Provided by: slurm-client_21.08.5-2ubuntu1_amd64 
NAME
salloc - Obtain a Slurm job allocation (a set of nodes), execute a command, and then release the
allocation when the command is finished.
SYNOPSIS
salloc [OPTIONS(0)...] [ : [OPTIONS(N)...]] [command(0) [args(0)...]]
Option(s) define multiple jobs in a co-scheduled heterogeneous job. For more details about heterogeneous
jobs see the document
https://slurm.schedmd.com/heterogeneous_jobs.html
DESCRIPTION
salloc is used to allocate a Slurm job allocation, which is a set of resources (nodes), possibly with
some set of constraints (e.g. number of processors per node). When salloc successfully obtains the
requested allocation, it then runs the command specified by the user. Finally, when the user specified
command is complete, salloc relinquishes the job allocation.
The command may be any program the user wishes. Some typical commands are xterm, a shell script
containing srun commands, and srun (see the EXAMPLES section). If no command is specified, then salloc
runs the user's default shell.
The following document describes the influence of various options on the allocation of cpus to jobs and
tasks.
https://slurm.schedmd.com/cpu_management.html
NOTE: The salloc logic includes support to save and restore the terminal line settings and is designed to
be executed in the foreground. If you need to execute salloc in the background, set its standard input to
some file, for example: "salloc -n16 a.out </dev/null &"
RETURN VALUE
If salloc is unable to execute the user command, it will return 1 and print errors to stderr. Else if
success or if killed by signals HUP, INT, KILL, or QUIT: it will return 0.
COMMAND PATH RESOLUTION
If provided, the command is resolved in the following order:
1. If command starts with ".", then path is constructed as: current working directory / command
2. If command starts with a "/", then path is considered absolute.
3. If command can be resolved through PATH. See path_resolution(7).
4. If command is in current working directory.
Current working directory is the calling process working directory unless the --chdir argument is passed,
which will override the current working directory.
OPTIONS
-A, --account=<account>
Charge resources used by this job to specified account. The account is an arbitrary string. The
account name may be changed after job submission using the scontrol command.
--acctg-freq=<datatype>=<interval>[,<datatype>=<interval>...]
Define the job accounting and profiling sampling intervals in seconds. This can be used to
override the JobAcctGatherFrequency parameter in the slurm.conf file. <datatype>=<interval>
specifies the task sampling interval for the jobacct_gather plugin or a sampling interval for a
profiling type by the acct_gather_profile plugin. Multiple comma-separated <datatype>=<interval>
pairs may be specified. Supported datatype values are:
task Sampling interval for the jobacct_gather plugins and for task profiling by the
acct_gather_profile plugin.
NOTE: This frequency is used to monitor memory usage. If memory limits are enforced
the highest frequency a user can request is what is configured in the slurm.conf file.
It can not be disabled.
energy Sampling interval for energy profiling using the acct_gather_energy plugin.
network Sampling interval for infiniband profiling using the acct_gather_interconnect plugin.
filesystem Sampling interval for filesystem profiling using the acct_gather_filesystem plugin.
The default value for the task sampling interval is 30 seconds. The default value for all other
intervals is 0. An interval of 0 disables sampling of the specified type. If the task sampling
interval is 0, accounting information is collected only at job termination (reducing Slurm
interference with the job).
Smaller (non-zero) values have a greater impact upon job performance, but a value of 30 seconds is
not likely to be noticeable for applications having less than 10,000 tasks.
--bb=<spec>
Burst buffer specification. The form of the specification is system dependent. Note the burst
buffer may not be accessible from a login node, but require that salloc spawn a shell on one of
its allocated compute nodes. When the --bb option is used, Slurm parses this option and creates a
temporary burst buffer script file that is used internally by the burst buffer plugins. See
Slurm's burst buffer guide for more information and examples:
https://slurm.schedmd.com/burst_buffer.html
--bbf=<file_name>
Path of file containing burst buffer specification. The form of the specification is system
dependent. Also see --bb. Note the burst buffer may not be accessible from a login node, but
require that salloc spawn a shell on one of its allocated compute nodes. See Slurm's burst buffer
guide for more information and examples:
https://slurm.schedmd.com/burst_buffer.html
--begin=<time>
Defer eligibility of this job allocation until the specified time.
Time may be of the form HH:MM:SS to run a job at a specific time of day (seconds are optional).
(If that time is already past, the next day is assumed.) You may also specify midnight, noon,
fika (3 PM) or teatime (4 PM) and you can have a time-of-day suffixed with AM or PM for running in
the morning or the evening. You can also say what day the job will be run, by specifying a date
of the form MMDDYY or MM/DD/YY YYYY-MM-DD. Combine date and time using the following format
YYYY-MM-DD[THH:MM[:SS]]. You can also give times like now + count time-units, where the time-units
can be seconds (default), minutes, hours, days, or weeks and you can tell Slurm to run the job
today with the keyword today and to run the job tomorrow with the keyword tomorrow. The value may
be changed after job submission using the scontrol command. For example:
--begin=16:00
--begin=now+1hour
--begin=now+60 (seconds by default)
--begin=2010-01-20T12:34:00
Notes on date/time specifications:
- Although the 'seconds' field of the HH:MM:SS time specification is allowed by the code, note
that the poll time of the Slurm scheduler is not precise enough to guarantee dispatch of the job
on the exact second. The job will be eligible to start on the next poll following the specified
time. The exact poll interval depends on the Slurm scheduler (e.g., 60 seconds with the default
sched/builtin).
- If no time (HH:MM:SS) is specified, the default is (00:00:00).
- If a date is specified without a year (e.g., MM/DD) then the current year is assumed, unless
the combination of MM/DD and HH:MM:SS has already passed for that year, in which case the next
year is used.
--bell Force salloc to ring the terminal bell when the job allocation is granted (and only if stdout is a
tty). By default, salloc only rings the bell if the allocation is pending for more than ten
seconds (and only if stdout is a tty). Also see the option --no-bell.
-D, --chdir=<path>
Change directory to path before beginning execution. The path can be specified as full path or
relative path to the directory where the command is executed.
--cluster-constraint=<list>
Specifies features that a federated cluster must have to have a sibling job submitted to it. Slurm
will attempt to submit a sibling job to a cluster if it has at least one of the specified
features.
-M, --clusters=<string>
Clusters to issue commands to. Multiple cluster names may be comma separated. The job will be
submitted to the one cluster providing the earliest expected job initiation time. The default
value is the current cluster. A value of 'all' will query to run on all clusters. Note that the
SlurmDBD must be up for this option to work properly.
--comment=<string>
An arbitrary comment.
-C, --constraint=<list>
Nodes can have features assigned to them by the Slurm administrator. Users can specify which of
these features are required by their job using the constraint option. Only nodes having features
matching the job constraints will be used to satisfy the request. Multiple constraints may be
specified with AND, OR, matching OR, resource counts, etc. (some operators are not supported on
all system types). Supported constraint options include:
Single Name
Only nodes which have the specified feature will be used. For example,
--constraint="intel"
Node Count
A request can specify the number of nodes needed with some feature by appending an asterisk
and count after the feature name. For example, --nodes=16 --constraint="graphics*4 ..."
indicates that the job requires 16 nodes and that at least four of those nodes must have
the feature "graphics."
AND If only nodes with all of specified features will be used. The ampersand is used for an
AND operator. For example, --constraint="intel&gpu"
OR If only nodes with at least one of specified features will be used. The vertical bar is
used for an OR operator. For example, --constraint="intel|amd"
Matching OR
If only one of a set of possible options should be used for all allocated nodes, then use
the OR operator and enclose the options within square brackets. For example,
--constraint="[rack1|rack2|rack3|rack4]" might be used to specify that all nodes must be
allocated on a single rack of the cluster, but any of those four racks can be used.
Multiple Counts
Specific counts of multiple resources may be specified by using the AND operator and
enclosing the options within square brackets. For example,
--constraint="[rack1*2&rack2*4]" might be used to specify that two nodes must be allocated
from nodes with the feature of "rack1" and four nodes must be allocated from nodes with the
feature "rack2".
NOTE: This construct does not support multiple Intel KNL NUMA or MCDRAM modes. For example,
while --constraint="[(knl&quad)*2&(knl&hemi)*4]" is not supported,
--constraint="[haswell*2&(knl&hemi)*4]" is supported. Specification of multiple KNL modes
requires the use of a heterogeneous job.
