CI tests	galaxy releases

scicore.slurm

Configure a SLURM cluster

This role will configure:

slurm accounting daemon
slurm master daemon
slurm worker nodes
slurm submit hosts

Slurm users are automatically added to the slurm accounting db on the first job submission using a lua job submission plugin

Example inventory

master ansible_host=192.168.56.100 ansible_user=vagrant ansible_password=vagrant
submit ansible_host=192.168.56.101 ansible_user=vagrant ansible_password=vagrant
compute ansible_host=192.168.56.102 ansible_user=vagrant ansible_password=vagrant

[slurm_submit_hosts]
submit

[slurm_workers]
compute

Once you define your inventory make sure to define var "slurm_master_host" pointing to the hostname of your master host

Role Variables

# add all the slurm hosts to /etc/hosts in every machine
# ips come from ansible facts hostvars[ansible_hostname]['ansible_default_ipv4']['address']
slurm_update_etc_hosts_file: true

# point this var to a git repo if you have your slurm config in git
# slurm_config_git_repo: ""

# by default the role will deploy a lua submit plugin which will automatically add the users to the slurm accounting db
# Check "templates/job_submit.lua.j2" for details
slurm_config_deploy_lua_submit_plugin: true

# Use slurm configless https://slurm.schedmd.com/configless_slurm.html
# This feature requires slurm 20.02 or higher
# Only tested on RedHat systems but it should work on Ubuntu too if you install ubuntu20.02 or higher
slurm_configless: false

# Deploy required scripts in slurm master for cloud scheduling using openstack (https://slurm.schedmd.com/elastic_computing.html)
# This will deploy "ResumeProgram", "SuspendProgram" for slurm.conf
# and /etc/openstack/clouds.yaml with an application credential in the slurm master
# This requires a custom slurm.conf. Check "templates/slurm.conf.j2.cloud.example" for an example
# It's recommended to use [OpenStack's internal DNS resolution] (https://docs.openstack.org/neutron/latest/admin/config-dns-int.html#the-networking-service-internal-dns-resolution) 
slurm_openstack_cloud_scheduling: false
slurm_openstack_venv_path: /opt/venv_slurm
slurm_openstack_auth_url: https://my-openstack-cloud.com:5000/v3
slurm_openstack_application_credential_id: "4eeabeabcabdwe19451e1d892d1f7"
slurm_openstack_application_credential_secret: "supersecret1234"
slurm_openstack_region_name: "RegionOne"
slurm_openstack_interface: "public"
slurm_openstack_identity_api_version: 3
slurm_openstack_auth_type: "v3applicationcredential"

# slurm cluster name as defined in slurm.cfg
slurm_cluster_name: slurm-cluster

# set this var to the ansible_hostname of the slurm-master
slurm_master_host: slurm-master.cluster.com
# set this var to the ansible_hostname of the slurm-dbd host (same as slurm-master by default)
slurm_dbd_host: "{{ slurm_master_host }}"

# group in your ansible inventory including all the slurm workers
slurm_workers_group: slurm_workers

# group in your ansible inventory including all the submit hosts
slurm_submit_group: slurm_submit_hosts

# this is the setting "StateSaveLocation" in slurm.conf
slurm_slurmctld_spool_path: /var/spool/slurmctld

# this is the setting "SlurmdSpoolDir" in slurm.conf
slurm_slurmd_spool_path: /var/spool/slurmd

# settings for the slurm accounting daemon
slurm_slurmdbd_mysql_db_name: slurm
slurm_slurmdbd_mysql_user: slurm
slurm_slurmdbd_mysql_password: aadAD432saAdfaoiu

# slurm user and group which runs the slurm daemons
slurm_user:
  RedHat: "root"
  Debian: "slurm"

slurm_group:
  RedHat: "root"
  Debian: "slurm"

# EPEL is required to install slurm packages and some dependencies on CentOS/RedHat systems.
slurm_add_epel_repo: true

# You can set this to true to enable the openhpc yum repos on centos
# If you plan to use packages from openhpc you should also update the list of packages for RedHat below
slurm_add_openhpc_repo: false
slurm_ohpc_repos_url:
  rhel7: "https://github.com/openhpc/ohpc/releases/download/v1.3.GA/ohpc-release-1.3-1.el7.x86_64.rpm"
  rhel8: "http://repos.openhpc.community/OpenHPC/2/CentOS_8/x86_64/ohpc-release-2-1.el8.x86_64.rpm"

