf:

BLACKLIST_POLL_INTERVAL
WHITELIST_POLL_INTERVAL
DEFAULT_POLL_INTERVAL

Denying access to a desktop client has no impact on any jobs it is currently running. However, the next time the desktop client requests a new job, it will be told there are no new jobs. It will continue to request a new job at the specified polling interval until you remove the desktop client ID from the list of locked out desktop clients. For information on setting the polling interval for desktop clients, see Modifying the polling intervals.


Note for users upgrading from a previous version of ActiveCluster: Previous versions of ActiveCluster (now LSF desktop support) used the ACH_TOP/wscache/deny.lst file to create a blacklist. In the interests of backward compatibility, any hosts in deny.lst are denied access. If a machine is specified in both deny.lst and allow.xml, it is denied access. If you modify deny.lst, you need to restart the Web server for your changes to take effect.

Sample blacklist and whitelist files

The sample files allow.xml.sample and deny.xml.sample are in the folder specified by the CONFIGDIRECTORY parameter in install.config. If CONFIGDIRECTORY is not defined, the default folder is $ACH_TOP/config. These files are owned by root and have access permission mode 644, so that the Web server can read them.

Using a blacklist to deny access to a desktop client

To block a host, you must create a blacklist containing its ID.

  1. Create or open the file deny.xml for editing.
    • You require root authority to edit this file.
    • This file requires permission mode 644 so that the Web server can read it.
    • This file should be in the folder specified by the CONFIGDIRECTORY parameter in install.config. If CONFIGDIRECTORY is not defined, the default folder is $ACH_TOP/config. This is described in greater detail in Converting the LSF Server Host to a Desktop Server.


      Note: If CONFIGDIRECTORY is not defined, and deny.xml does not exist in $ACH_TOP/config and /usr/local/lsfac/wscache, the Web server considers deny.xml to be undefined, and there is no blacklisting control over desktop client requests for jobs.

  2. Add the desktop client ID for the desktop client to exclude from LSF desktop support, using one of the formats described in Specifying a desktop client in a list.
  3. Save the file.

Using a whitelist to allow host access to a desktop client

To whitelist a host, you must create a whitelist containing its ID.

  1. Create or open the file allow.xml for editing.
    • You require root authority to edit this file.
    • This file requires permission mode 644 so that the Web server can read it.
    • This file should be in the folder specified by the CONFIGDIRECTORY parameter in install.config. If CONFIGDIRECTORY is not defined, the default folder is $ACH_TOP/config. This is described in greater detail in Converting the LSF Server Host to a Desktop Server.


      Note: If CONFIGDIRECTORY is not defined, and allow.xml does not exist in $ACH_TOP/config and /usr/local/lsfac/wscache, the Web server considers allow.xml to be undefined, and there is no whitelisting control over desktop client requests for jobs.

  2. Add the desktop client ID for the desktop client to include in LSF desktop support, using one of the formats described in Specifying a desktop client in a list.
  3. Save the file.

Specifying a desktop client in a list

You can specify desktop clients in a blacklist or a whitelist using:

Both the blacklist (deny.xml) and the whitelist (allow.xml) have the same structure and use the following DTD (document type definition):

<!ELEMENT hostlist (host*)>
<!ELEMENT host (#PCDATA)>
<!ATTLIST host kind CDATA #IMPLIED>

where the kind attribute is IP (default) or SEDID:

Suppose that deny.xml has the following content:

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<hostlist>
<host kind="SEDID">MY_PC</host>
<host>123.45.67.89</host>
<host kind="IP">123.45.*.*</host>
<host>123.45.67.1-5</host>
</hostlist>

then LSF desktop support blocks the following hosts:

The desktop server automatically detects the creation or modification of the blacklist or whitelist.

Modifying the polling intervals

You can specify separate polling intervals, in seconds, for blacklisted, whitelisted, and other desktop clients in $TOMCAT_HOME/wscache.conf.

These polling intervals override the setting for the SEDPollInterval parameter in the $ACH_TOP/config/SEDConfig.xml. If any of these properties is not defined, the setting for SEDPollInterval in $ACH_TOP/config/SEDConfig.xml is used instead. For information on this parameter, see Changing the time between work requests from an idle desktop client.

For example, the following configuration sets the polling interval for blacklisted hosts to 24 hours, whitelisted hosts to 5 minutes, and all others to 30 minutes:

BLACKLIST_POLL_INTERVAL=86400
WHITELIST_POLL_INTERVAL=300
DEFAULT_POLL_INTERVAL=1800

If you change the blacklist, whitelist or default poll intervals, you must restart the desktop server for the new values to take effect.

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Managing Desktop Client Availability

Depending on the kind of work the desktop client user does, and how compute- intensive it is, the desktop client user may want to limit the amount of time in which the desktop client processes LSF desktop support jobs. The desktop client user can choose from four methods:

In any mode, the desktop client user can pause the desktop client for eight hours. The desktop client stops any currently running job and waits until the time period elapses before requesting another job. Rebooting the machine resumes the desktop client processing.