Brackets
Brackets can be used to indicate that you are looking for a set of nodes with the different
requirements contained within the brackets. For example,
--constraint="[(rack1|rack2)*1&(rack3)*2]" will get you one node with either the "rack1" or
"rack2" features and two nodes with the "rack3" feature. The same request without the
brackets will try to find a single node that meets those requirements.
NOTE: Brackets are only reserved for Multiple Counts and Matching OR syntax. AND operators
require a count for each feature inside square brackets (i.e. "[quad*2&hemi*1]").
Parenthesis
Parenthesis can be used to group like node features together. For example,
--constraint="[(knl&snc4&flat)*4&haswell*1]" might be used to specify that four nodes with
the features "knl", "snc4" and "flat" plus one node with the feature "haswell" are
required. All options within parenthesis should be grouped with AND (e.g. "&") operands.
--container=<path_to_container>
Absolute path to OCI container bundle.
--contiguous
If set, then the allocated nodes must form a contiguous set.
NOTE: If SelectPlugin=cons_res this option won't be honored with the topology/tree or
topology/3d_torus plugins, both of which can modify the node ordering.
-S, --core-spec=<num>
Count of specialized cores per node reserved by the job for system operations and not used by the
application. The application will not use these cores, but will be charged for their allocation.
Default value is dependent upon the node's configured CoreSpecCount value. If a value of zero is
designated and the Slurm configuration option AllowSpecResourcesUsage is enabled, the job will be
allowed to override CoreSpecCount and use the specialized resources on nodes it is allocated.
This option can not be used with the --thread-spec option.
--cores-per-socket=<cores>
Restrict node selection to nodes with at least the specified number of cores per socket. See
additional information under -B option above when task/affinity plugin is enabled.
NOTE: This option may implicitly set the number of tasks (if -n was not specified) as one task per
requested thread.
--cpu-freq=<p1>[-p2[:p3]]
Request that job steps initiated by srun commands inside this allocation be run at some requested
frequency if possible, on the CPUs selected for the step on the compute node(s).
p1 can be [#### | low | medium | high | highm1] which will set the frequency scaling_speed to the
corresponding value, and set the frequency scaling_governor to UserSpace. See below for definition
of the values.
p1 can be [Conservative | OnDemand | Performance | PowerSave] which will set the scaling_governor
to the corresponding value. The governor has to be in the list set by the slurm.conf option
CpuFreqGovernors.
When p2 is present, p1 will be the minimum scaling frequency and p2 will be the maximum scaling
frequency.
p2 can be [#### | medium | high | highm1] p2 must be greater than p1.
p3 can be [Conservative | OnDemand | Performance | PowerSave | SchedUtil | UserSpace] which will
set the governor to the corresponding value.
If p3 is UserSpace, the frequency scaling_speed will be set by a power or energy aware scheduling
strategy to a value between p1 and p2 that lets the job run within the site's power goal. The job
may be delayed if p1 is higher than a frequency that allows the job to run within the goal.
If the current frequency is < min, it will be set to min. Likewise, if the current frequency is >
max, it will be set to max.
Acceptable values at present include:
#### frequency in kilohertz
Low the lowest available frequency
High the highest available frequency
HighM1 (high minus one) will select the next highest available frequency
Medium attempts to set a frequency in the middle of the available range
Conservative attempts to use the Conservative CPU governor
OnDemand attempts to use the OnDemand CPU governor (the default value)
Performance attempts to use the Performance CPU governor
PowerSave attempts to use the PowerSave CPU governor
UserSpace attempts to use the UserSpace CPU governor
The following informational environment variable is set in the job
step when --cpu-freq option is requested.
SLURM_CPU_FREQ_REQ
This environment variable can also be used to supply the value for the CPU frequency request if it
is set when the 'srun' command is issued. The --cpu-freq on the command line will override the
environment variable value. The form on the environment variable is the same as the command line.
See the ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES section for a description of the SLURM_CPU_FREQ_REQ variable.
NOTE: This parameter is treated as a request, not a requirement. If the job step's node does not
support setting the CPU frequency, or the requested value is outside the bounds of the legal
frequencies, an error is logged, but the job step is allowed to continue.
NOTE: Setting the frequency for just the CPUs of the job step implies that the tasks are confined
to those CPUs. If task confinement (i.e., TaskPlugin=task/affinity or TaskPlugin=task/cgroup with
the "ConstrainCores" option) is not configured, this parameter is ignored.
NOTE: When the step completes, the frequency and governor of each selected CPU is reset to the
previous values.
NOTE: When submitting jobs with the --cpu-freq option with linuxproc as the ProctrackType can
cause jobs to run too quickly before Accounting is able to poll for job information. As a result
not all of accounting information will be present.
--cpus-per-gpu=<ncpus>
Advise Slurm that ensuing job steps will require ncpus processors per allocated GPU. Not
compatible with the --cpus-per-task option.
-c, --cpus-per-task=<ncpus>
Advise Slurm that ensuing job steps will require ncpus processors per task. By default Slurm will
allocate one processor per task.
For instance, consider an application that has 4 tasks, each requiring 3 processors. If our
cluster is comprised of quad-processors nodes and we simply ask for 12 processors, the controller
might give us only 3 nodes. However, by using the --cpus-per-task=3 options, the controller knows
that each task requires 3 processors on the same node, and the controller will grant an allocation
of 4 nodes, one for each of the 4 tasks.
--deadline=<OPT>
remove the job if no ending is possible before this deadline (start > (deadline - time[-min])).
Default is no deadline. Valid time formats are:
HH:MM[:SS] [AM|PM]
MMDD[YY] or MM/DD[/YY] or MM.DD[.YY]
MM/DD[/YY]-HH:MM[:SS]
YYYY-MM-DD[THH:MM[:SS]]]
now[+count[seconds(default)|minutes|hours|days|weeks]]
--delay-boot=<minutes>
Do not reboot nodes in order to satisfied this job's feature specification if the job has been
eligible to run for less than this time period. If the job has waited for less than the specified
period, it will use only nodes which already have the specified features. The argument is in
units of minutes. A default value may be set by a system administrator using the delay_boot
option of the SchedulerParameters configuration parameter in the slurm.conf file, otherwise the
default value is zero (no delay).
-d, --dependency=<dependency_list>
Defer the start of this job until the specified dependencies have been satisfied completed.
<dependency_list> is of the form <type:job_id[:job_id][,type:job_id[:job_id]]> or
<type:job_id[:job_id][?type:job_id[:job_id]]>. All dependencies must be satisfied if the ","
separator is used. Any dependency may be satisfied if the "?" separator is used. Only one
separator may be used. Many jobs can share the same dependency and these jobs may even belong to
different users. The value may be changed after job submission using the scontrol command.
Dependencies on remote jobs are allowed in a federation. Once a job dependency fails due to the
termination state of a preceding job, the dependent job will never be run, even if the preceding
job is requeued and has a different termination state in a subsequent execution.
after:job_id[[+time][:jobid[+time]...]]
After the specified jobs start or are cancelled and 'time' in minutes from job start or
cancellation happens, this job can begin execution. If no 'time' is given then there is no
delay after start or cancellation.
afterany:job_id[:jobid...]
This job can begin execution after the specified jobs have terminated.
afterburstbuffer:job_id[:jobid...]
This job can begin execution after the specified jobs have terminated and any associated
burst buffer stage out operations have completed.
aftercorr:job_id[:jobid...]
A task of this job array can begin execution after the corresponding task ID in the
specified job has completed successfully (ran to completion with an exit code of zero).
afternotok:job_id[:jobid...]
This job can begin execution after the specified jobs have terminated in some failed state
(non-zero exit code, node failure, timed out, etc).
afterok:job_id[:jobid...]
This job can begin execution after the specified jobs have successfully executed (ran to
completion with an exit code of zero).
singleton
This job can begin execution after any previously launched jobs sharing the same job name
and user have terminated. In other words, only one job by that name and owned by that user
can be running or suspended at any point in time. In a federation, a singleton dependency
must be fulfilled on all clusters unless DependencyParameters=disable_remote_singleton is
used in slurm.conf.
-m,
--distribution={*|block|cyclic|arbitrary|plane=<size>}[:{*|block|cyclic|fcyclic}[:{*|block|cyclic|fcyclic}]][,{Pack|NoPack}]
Specify alternate distribution methods for remote processes. For job allocation, this sets
environment variables that will be used by subsequent srun requests and also affects which cores
will be selected for job allocation.