# slurm packages we install in every cluster member
slurm_packages_common:
  RedHat:
    - slurm
    - slurm-doc
    - slurm-contribs
  Debian:
    - slurm-client

# slurm packages we install only in master node
slurm_packages_master:
  RedHat:
    - slurm-slurmctld
    #  - slurm-slurmrestd
  Debian:
    - slurmctld

# slurm packages we install only in slurmdbd node
slurm_packages_slurmdbd:
  RedHat:
    - slurm-slurmdbd
    - mariadb-server
  Debian:
    - slurmdbd
    - mariadb-server

# slurm packages we install only in worker nodes
slurm_packages_worker:
  RedHat:
    - slurm-slurmd
    - vte-profile  # avoid error message "bash __vte_prompt_command command not found" on slurm interative shells
  Debian:
    - slurmd

Configuring slurm cloud scheduling for OpenStack

This role can configure your slurm cluster to use cloud scheduling on an OpenStack cloud.

Before you try to configure it it's recommeded to read the Slurm's cloud scheduling guide and Slurm's configless docs

Make sure that your OpenStack cloud has internal DNS resolution enabled. This is required so when a new node is booted its hostname can be resolved by the slurm master using the OpenStack internal DNS.

You should also check the example config file slurm.conf.j2.cloud.example provided with this role. slurm.conf.j2.cloud.example is provided as an example and you will need to adapt it to your specific needs and point the role var slurm_conf_custom_template to your custom config

Cloud scheduling config overview

As described in the slurm cloud scheduling docs, when a user submits a job to a cloud node the slurm master will execute the "ResumeProgram" defined in slurm.conf to boot the compute node in the cloud.
The ResumeProgram provided with this role is a python script which will use the OpenStack API to boot the compute nodes. This python script requires the OpenStack client, which is installed inside a virtualenv. The argument to the program is the names of nodes (using Slurm's hostlist expression format) to power up.
When a compute node is idle the slurm master will execute the SuspendProgram to stop the nodes. The argument to the program is the names of nodes (using Slurm's hostlist expression format) to power down.
The OpenStack options used to boot dynamic compute nodes (flavor, image, network, keypair and security groups) must be defined as node Features in slurm.conf e.g. NodeName=compute-dynamic-[01-04] CPUs=4 RealMemory=7820 State=CLOUD Features=image=centos7,flavor=m1.large,keypair=key123,network=slurm_network,security_groups=default|slurm
Both "ResumeProgram" and "SuspendProgram" require an OpenStack config file with valid credentials. This file is by default populated to "/etc/openstack/clouds.yaml" in the slurm master host. It's recommeded to use an OpenStack application credential. Check the template templates/clouds.yaml.j2 to find the required role variables to populate this config file.
Both "ResumeProgram" and "SuspendProgram" will write logs to "/var/log/messages" in the slurm master host. You can check this log for debugging purposes when booting cloud nodes.

Recommended approach to deploy slurm with OpenStack cloud scheduling

Make sure you have Slum 20.02 or higher in your repositories so you have support for slurm configless mode.

Boot at least 3 machines:

slurm master
slurm submit (login node)
slurm worker (this can be a small machine that we will use just to create an OpenStack image with the required config for the cloud compute nodes)

Populate your ansible inventory and add the machines to the right inventory groups referenced by role vars slurm_submit_group and slurm_workers_group.

Define role var slurm_master_host with the hostname of the slurm master. Every machine in the cluster should be able to resolve this hostname to the master's ip. Every machine in the cluster must be able to connect to this machine (review your security groups and local firewall)

Create a copy of slurm.conf.j2.cloud.example, adapt it to your needs and point the role var slurm_conf_custom_template to your config file. Your config file should provide a partition named "static" which only includes the slurm worker machine we booted before.

Define ansible var slurm_configless: true so the compute nodes are configured in configless mode. When a slurm worker is configured in configless mode slurmd daemon will contact the slurm master on first boot and will download slurm.conf to /var/run/slurm/conf/slurm.conf

Execute the role to configure all your machines and you should get a working slurm cluster with a single node in partition "static".

Now you can run your custom playbooks or scripts to customize the slurm worker e.g. add NFS mounts, install LDAP client, enable software modules, install extra software..etc

Create an OpenStack image from the machine in partition "static" which includes your required customizations. Check create-slurm-compute-node-image.yml for an example.

Update your copy of slurm.conf.j2.cloud.example and define the proper node features with the openstack image name, key name, network name and security groups. Rerun the playbook to deploy your updated config.