Specifying the desktop client mode

  1. Right-click the LSF desktop support icon in the system tray. The desktop client menu opens.
  2. In the menu, click Details. The desktop client control panel opens.

  3. Select one of the desktop client modes described above.
  4. Click OK to close the desktop client panel.


Note: If the SEDModeSelectableByUser parameter is set to no in SEDConfig.xml, information about the desktop client mode is not displayed.

Pausing desktop client processing

  1. Right-click the Platform LSF Desktop icon in the system tray. The desktop client menu opens.
  2. In the menu, select Pause for 8 hours.


    Note: If the SEDOptoutInterval parameter in SEDConfig.xml has been modified from its default value of 28800 seconds (eight hours), another interval is displayed in the menu. For information on modifying the interval for which the desktop client pauses, see Setting the time period for which a desktop client pauses.

    The desktop client will not run jobs until either the configured time period has elapsed or the desktop client user selects Resume on the desktop client menu.


Note: The Pause option is disabled if the SEDModeSelectableByUser parameter is set to no in SEDConfig.xml.

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Displaying Current Contribution of the Desktop Client

Depending on your particular work environment, those users whose desktop clients are running jobs in an LSF desktop support may want to know what their contribution to the computations has been. Users can see the following statistics about their desktop clients from the Details option:

To display the current desktop client contribution:

  1. Right-click on the LSF desktop support icon in the system tray. The desktop client menu opens.
  2. From the menu, choose Details. The Platform LSF desktop support panel opens, showing the current statistics.
    • If SEDModeSelectableByUser is set to yes in sedsetup.cmd before the silent installation or afterward in SEDConfig.xml, the Platform LSF Desktop desktop client control panel opens.

    • If SEDModeSelectableByUser is set to no in sedsetup.cmd before the silent installation or afterward in SEDConfig.xml, the following control panels opens.

For information on SEDModeSelectableByUser, see Installing the Desktop Client or Configuring Desktop Clients.

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Specifying How Frequently the Desktop Server Submits a Job

In general, if the job on the desktop client does not complete successfully, the desktop server resubmits it up to the number of times specified by the LSB_MED_MAX_JOB_DISPATCH parameter in lsf.conf. By default, this is 5. For information on modifying lsf.conf, see the Platform LSF Reference.

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Upgrading

You need to be aware that upgrading LSF will affect your LSF desktop support, because the upgrade may replace the desktop server daemon with a standard LSF slave batch daemon. Note that the upgrade procedure only updates the desktop client, it does not rerun the installation or change any configuration settings.

When you upgrade LSF:

  1. Upgrade LSF.
  2. Move the new sbatchd to sbatchd.lsf.
  3. Create an sbatchd link pointing to sbatchd.ac.

To upgrade a desktop client:

The desktop client software is designed to self-upgrade after it is installed. It looks periodically for a new version of the software.

  1. Download the latest version of sedupd.exe from ftp.platform.com.


    Note: The sedupd.exe file is included with patch kits.

  2. Copy the executable to the same directory as that specified in SEDLatestVersionURL in CONFIGDIRECTORY/SEDConfig.xml.

    If you have multiple desktop servers, you need to copy the executable to each host location.

  3. Set the permissions of sedupd.exe to 755.
  4. In the file SEDConfig.xml, in the SEDLatestVersion parameter, specify the exact version number of the desktop client software and save the file. Each desktop client will check periodically for a change in the version. When it detects a change, it goes to the location specified and gets the new executable, which it installs automatically.
  5. When the desktop client is upgraded, a new SEDSystray is installed on the desktop client. However, it must be started manually. Have the desktop client user restart it as follows:
    1. From the Start menu, select Programs.
    2. Select Platform LSF Desktop > Show Icon.

To downgrade a desktop client:

The desktop client software is designed to self-upgrade after it is installed. It looks periodically for a new version of the software. However, if you want to revert to an older version of the desktop client, you can.

  1. In SEDConfig.xml, enable downgrade of the desktop clients, by adding the following line:

    <SEDDowngradeEnabled>yes</SEDDowngradeEnabled>

  2. Copy the desired version of sedupd.exe to the same directory as that specified in SEDLatestVersionURL in CONFIGDIRECTORY/SEDConfig.xml.


    Note: The sedupd.exe file is included with patch kits.

    If you have multiple desktop servers, you need to copy the executable to each host location.

  3. Set the permissions of sedupd.exe to 755.
  4. In the file SEDConfig.xml, in the SEDLatestVersion parameter, specify the exact version number of the desktop client software and save the file. Each desktop client will check periodically for a change in the version. When it detects a change, it will look to see if the variable SEDDowngradeEnabled is set to yes. If it is, the desktop client goes to the location specified and gets the executable, which it installs automatically.

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      Date Modified: January 29, 2009
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