This option controls the distribution of tasks to the nodes on which resources have been
allocated, and the distribution of those resources to tasks for binding (task affinity). The first
distribution method (before the first ":") controls the distribution of tasks to nodes. The
second distribution method (after the first ":") controls the distribution of allocated CPUs
across sockets for binding to tasks. The third distribution method (after the second ":") controls
the distribution of allocated CPUs across cores for binding to tasks. The second and third
distributions apply only if task affinity is enabled. The third distribution is supported only if
the task/cgroup plugin is configured. The default value for each distribution type is specified by
*.
Note that with select/cons_res and select/cons_tres, the number of CPUs allocated to each socket
and node may be different. Refer to https://slurm.schedmd.com/mc_support.html for more information
on resource allocation, distribution of tasks to nodes, and binding of tasks to CPUs.
First distribution method (distribution of tasks across nodes):
* Use the default method for distributing tasks to nodes (block).
block The block distribution method will distribute tasks to a node such that consecutive tasks
share a node. For example, consider an allocation of three nodes each with two cpus. A
four-task block distribution request will distribute those tasks to the nodes with tasks
one and two on the first node, task three on the second node, and task four on the third
node. Block distribution is the default behavior if the number of tasks exceeds the number
of allocated nodes.
cyclic The cyclic distribution method will distribute tasks to a node such that consecutive tasks
are distributed over consecutive nodes (in a round-robin fashion). For example, consider an
allocation of three nodes each with two cpus. A four-task cyclic distribution request will
distribute those tasks to the nodes with tasks one and four on the first node, task two on
the second node, and task three on the third node. Note that when SelectType is
select/cons_res, the same number of CPUs may not be allocated on each node. Task
distribution will be round-robin among all the nodes with CPUs yet to be assigned to tasks.
Cyclic distribution is the default behavior if the number of tasks is no larger than the
number of allocated nodes.
plane The tasks are distributed in blocks of size <size>. The size must be given or
SLURM_DIST_PLANESIZE must be set. The number of tasks distributed to each node is the same
as for cyclic distribution, but the taskids assigned to each node depend on the plane size.
Additional distribution specifications cannot be combined with this option. For more
details (including examples and diagrams), please see
https://slurm.schedmd.com/mc_support.html and https://slurm.schedmd.com/dist_plane.html
arbitrary
The arbitrary method of distribution will allocate processes in-order as listed in file
designated by the environment variable SLURM_HOSTFILE. If this variable is listed it will
over ride any other method specified. If not set the method will default to block. Inside
the hostfile must contain at minimum the number of hosts requested and be one per line or
comma separated. If specifying a task count (-n, --ntasks=<number>), your tasks will be
laid out on the nodes in the order of the file.
NOTE: The arbitrary distribution option on a job allocation only controls the nodes to be
allocated to the job and not the allocation of CPUs on those nodes. This option is meant
primarily to control a job step's task layout in an existing job allocation for the srun
command.
NOTE: If the number of tasks is given and a list of requested nodes is also given, the
number of nodes used from that list will be reduced to match that of the number of tasks if
the number of nodes in the list is greater than the number of tasks.
Second distribution method (distribution of CPUs across sockets for binding):
* Use the default method for distributing CPUs across sockets (cyclic).
block The block distribution method will distribute allocated CPUs consecutively from the same
socket for binding to tasks, before using the next consecutive socket.
cyclic The cyclic distribution method will distribute allocated CPUs for binding to a given task
consecutively from the same socket, and from the next consecutive socket for the next task,
in a round-robin fashion across sockets. Tasks requiring more than one CPU will have all
of those CPUs allocated on a single socket if possible.
fcyclic
The fcyclic distribution method will distribute allocated CPUs for binding to tasks from
consecutive sockets in a round-robin fashion across the sockets. Tasks requiring more than
one CPU will have each CPUs allocated in a cyclic fashion across sockets.
Third distribution method (distribution of CPUs across cores for binding):
* Use the default method for distributing CPUs across cores (inherited from second
distribution method).
block The block distribution method will distribute allocated CPUs consecutively from the same
core for binding to tasks, before using the next consecutive core.
cyclic The cyclic distribution method will distribute allocated CPUs for binding to a given task
consecutively from the same core, and from the next consecutive core for the next task, in
a round-robin fashion across cores.
fcyclic
The fcyclic distribution method will distribute allocated CPUs for binding to tasks from
consecutive cores in a round-robin fashion across the cores.
Optional control for task distribution over nodes:
Pack Rather than evenly distributing a job step's tasks evenly across its allocated nodes, pack
them as tightly as possible on the nodes. This only applies when the "block" task
distribution method is used.
NoPack Rather than packing a job step's tasks as tightly as possible on the nodes, distribute them
evenly. This user option will supersede the SelectTypeParameters CR_Pack_Nodes
configuration parameter.
-x, --exclude=<node_name_list>
Explicitly exclude certain nodes from the resources granted to the job.
--exclusive[={user|mcs}]
The job allocation can not share nodes with other running jobs (or just other users with the
"=user" option or with the "=mcs" option). If user/mcs are not specified (i.e. the job allocation
can not share nodes with other running jobs), the job is allocated all CPUs and GRES on all nodes
in the allocation, but is only allocated as much memory as it requested. This is by design to
support gang scheduling, because suspended jobs still reside in memory. To request all the memory
on a node, use --mem=0. The default shared/exclusive behavior depends on system configuration and
the partition's OverSubscribe option takes precedence over the job's option.
-B, --extra-node-info=<sockets>[:cores[:threads]]
Restrict node selection to nodes with at least the specified number of sockets, cores per socket
and/or threads per core.
NOTE: These options do not specify the resource allocation size. Each value specified is
considered a minimum. An asterisk (*) can be used as a placeholder indicating that all available
resources of that type are to be utilized. Values can also be specified as min-max. The individual
levels can also be specified in separate options if desired:
--sockets-per-node=<sockets>
--cores-per-socket=<cores>
--threads-per-core=<threads>
If task/affinity plugin is enabled, then specifying an allocation in this manner also results in
subsequently launched tasks being bound to threads if the -B option specifies a thread count,
otherwise an option of cores if a core count is specified, otherwise an option of sockets. If
SelectType is configured to select/cons_res, it must have a parameter of CR_Core, CR_Core_Memory,
CR_Socket, or CR_Socket_Memory for this option to be honored. If not specified, the scontrol show
job will display 'ReqS:C:T=*:*:*'. This option applies to job allocations.
NOTE: This option is mutually exclusive with --hint, --threads-per-core and --ntasks-per-core.
NOTE: This option may implicitly set the number of tasks (if -n was not specified) as one task per
requested thread.
--get-user-env[=timeout][mode]
This option will load login environment variables for the user specified in the --uid option. The
environment variables are retrieved by running something of this sort "su - <username> -c
/usr/bin/env" and parsing the output. Be aware that any environment variables already set in
salloc's environment will take precedence over any environment variables in the user's login
environment. The optional timeout value is in seconds. Default value is 3 seconds. The optional
mode value control the "su" options. With a mode value of "S", "su" is executed without the "-"
option. With a mode value of "L", "su" is executed with the "-" option, replicating the login
environment. If mode not specified, the mode established at Slurm build time is used. Example of
use include "--get-user-env", "--get-user-env=10" "--get-user-env=10L", and "--get-user-env=S".
NOTE: This option only works if the caller has an effective uid of "root".
--gid=<group>
Submit the job with the specified group's group access permissions. group may be the group name
or the numerical group ID. In the default Slurm configuration, this option is only valid when
used by the user root.
--gpu-bind=[verbose,]<type>
Bind tasks to specific GPUs. By default every spawned task can access every GPU allocated to the
step. If "verbose," is specified before <type>, then print out GPU binding debug information to
the stderr of the tasks. GPU binding is ignored if there is only one task.
Supported type options:
closest Bind each task to the GPU(s) which are closest. In a NUMA environment, each task may be
bound to more than one GPU (i.e. all GPUs in that NUMA environment).
map_gpu:<list>
Bind by setting GPU masks on tasks (or ranks) as specified where <list> is
<gpu_id_for_task_0>,<gpu_id_for_task_1>,... GPU IDs are interpreted as decimal values
unless they are preceded with '0x' in which case they interpreted as hexadecimal values.
