Re: [Condor-users] [Birdbath] dynamically changing macro values

[Afrasyab Bashir <afrasyab@xxxxxxxxx>]

From: "Erik Paulson" <epaulson@xxxxxxxxxxx>

> When the startd sends a new ad, by default every 5 minutes, it always
> gets the latest version of all dyanmic values. It's independent of the
> polling_interval. If you set update_interval to 30 seconds, you'll
> get 30 second snapshots of dynamic values.
>
> The polling interval is very frequent, so if a resource owner comes back
> from lunch Condor quickly sees that reacts. It does not send update ads
> every polling interval.

Thanks Eric.

Does it mean that if an update_interval is set to 5 minutes then it would 
not update the values (rank, LoadAvg, swap) before its set time even when 
there is a drastic change in the rank of a machine, its swap memory and load 
etc? because if that's the case then that's what i would like to avoid but 
if that's not the case then what does update_interval mean?
Logically speaking, condor might be udating these values using its events as 
and when they occur i.e. acting over and above the update_interval in case 
there is a drastic change like LoadAvg > 0.5 etc. Update_interval might only 
be to let condor know that this is the time of update in case the values 
remain below the various cutoff levels that administrator has configured 
using macros. I am a bit confused about all this :)

Actually I have more than one condor pool lets say 4 condor pools. I want to 
schedule a job on a condor pool which has relatively lesser load, more swap 
etc. If I use expression I would need to put in a value like LoadAvg < 
whatever && Virtual Memory > whatever2 . Now if i am unaware of jobs' 
LoadAvg and Virtual Memory (swap) requirements then I can't replace 
'whatever' with actual values. Therefore, I would like to simply send a job 
to the pool which is ranked overall better than other three pools. I could 
have simply compared the rank itself but let's say that within last 4 
minutes 45 secs the situation has changed drastically

To do this, I would have to do polling myself (Frankly I want to do it in 
any of the cases). Now if I can't change the macros using birdbath then I 
should change the frequency of my polling. In order to do it, I need to know 
(using birdbath) that what's the update_interval (keeping in view that I am 
a birdbath user with no access to change the macros interactively). So that 
if i get a value of 5 minutes then I should schedule next poll after 5 
minutes. Situation is that at the moment I could check that a machine info 
was received at what time from "LastHeardFrom" but I can't find 
update_interval using birdbath. Moreover, I can't guarantee that a condor 
pool administrator has changed the update_interval or not. So could you tell 
me a solution to check that what's the frequency of update ? If I am not 
wrong then at the moment birdbath doesn't tell me this.

Thanks again
Afras