[Condor-users] SMP configuration

["Peter Myerscough-Jackopson" <peter.myerscough-jackopson@xxxxxxxxxx>]

I have just got hold of some dual processor dual core machines that I
wish to add to my condor pool.

I am wondering if there is anyway to set these machines so that jobs can
claim them in different ways.

Specifically I am interested to know if it is possible to set condor up
using either the startd config file or one of the universes so that a
job can claim a single core or single processor(two cores on the same
package sharing the same cache) or the whole machine. I'd also like it
so that if a single core is in use then the whole machine cannot be
claimed nor can the processor on which that single core resides. Is this
possible using condor?

I am aware of the NUM_CPUS directive, but it states in the documentation
that each VM can not reference the state of another VM. Ie, I can not
build a hierarchy of virtual machines depending on each other. Similarly
the mechanism for portioning load is per VM and there is no direct way
to reference that a VM is linked to a particular 'real' CPU or is the
sum of another VM.

Alternatively, is it possible for a job to request specific virtual
machines, (ie, VM1 and VM2 or VM3 and VM4 in the case of a 2 CPU job )
that reside on the same physical machine? (This assumes that VM1
receives cpu1 and VM2 receives cpu2 e.t.c.)

One solution to this could be setting each VM to have additional
attributes, ie, HOSTNAME and PHYSICAL_CPU_NUMBER. Then in a job file you
could request two VMs with matching HOSTNAMES and PHYSICAL_CPU_NUMBERS,
if in my case you wanted to claim 2 cores on the same physical CPU. Is
this possible using one of the universes as I don't feel like it is
possible in the vanilla universe....?

Thanks for any help or thoughts,

Peter

Ps. I have to run the computers under condor for windows, and the
machines in the above are 2 Xeon 5100s if that helps to clarify my
position.

Dr Peter Myerscough-Jackopson  -  Engineer
MULTIPLE ACCESS COMMUNICATIONS LIMITED
Delta House, The University of Southampton Science Park, Southampton,
SO16 7NS,
United Kingdom.
Tel: +44 (0)23 8076 7808 Fax: +44 (0)23 8076 0602
Web: http://www.macltd.com/  Email:
peter.myerscough-jackopson@xxxxxxxxxx