If the number of tasks (or ranks) exceeds the number of elements in this list, elements
in the list will be reused as needed starting from the beginning of the list. To
simplify support for large task counts, the lists may follow a map with an asterisk and
repetition count. For example "map_gpu:0*4,1*4". If the task/cgroup plugin is used and
ConstrainDevices is set in cgroup.conf, then the GPU IDs are zero-based indexes relative
to the GPUs allocated to the job (e.g. the first GPU is 0, even if the global ID is 3).
Otherwise, the GPU IDs are global IDs, and all GPUs on each node in the job should be
allocated for predictable binding results.
mask_gpu:<list>
Bind by setting GPU masks on tasks (or ranks) as specified where <list> is
<gpu_mask_for_task_0>,<gpu_mask_for_task_1>,... The mapping is specified for a node and
identical mapping is applied to the tasks on every node (i.e. the lowest task ID on each
node is mapped to the first mask specified in the list, etc.). GPU masks are always
interpreted as hexadecimal values but can be preceded with an optional '0x'. To simplify
support for large task counts, the lists may follow a map with an asterisk and
repetition count. For example "mask_gpu:0x0f*4,0xf0*4". If the task/cgroup plugin is
used and ConstrainDevices is set in cgroup.conf, then the GPU IDs are zero-based indexes
relative to the GPUs allocated to the job (e.g. the first GPU is 0, even if the global
ID is 3). Otherwise, the GPU IDs are global IDs, and all GPUs on each node in the job
should be allocated for predictable binding results.
none Do not bind tasks to GPUs (turns off binding if --gpus-per-task is requested).
per_task:<gpus_per_task>
Each task will be bound to the number of gpus specified in <gpus_per_task>. Gpus are
assigned in order to tasks. The first task will be assigned the first x number of gpus
on the node etc.
single:<tasks_per_gpu>
Like --gpu-bind=closest, except that each task can only be bound to a single GPU, even
when it can be bound to multiple GPUs that are equally close. The GPU to bind to is
determined by <tasks_per_gpu>, where the first <tasks_per_gpu> tasks are bound to the
first GPU available, the second <tasks_per_gpu> tasks are bound to the second GPU
available, etc. This is basically a block distribution of tasks onto available GPUs,
where the available GPUs are determined by the socket affinity of the task and the
socket affinity of the GPUs as specified in gres.conf's Cores parameter.
--gpu-freq=[<type]=value>[,<type=value>][,verbose]
Request that GPUs allocated to the job are configured with specific frequency values. This option
can be used to independently configure the GPU and its memory frequencies. After the job is
completed, the frequencies of all affected GPUs will be reset to the highest possible values. In
some cases, system power caps may override the requested values. The field type can be "memory".
If type is not specified, the GPU frequency is implied. The value field can either be "low",
"medium", "high", "highm1" or a numeric value in megahertz (MHz). If the specified numeric value
is not possible, a value as close as possible will be used. See below for definition of the
values. The verbose option causes current GPU frequency information to be logged. Examples of
use include "--gpu-freq=medium,memory=high" and "--gpu-freq=450".
Supported value definitions:
low the lowest available frequency.
medium attempts to set a frequency in the middle of the available range.
high the highest available frequency.
highm1 (high minus one) will select the next highest available frequency.
-G, --gpus=[type:]<number>
Specify the total number of GPUs required for the job. An optional GPU type specification can be
supplied. For example "--gpus=volta:3". Multiple options can be requested in a comma separated
list, for example: "--gpus=volta:3,kepler:1". See also the --gpus-per-node, --gpus-per-socket and
--gpus-per-task options.
--gpus-per-node=[type:]<number>
Specify the number of GPUs required for the job on each node included in the job's resource
allocation. An optional GPU type specification can be supplied. For example
"--gpus-per-node=volta:3". Multiple options can be requested in a comma separated list, for
example: "--gpus-per-node=volta:3,kepler:1". See also the --gpus, --gpus-per-socket and
--gpus-per-task options.
--gpus-per-socket=[type:]<number>
Specify the number of GPUs required for the job on each socket included in the job's resource
allocation. An optional GPU type specification can be supplied. For example
"--gpus-per-socket=volta:3". Multiple options can be requested in a comma separated list, for
example: "--gpus-per-socket=volta:3,kepler:1". Requires job to specify a sockets per node count (
--sockets-per-node). See also the --gpus, --gpus-per-node and --gpus-per-task options.
--gpus-per-task=[type:]<number>
Specify the number of GPUs required for the job on each task to be spawned in the job's resource
allocation. An optional GPU type specification can be supplied. For example
"--gpus-per-task=volta:1". Multiple options can be requested in a comma separated list, for
example: "--gpus-per-task=volta:3,kepler:1". See also the --gpus, --gpus-per-socket and
--gpus-per-node options. This option requires an explicit task count, e.g. -n, --ntasks or
"--gpus=X --gpus-per-task=Y" rather than an ambiguous range of nodes with -N, --nodes. This
option will implicitly set --gpu-bind=per_task:<gpus_per_task>, but that can be overridden with an
explicit --gpu-bind specification.
--gres=<list>
Specifies a comma-delimited list of generic consumable resources. The format of each entry on the
list is "name[[:type]:count]". The name is that of the consumable resource. The count is the
number of those resources with a default value of 1. The count can have a suffix of "k" or "K"
(multiple of 1024), "m" or "M" (multiple of 1024 x 1024), "g" or "G" (multiple of 1024 x 1024 x
1024), "t" or "T" (multiple of 1024 x 1024 x 1024 x 1024), "p" or "P" (multiple of 1024 x 1024 x
1024 x 1024 x 1024). The specified resources will be allocated to the job on each node. The
available generic consumable resources is configurable by the system administrator. A list of
available generic consumable resources will be printed and the command will exit if the option
argument is "help". Examples of use include "--gres=gpu:2", "--gres=gpu:kepler:2", and
"--gres=help".
--gres-flags=<type>
Specify generic resource task binding options.
disable-binding
Disable filtering of CPUs with respect to generic resource locality. This option is
currently required to use more CPUs than are bound to a GRES (i.e. if a GPU is bound to the
CPUs on one socket, but resources on more than one socket are required to run the job).
This option may permit a job to be allocated resources sooner than otherwise possible, but
may result in lower job performance.
NOTE: This option is specific to SelectType=cons_res.
enforce-binding
The only CPUs available to the job will be those bound to the selected GRES (i.e. the CPUs
identified in the gres.conf file will be strictly enforced). This option may result in
delayed initiation of a job. For example a job requiring two GPUs and one CPU will be
delayed until both GPUs on a single socket are available rather than using GPUs bound to
separate sockets, however, the application performance may be improved due to improved
communication speed. Requires the node to be configured with more than one socket and
resource filtering will be performed on a per-socket basis.
NOTE: This option is specific to SelectType=cons_tres.
-h, --help
Display help information and exit.
--hint=<type>
Bind tasks according to application hints.
NOTE: This option cannot be used in conjunction with --ntasks-per-core, --threads-per-core or -B.
If --hint is specified as a command line argument, it will take precedence over the environment.
compute_bound
Select settings for compute bound applications: use all cores in each socket, one thread
per core.
memory_bound
Select settings for memory bound applications: use only one core in each socket, one thread
per core.
[no]multithread
[don't] use extra threads with in-core multi-threading which can benefit communication
intensive applications. Only supported with the task/affinity plugin.
help show this help message
-H, --hold
Specify the job is to be submitted in a held state (priority of zero). A held job can now be
released using scontrol to reset its priority (e.g. "scontrol release <job_id>").
-I, --immediate[=<seconds>]
exit if resources are not available within the time period specified. If no argument is given
(seconds defaults to 1), resources must be available immediately for the request to succeed. If
defer is configured in SchedulerParameters and seconds=1 the allocation request will fail
immediately; defer conflicts and takes precedence over this option. By default, --immediate is
off, and the command will block until resources become available. Since this option's argument is
optional, for proper parsing the single letter option must be followed immediately with the value
and not include a space between them. For example "-I60" and not "-I 60".
-J, --job-name=<jobname>
Specify a name for the job allocation. The specified name will appear along with the job id number
when querying running jobs on the system. The default job name is the name of the "command"
specified on the command line.
