Request a specific cluster

You can specify cluster names when submitting jobs. If no cluster name is specified, a list of remote cluster names are presented.

The -clusters option has four keywords:

  • all: Specifies both local cluster and all remote clusters in the SNDJOBS_TO parameter of the target queue in lsb.queues. For example:

    bsub -clusters all -q <send queue>

    LSF will go through the SNDJOBS_TO parameter in lsb.queues to check whether asked clusters (except for the local cluster) are members of SNDJOBS_TO. If any cluster except the local cluster does not exist in SNDJOBS_TO, the job is rejected with an error message.

  • others: Sends the job to all clusters except for the clusters you specify. For example:

    bsub -clusters "c1+3 c2+1 others+2"

  • ~: Must be used with all to indicate the rest of the clusters, excluding the specified clusters.

  • +: When followed by a positive integer, specifies job level preference for requested clusters. For example:

    bsub -clusters "c1+2 c2+1"

Refer to the IBM Platform LSF Command Reference for details on command syntax.

If the local cluster name is local_c1, and SNDJOBS_TO=q1@rmt_c1 q2@rmt_c2 q3@rmt_c3, then the requested cluster should be local_c1 and rmt_c3. For example:

bsub -clusters "all ~rmt_c1 ~rmt_c2"

-clusters local_cluster restricts the job for dispatch to local hosts. To run a job on remote clusters only, use:

bsub -clusters "all ~local_cluster"

A job that only specifies remote clusters will not run on local hosts.

If there are multiple default queues, then when bsub -clusters remote_clusters is issued, the job is sent to the queue whose SNDJOBS_TO contains the requested clusters. For example:

bsub -clusters "c2" , DEFAULT_QUEUE=q1 q2, q1: SNDJOBS_TO=recvQ1@c1 recvQ2@c3, q2: SNDJOBS_TO=recvQ1@c1 recvQ2@c2

The job is sent to q2.