-K, --kill-command[=signal]
salloc always runs a user-specified command once the allocation is granted. salloc will wait
indefinitely for that command to exit. If you specify the --kill-command option salloc will send
a signal to your command any time that the Slurm controller tells salloc that its job allocation
has been revoked. The job allocation can be revoked for a couple of reasons: someone used scancel
to revoke the allocation, or the allocation reached its time limit. If you do not specify a
signal name or number and Slurm is configured to signal the spawned command at job termination,
the default signal is SIGHUP for interactive and SIGTERM for non-interactive sessions. Since this
option's argument is optional, for proper parsing the single letter option must be followed
immediately with the value and not include a space between them. For example "-K1" and not "-K 1".
-L, --licenses=<license>[@db][:count][,license[@db][:count]...]
Specification of licenses (or other resources available on all nodes of the cluster) which must be
allocated to this job. License names can be followed by a colon and count (the default count is
one). Multiple license names should be comma separated (e.g. "--licenses=foo:4,bar").
--mail-type=<type>
Notify user by email when certain event types occur. Valid type values are NONE, BEGIN, END,
FAIL, REQUEUE, ALL (equivalent to BEGIN, END, FAIL, INVALID_DEPEND, REQUEUE, and STAGE_OUT),
INVALID_DEPEND (dependency never satisfied), STAGE_OUT (burst buffer stage out and teardown
completed), TIME_LIMIT, TIME_LIMIT_90 (reached 90 percent of time limit), TIME_LIMIT_80 (reached
80 percent of time limit), and TIME_LIMIT_50 (reached 50 percent of time limit). Multiple type
values may be specified in a comma separated list. The user to be notified is indicated with
--mail-user.
--mail-user=<user>
User to receive email notification of state changes as defined by --mail-type. The default value
is the submitting user.
--mcs-label=<mcs>
Used only when the mcs/group plugin is enabled. This parameter is a group among the groups of the
user. Default value is calculated by the Plugin mcs if it's enabled.
--mem=<size>[units]
Specify the real memory required per node. Default units are megabytes. Different units can be
specified using the suffix [K|M|G|T]. Default value is DefMemPerNode and the maximum value is
MaxMemPerNode. If configured, both of parameters can be seen using the scontrol show config
command. This parameter would generally be used if whole nodes are allocated to jobs
(SelectType=select/linear). Also see --mem-per-cpu and --mem-per-gpu. The --mem, --mem-per-cpu
and --mem-per-gpu options are mutually exclusive. If --mem, --mem-per-cpu or --mem-per-gpu are
specified as command line arguments, then they will take precedence over the environment.
NOTE: A memory size specification of zero is treated as a special case and grants the job access
to all of the memory on each node. If the job is allocated multiple nodes in a heterogeneous
cluster, the memory limit on each node will be that of the node in the allocation with the
smallest memory size (same limit will apply to every node in the job's allocation).
NOTE: Enforcement of memory limits currently relies upon the task/cgroup plugin or enabling of
accounting, which samples memory use on a periodic basis (data need not be stored, just
collected). In both cases memory use is based upon the job's Resident Set Size (RSS). A task may
exceed the memory limit until the next periodic accounting sample.
--mem-bind=[{quiet|verbose},]<type>
Bind tasks to memory. Used only when the task/affinity plugin is enabled and the NUMA memory
functions are available. Note that the resolution of CPU and memory binding may differ on some
architectures. For example, CPU binding may be performed at the level of the cores within a
processor while memory binding will be performed at the level of nodes, where the definition of
"nodes" may differ from system to system. By default no memory binding is performed; any task
using any CPU can use any memory. This option is typically used to ensure that each task is bound
to the memory closest to its assigned CPU. The use of any type other than "none" or "local" is not
recommended.
NOTE: To have Slurm always report on the selected memory binding for all commands executed in a
shell, you can enable verbose mode by setting the SLURM_MEM_BIND environment variable value to
"verbose".
The following informational environment variables are set when --mem-bind is in use:
SLURM_MEM_BIND_LIST
SLURM_MEM_BIND_PREFER
SLURM_MEM_BIND_SORT
SLURM_MEM_BIND_TYPE
SLURM_MEM_BIND_VERBOSE
See the ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES section for a more detailed description of the individual
SLURM_MEM_BIND* variables.
Supported options include:
help show this help message
local Use memory local to the processor in use
map_mem:<list>
Bind by setting memory masks on tasks (or ranks) as specified where <list> is
<numa_id_for_task_0>,<numa_id_for_task_1>,... The mapping is specified for a node and
identical mapping is applied to the tasks on every node (i.e. the lowest task ID on each
node is mapped to the first ID specified in the list, etc.). NUMA IDs are interpreted as
decimal values unless they are preceded with '0x' in which case they interpreted as
hexadecimal values. If the number of tasks (or ranks) exceeds the number of elements in
this list, elements in the list will be reused as needed starting from the beginning of the
list. To simplify support for large task counts, the lists may follow a map with an
asterisk and repetition count. For example "map_mem:0x0f*4,0xf0*4". For predictable
binding results, all CPUs for each node in the job should be allocated to the job.
mask_mem:<list>
Bind by setting memory masks on tasks (or ranks) as specified where <list> is
<numa_mask_for_task_0>,<numa_mask_for_task_1>,... The mapping is specified for a node and
identical mapping is applied to the tasks on every node (i.e. the lowest task ID on each
node is mapped to the first mask specified in the list, etc.). NUMA masks are always
interpreted as hexadecimal values. Note that masks must be preceded with a '0x' if they
don't begin with [0-9] so they are seen as numerical values. If the number of tasks (or
ranks) exceeds the number of elements in this list, elements in the list will be reused as
needed starting from the beginning of the list. To simplify support for large task counts,
the lists may follow a mask with an asterisk and repetition count. For example
"mask_mem:0*4,1*4". For predictable binding results, all CPUs for each node in the job
should be allocated to the job.
no[ne] don't bind tasks to memory (default)
p[refer]
Prefer use of first specified NUMA node, but permit
use of other available NUMA nodes.
q[uiet]
quietly bind before task runs (default)
rank bind by task rank (not recommended)
sort sort free cache pages (run zonesort on Intel KNL nodes)
v[erbose]
verbosely report binding before task runs
--mem-per-cpu=<size>[units]
Minimum memory required per allocated CPU. Default units are megabytes. Different units can be
specified using the suffix [K|M|G|T]. The default value is DefMemPerCPU and the maximum value is
MaxMemPerCPU (see exception below). If configured, both parameters can be seen using the scontrol
show config command. Note that if the job's --mem-per-cpu value exceeds the configured
MaxMemPerCPU, then the user's limit will be treated as a memory limit per task; --mem-per-cpu will
be reduced to a value no larger than MaxMemPerCPU; --cpus-per-task will be set and the value of
--cpus-per-task multiplied by the new --mem-per-cpu value will equal the original --mem-per-cpu
value specified by the user. This parameter would generally be used if individual processors are
allocated to jobs (SelectType=select/cons_res). If resources are allocated by core, socket, or
whole nodes, then the number of CPUs allocated to a job may be higher than the task count and the
value of --mem-per-cpu should be adjusted accordingly. Also see --mem and --mem-per-gpu. The
--mem, --mem-per-cpu and --mem-per-gpu options are mutually exclusive.
NOTE: If the final amount of memory requested by a job can't be satisfied by any of the nodes
configured in the partition, the job will be rejected. This could happen if --mem-per-cpu is used
with the --exclusive option for a job allocation and --mem-per-cpu times the number of CPUs on a
node is greater than the total memory of that node.
--mem-per-gpu=<size>[units]
Minimum memory required per allocated GPU. Default units are megabytes. Different units can be
specified using the suffix [K|M|G|T]. Default value is DefMemPerGPU and is available on both a
global and per partition basis. If configured, the parameters can be seen using the scontrol show
config and scontrol show partition commands. Also see --mem. The --mem, --mem-per-cpu and
--mem-per-gpu options are mutually exclusive.
--mincpus=<n>
Specify a minimum number of logical cpus/processors per node.
--network=<type>
Specify information pertaining to the switch or network. The interpretation of type is system
dependent. This option is supported when running Slurm on a Cray natively. It is used to request
using Network Performance Counters. Only one value per request is valid. All options are case
in-sensitive. In this configuration supported values include:
system
Use the system-wide network performance counters. Only nodes requested will be marked in use
for the job allocation. If the job does not fill up the entire system the rest of the nodes
are not able to be used by other jobs using NPC, if idle their state will appear as
PerfCnts. These nodes are still available for other jobs not using NPC.
blade Use the blade network performance counters. Only nodes requested will be marked in use for
the job allocation. If the job does not fill up the entire blade(s) allocated to the job
those blade(s) are not able to be used by other jobs using NPC, if idle their state will
appear as PerfCnts. These nodes are still available for other jobs not using NPC.
In all cases the job allocation request must specify the --exclusive option. Otherwise the
request will be denied.
Also with any of these options steps are not allowed to share blades, so resources would remain
idle inside an allocation if the step running on a blade does not take up all the nodes on the
blade.
The network option is also supported on systems with IBM's Parallel Environment (PE). See IBM's
LoadLeveler job command keyword documentation about the keyword "network" for more information.
Multiple values may be specified in a comma separated list. All options are case in-sensitive.
Supported values include:
BULK_XFER[=<resources>]
Enable bulk transfer of data using Remote Direct-Memory Access (RDMA). The optional
resources specification is a numeric value which can have a suffix of "k", "K", "m",
"M", "g" or "G" for kilobytes, megabytes or gigabytes. NOTE: The resources
specification is not supported by the underlying IBM infrastructure as of Parallel
Environment version 2.2 and no value should be specified at this time.
CAU=<count> Number of Collectve Acceleration Units (CAU) required. Applies only to IBM Power7-IH
processors. Default value is zero. Independent CAU will be allocated for each
programming interface (MPI, LAPI, etc.)
DEVNAME=<name>
Specify the device name to use for communications (e.g. "eth0" or "mlx4_0").
DEVTYPE=<type>
Specify the device type to use for communications. The supported values of type are:
"IB" (InfiniBand), "HFI" (P7 Host Fabric Interface), "IPONLY" (IP-Only interfaces),
"HPCE" (HPC Ethernet), and
"KMUX" (Kernel Emulation of HPCE). The devices allocated to a job must all be of the
same type. The default value depends upon depends upon what hardware is available and
in order of preferences is IPONLY (which is not considered in User Space mode), HFI,
IB, HPCE, and KMUX.
IMMED =<count>
Number of immediate send slots per window required. Applies only to IBM Power7-IH
processors. Default value is zero.
INSTANCES =<count>
Specify number of network connections for each task on each network connection. The
default instance count is 1.
IPV4 Use Internet Protocol (IP) version 4 communications (default).
IPV6 Use Internet Protocol (IP) version 6 communications.
LAPI Use the LAPI programming interface.
MPI Use the MPI programming interface. MPI is the default interface.
PAMI Use the PAMI programming interface.
SHMEM Use the OpenSHMEM programming interface.
SN_ALL Use all available switch networks (default).
SN_SINGLE Use one available switch network.
UPC Use the UPC programming interface.
US Use User Space communications.
Some examples of network specifications:
Instances=2,US,MPI,SN_ALL
Create two user space connections for MPI communications on every switch network for each
task.
US,MPI,Instances=3,Devtype=IB
Create three user space connections for MPI communications on every InfiniBand network for
each task.
IPV4,LAPI,SN_Single
Create a IP version 4 connection for LAPI communications on one switch network for each
task.
Instances=2,US,LAPI,MPI
Create two user space connections each for LAPI and MPI communications on every switch
network for each task. Note that SN_ALL is the default option so every switch network is
used. Also note that Instances=2 specifies that two connections are established for each
protocol (LAPI and MPI) and each task. If there are two networks and four tasks on the
node then a total of 32 connections are established (2 instances x 2 protocols x 2 networks
x 4 tasks).
--nice[=adjustment]
Run the job with an adjusted scheduling priority within Slurm. With no adjustment value the
scheduling priority is decreased by 100. A negative nice value increases the priority, otherwise
decreases it. The adjustment range is +/- 2147483645. Only privileged users can specify a negative
adjustment.
--no-bell
Silence salloc's use of the terminal bell. Also see the option --bell.
-k, --no-kill[=off]
Do not automatically terminate a job if one of the nodes it has been allocated fails. The user
will assume the responsibilities for fault-tolerance should a node fail. When there is a node
failure, any active job steps (usually MPI jobs) on that node will almost certainly suffer a fatal
error, but with --no-kill, the job allocation will not be revoked so the user may launch new job
steps on the remaining nodes in their allocation.
Specify an optional argument of "off" disable the effect of the SALLOC_NO_KILL environment
variable.
By default Slurm terminates the entire job allocation if any node fails in its range of allocated
nodes.
--no-shell
immediately exit after allocating resources, without running a command. However, the Slurm job
will still be created and will remain active and will own the allocated resources as long as it is
active. You will have a Slurm job id with no associated processes or tasks. You can submit srun
commands against this resource allocation, if you specify the --jobid= option with the job id of
this Slurm job. Or, this can be used to temporarily reserve a set of resources so that other jobs
cannot use them for some period of time. (Note that the Slurm job is subject to the normal
constraints on jobs, including time limits, so that eventually the job will terminate and the
resources will be freed, or you can terminate the job manually using the scancel command.)
-F, --nodefile=<node_file>
Much like --nodelist, but the list is contained in a file of name node file. The node names of
the list may also span multiple lines in the file. Duplicate node names in the file will be
ignored. The order of the node names in the list is not important; the node names will be sorted
by Slurm.
-w, --nodelist=<node_name_list>
Request a specific list of hosts. The job will contain all of these hosts and possibly additional
hosts as needed to satisfy resource requirements. The list may be specified as a comma-separated
list of hosts, a range of hosts (host[1-5,7,...] for example), or a filename. The host list will
be assumed to be a filename if it contains a "/" character. If you specify a minimum node or
processor count larger than can be satisfied by the supplied host list, additional resources will
be allocated on other nodes as needed. Duplicate node names in the list will be ignored. The
order of the node names in the list is not important; the node names will be sorted by Slurm.
-N, --nodes=<minnodes>[-maxnodes]
Request that a minimum of minnodes nodes be allocated to this job. A maximum node count may also
be specified with maxnodes. If only one number is specified, this is used as both the minimum and
maximum node count. The partition's node limits supersede those of the job. If a job's node
limits are outside of the range permitted for its associated partition, the job will be left in a
PENDING state. This permits possible execution at a later time, when the partition limit is
changed. If a job node limit exceeds the number of nodes configured in the partition, the job
will be rejected. Note that the environment variable SLURM_JOB_NUM_NODES will be set to the count
of nodes actually allocated to the job. See the ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES section for more
information. If -N is not specified, the default behavior is to allocate enough nodes to satisfy
the requirements of the -n and -c options. The job will be allocated as many nodes as possible
within the range specified and without delaying the initiation of the job. The node count
specification may include a numeric value followed by a suffix of "k" (multiplies numeric value by
1,024) or "m" (multiplies numeric value by 1,048,576).
-n, --ntasks=<number>
salloc does not launch tasks, it requests an allocation of resources and executed some command.
This option advises the Slurm controller that job steps run within this allocation will launch a
maximum of number tasks and sufficient resources are allocated to accomplish this. The default is
one task per node, but note that the --cpus-per-task option will change this default.
--ntasks-per-core=<ntasks>
Request the maximum ntasks be invoked on each core. Meant to be used with the --ntasks option.
Related to --ntasks-per-node except at the core level instead of the node level. NOTE: This
option is not supported when using SelectType=select/linear.
--ntasks-per-gpu=<ntasks>
Request that there are ntasks tasks invoked for every GPU. This option can work in two ways: 1)
either specify --ntasks in addition, in which case a type-less GPU specification will be
automatically determined to satisfy --ntasks-per-gpu, or 2) specify the GPUs wanted (e.g. via
--gpus or --gres) without specifying --ntasks, and the total task count will be automatically
determined. The number of CPUs needed will be automatically increased if necessary to allow for
any calculated task count. This option will implicitly set --gpu-bind=single:<ntasks>, but that
can be overridden with an explicit --gpu-bind specification. This option is not compatible with a
node range (i.e. -N<minnodes-maxnodes>). This option is not compatible with --gpus-per-task,
--gpus-per-socket, or --ntasks-per-node. This option is not supported unless SelectType=cons_tres
is configured (either directly or indirectly on Cray systems).
--ntasks-per-node=<ntasks>
Request that ntasks be invoked on each node. If used with the --ntasks option, the --ntasks
option will take precedence and the --ntasks-per-node will be treated as a maximum count of tasks
per node. Meant to be used with the --nodes option. This is related to --cpus-per-task=ncpus,
but does not require knowledge of the actual number of cpus on each node. In some cases, it is
more convenient to be able to request that no more than a specific number of tasks be invoked on
each node. Examples of this include submitting a hybrid MPI/OpenMP app where only one MPI
"task/rank" should be assigned to each node while allowing the OpenMP portion to utilize all of
the parallelism present in the node, or submitting a single setup/cleanup/monitoring job to each
node of a pre-existing allocation as one step in a larger job script.
--ntasks-per-socket=<ntasks>
Request the maximum ntasks be invoked on each socket. Meant to be used with the --ntasks option.
Related to --ntasks-per-node except at the socket level instead of the node level. NOTE: This
option is not supported when using SelectType=select/linear.
-O, --overcommit
Overcommit resources.
When applied to a job allocation (not including jobs requesting exclusive access to the nodes) the
resources are allocated as if only one task per node is requested. This means that the requested
number of cpus per task (-c, --cpus-per-task) are allocated per node rather than being multiplied
by the number of tasks. Options used to specify the number of tasks per node, socket, core, etc.
are ignored.
When applied to job step allocations (the srun command when executed within an existing job
allocation), this option can be used to launch more than one task per CPU. Normally, srun will
not allocate more than one process per CPU. By specifying --overcommit you are explicitly
allowing more than one process per CPU. However no more than MAX_TASKS_PER_NODE tasks are
permitted to execute per node. NOTE: MAX_TASKS_PER_NODE is defined in the file slurm.h and is not
a variable, it is set at Slurm build time.
-s, --oversubscribe
The job allocation can over-subscribe resources with other running jobs. The resources to be
over-subscribed can be nodes, sockets, cores, and/or hyperthreads depending upon configuration.
The default over-subscribe behavior depends on system configuration and the partition's
OverSubscribe option takes precedence over the job's option. This option may result in the
allocation being granted sooner than if the --oversubscribe option was not set and allow higher
system utilization, but application performance will likely suffer due to competition for
resources. Also see the --exclusive option.
-p, --partition=<partition_names>
Request a specific partition for the resource allocation. If not specified, the default behavior
is to allow the slurm controller to select the default partition as designated by the system
administrator. If the job can use more than one partition, specify their names in a comma separate
list and the one offering earliest initiation will be used with no regard given to the partition
name ordering (although higher priority partitions will be considered first). When the job is
initiated, the name of the partition used will be placed first in the job record partition string.
--power=<flags>
Comma separated list of power management plugin options. Currently available flags include: level
(all nodes allocated to the job should have identical power caps, may be disabled by the Slurm
configuration option PowerParameters=job_no_level).
--priority=<value>
Request a specific job priority. May be subject to configuration specific constraints. value
should either be a numeric value or "TOP" (for highest possible value). Only Slurm operators and
administrators can set the priority of a job.
--profile={all|none|<type>[,<type>...]}
Enables detailed data collection by the acct_gather_profile plugin. Detailed data are typically
time-series that are stored in an HDF5 file for the job or an InfluxDB database depending on the
configured plugin.
All All data types are collected. (Cannot be combined with other values.)
None No data types are collected. This is the default.
(Cannot be combined with other values.)
Valid type values are:
Energy Energy data is collected.
Task Task (I/O, Memory, ...) data is collected.
Lustre Lustre data is collected.
Network
Network (InfiniBand) data is collected.
-q, --qos=<qos>
Request a quality of service for the job. QOS values can be defined for each user/cluster/account
association in the Slurm database. Users will be limited to their association's defined set of
qos's when the Slurm configuration parameter, AccountingStorageEnforce, includes "qos" in its
definition.
-Q, --quiet
Suppress informational messages from salloc. Errors will still be displayed.
--reboot
Force the allocated nodes to reboot before starting the job. This is only supported with some
system configurations and will otherwise be silently ignored. Only root, SlurmUser or admins can
reboot nodes.
--reservation=<reservation_names>
Allocate resources for the job from the named reservation. If the job can use more than one
reservation, specify their names in a comma separate list and the one offering earliest
initiation. Each reservation will be considered in the order it was requested. All reservations
will be listed in scontrol/squeue through the life of the job. In accounting the first
reservation will be seen and after the job starts the reservation used will replace it.
--signal=[R:]<sig_num>[@sig_time]
When a job is within sig_time seconds of its end time, send it the signal sig_num. Due to the
resolution of event handling by Slurm, the signal may be sent up to 60 seconds earlier than
specified. sig_num may either be a signal number or name (e.g. "10" or "USR1"). sig_time must
have an integer value between 0 and 65535. By default, no signal is sent before the job's end
time. If a sig_num is specified without any sig_time, the default time will be 60 seconds. Use
the "R:" option to allow this job to overlap with a reservation with MaxStartDelay set. To have
the signal sent at preemption time see the preempt_send_user_signal SlurmctldParameter.
--sockets-per-node=<sockets>
Restrict node selection to nodes with at least the specified number of sockets. See additional
information under -B option above when task/affinity plugin is enabled.
NOTE: This option may implicitly set the number of tasks (if -n was not specified) as one task per
requested thread.
--spread-job
Spread the job allocation over as many nodes as possible and attempt to evenly distribute tasks
across the allocated nodes. This option disables the topology/tree plugin.
--switches=<count>[@max-time]
When a tree topology is used, this defines the maximum count of leaf switches desired for the job
allocation and optionally the maximum time to wait for that number of switches. If Slurm finds an
allocation containing more switches than the count specified, the job remains pending until it
either finds an allocation with desired switch count or the time limit expires. It there is no
switch count limit, there is no delay in starting the job. Acceptable time formats include
"minutes", "minutes:seconds", "hours:minutes:seconds", "days-hours", "days-hours:minutes" and
"days-hours:minutes:seconds". The job's maximum time delay may be limited by the system
administrator using the SchedulerParameters configuration parameter with the max_switch_wait
parameter option. On a dragonfly network the only switch count supported is 1 since communication
performance will be highest when a job is allocate resources on one leaf switch or more than 2
leaf switches. The default max-time is the max_switch_wait SchedulerParameters.
--thread-spec=<num>
Count of specialized threads per node reserved by the job for system operations and not used by
the application. The application will not use these threads, but will be charged for their
allocation. This option can not be used with the --core-spec option.
--threads-per-core=<threads>
Restrict node selection to nodes with at least the specified number of threads per core. In task
layout, use the specified maximum number of threads per core. NOTE: "Threads" refers to the number
of processing units on each core rather than the number of application tasks to be launched per
core. See additional information under -B option above when task/affinity plugin is enabled.
NOTE: This option may implicitly set the number of tasks (if -n was not specified) as one task per
requested thread.
-t, --time=<time>
Set a limit on the total run time of the job allocation. If the requested time limit exceeds the
partition's time limit, the job will be left in a PENDING state (possibly indefinitely). The
default time limit is the partition's default time limit. When the time limit is reached, each
task in each job step is sent SIGTERM followed by SIGKILL. The interval between signals is
specified by the Slurm configuration parameter KillWait. The OverTimeLimit configuration
parameter may permit the job to run longer than scheduled. Time resolution is one minute and
second values are rounded up to the next minute.
A time limit of zero requests that no time limit be imposed. Acceptable time formats include
"minutes", "minutes:seconds", "hours:minutes:seconds", "days-hours", "days-hours:minutes" and
"days-hours:minutes:seconds".
--time-min=<time>
Set a minimum time limit on the job allocation. If specified, the job may have its --time limit
lowered to a value no lower than --time-min if doing so permits the job to begin execution earlier
than otherwise possible. The job's time limit will not be changed after the job is allocated
resources. This is performed by a backfill scheduling algorithm to allocate resources otherwise
reserved for higher priority jobs. Acceptable time formats include "minutes", "minutes:seconds",
"hours:minutes:seconds", "days-hours", "days-hours:minutes" and "days-hours:minutes:seconds".
--tmp=<size>[units]
Specify a minimum amount of temporary disk space per node. Default units are megabytes.
Different units can be specified using the suffix [K|M|G|T].
--uid=<user>
Attempt to submit and/or run a job as user instead of the invoking user id. The invoking user's
credentials will be used to check access permissions for the target partition. This option is only
valid for user root. This option may be used by user root may use this option to run jobs as a
normal user in a RootOnly partition for example. If run as root, salloc will drop its permissions
to the uid specified after node allocation is successful. user may be the user name or numerical
user ID.
--usage
Display brief help message and exit.
--use-min-nodes
If a range of node counts is given, prefer the smaller count.
-v, --verbose
Increase the verbosity of salloc's informational messages. Multiple -v's will further increase
salloc's verbosity. By default only errors will be displayed.
-V, --version
Display version information and exit.
--wait-all-nodes=<value>
Controls when the execution of the command begins with respect to when nodes are ready for use
(i.e. booted). By default, the salloc command will return as soon as the allocation is made.
This default can be altered using the salloc_wait_nodes option to the SchedulerParameters
parameter in the slurm.conf file.
0 Begin execution as soon as allocation can be made. Do not wait for all nodes to be ready for
use (i.e. booted).
1 Do not begin execution until all nodes are ready for use.
--wckey=<wckey>
Specify wckey to be used with job. If TrackWCKey=no (default) in the slurm.conf this value is
ignored.
--x11[={all|first|last}]
Sets up X11 forwarding on "all", "first" or "last" node(s) of the allocation. This option is only
enabled if Slurm was compiled with X11 support and PrologFlags=x11 is defined in the slurm.conf.
Default is "all".
PERFORMANCE
Executing salloc sends a remote procedure call to slurmctld. If enough calls from salloc or other Slurm
client commands that send remote procedure calls to the slurmctld daemon come in at once, it can result
in a degradation of performance of the slurmctld daemon, possibly resulting in a denial of service.
Do not run salloc or other Slurm client commands that send remote procedure calls to slurmctld from loops
in shell scripts or other programs. Ensure that programs limit calls to salloc to the minimum necessary
for the information you are trying to gather.
INPUT ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES
Upon startup, salloc will read and handle the options set in the following environment variables. The
majority of these variables are set the same way the options are set, as defined above. For flag options
that are defined to expect no argument, the option can be enabled by setting the environment variable
without a value (empty or NULL string), the string 'yes', or a non-zero number. Any other value for the
environment variable will result in the option not being set. There are a couple exceptions to these
rules that are noted below.
NOTE: Command line options always override environment variables settings.
SALLOC_ACCOUNT Same as -A, --account
SALLOC_ACCTG_FREQ Same as --acctg-freq
SALLOC_BELL Same as --bell
SALLOC_BURST_BUFFER Same as --bb
SALLOC_CLUSTERS or SLURM_CLUSTERS
Same as --clusters
SALLOC_CONSTRAINT Same as -C, --constraint
SALLOC_CONTAINER Same as --container.
SALLOC_CORE_SPEC Same as --core-spec
SALLOC_CPUS_PER_GPU Same as --cpus-per-gpu
SALLOC_DEBUG Same as -v, --verbose. Must be set to 0 or 1 to disable or enable the option.
SALLOC_DELAY_BOOT Same as --delay-boot
SALLOC_EXCLUSIVE Same as --exclusive
SALLOC_GPU_BIND Same as --gpu-bind
SALLOC_GPU_FREQ Same as --gpu-freq
SALLOC_GPUS Same as -G, --gpus
SALLOC_GPUS_PER_NODE Same as --gpus-per-node
SALLOC_GPUS_PER_TASK Same as --gpus-per-task
SALLOC_GRES Same as --gres
SALLOC_GRES_FLAGS Same as --gres-flags
SALLOC_HINT or SLURM_HINT
Same as --hint
SALLOC_IMMEDIATE Same as -I, --immediate
SALLOC_KILL_CMD Same as -K, --kill-command
SALLOC_MEM_BIND Same as --mem-bind
SALLOC_MEM_PER_CPU Same as --mem-per-cpu
SALLOC_MEM_PER_GPU Same as --mem-per-gpu
SALLOC_MEM_PER_NODE Same as --mem
SALLOC_NETWORK Same as --network
SALLOC_NO_BELL Same as --no-bell
SALLOC_NO_KILL Same as -k, --no-kill
SALLOC_OVERCOMMIT Same as -O, --overcommit
SALLOC_PARTITION Same as -p, --partition
SALLOC_POWER Same as --power
SALLOC_PROFILE Same as --profile
SALLOC_QOS Same as --qos
SALLOC_REQ_SWITCH When a tree topology is used, this defines the maximum count of switches desired
for the job allocation and optionally the maximum time to wait for that number of
switches. See --switches.
SALLOC_RESERVATION Same as --reservation
SALLOC_SIGNAL Same as --signal
SALLOC_SPREAD_JOB Same as --spread-job
SALLOC_THREAD_SPEC Same as --thread-spec
SALLOC_THREADS_PER_CORE
Same as --threads-per-core
SALLOC_TIMELIMIT Same as -t, --time
SALLOC_USE_MIN_NODES Same as --use-min-nodes
SALLOC_WAIT_ALL_NODES Same as --wait-all-nodes. Must be set to 0 or 1 to disable or enable the option.
SALLOC_WAIT4SWITCH Max time waiting for requested switches. See --switches
SALLOC_WCKEY Same as --wckey
SLURM_CONF The location of the Slurm configuration file.
SLURM_EXIT_ERROR Specifies the exit code generated when a Slurm error occurs (e.g. invalid options).
This can be used by a script to distinguish application exit codes from various
Slurm error conditions. Also see SLURM_EXIT_IMMEDIATE.
SLURM_EXIT_IMMEDIATE Specifies the exit code generated when the --immediate option is used and resources
are not currently available. This can be used by a script to distinguish
application exit codes from various Slurm error conditions. Also see
SLURM_EXIT_ERROR.
OUTPUT ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES
salloc will set the following environment variables in the environment of the executed program:
SLURM_*_HET_GROUP_#
For a heterogeneous job allocation, the environment variables are set separately for each
component.
SLURM_CLUSTER_NAME
Name of the cluster on which the job is executing.
SLURM_CONTAINER
OCI Bundle for job. Only set if --container is specified.
SLURM_CPUS_PER_GPU
Number of CPUs requested per allocated GPU. Only set if the --cpus-per-gpu option is specified.
SLURM_CPUS_PER_TASK
Number of CPUs requested per task. Only set if the --cpus-per-task option is specified.
SLURM_DIST_PLANESIZE
Plane distribution size. Only set for plane distributions. See -m, --distribution.
SLURM_DISTRIBUTION
Only set if the -m, --distribution option is specified.
SLURM_GPU_BIND
Requested binding of tasks to GPU. Only set if the --gpu-bind option is specified.
SLURM_GPU_FREQ
Requested GPU frequency. Only set if the --gpu-freq option is specified.
SLURM_GPUS
Number of GPUs requested. Only set if the -G, --gpus option is specified.
SLURM_GPUS_PER_NODE
Requested GPU count per allocated node. Only set if the --gpus-per-node option is specified.
SLURM_GPUS_PER_SOCKET
Requested GPU count per allocated socket. Only set if the --gpus-per-socket option is specified.
SLURM_GPUS_PER_TASK
Requested GPU count per allocated task. Only set if the --gpus-per-task option is specified.
SLURM_HET_SIZE
Set to count of components in heterogeneous job.
SLURM_JOB_ACCOUNT
Account name associated of the job allocation.
SLURM_JOB_ID
The ID of the job allocation.
SLURM_JOB_CPUS_PER_NODE
Count of CPUs available to the job on the nodes in the allocation, using the format
CPU_count[(xnumber_of_nodes)][,CPU_count [(xnumber_of_nodes)] ...]. For example:
SLURM_JOB_CPUS_PER_NODE='72(x2),36' indicates that on the first and second nodes (as listed by
SLURM_JOB_NODELIST) the allocation has 72 CPUs, while the third node has 36 CPUs. NOTE: The
select/linear plugin allocates entire nodes to jobs, so the value indicates the total count of
CPUs on allocated nodes. The select/cons_res and select/cons_tres plugins allocate individual CPUs
to jobs, so this number indicates the number of CPUs allocated to the job.
SLURM_JOB_NODELIST
List of nodes allocated to the job.
SLURM_JOB_NUM_NODES
Total number of nodes in the job allocation.
SLURM_JOB_PARTITION
Name of the partition in which the job is running.
SLURM_JOB_QOS
Quality Of Service (QOS) of the job allocation.
SLURM_JOB_RESERVATION
Advanced reservation containing the job allocation, if any.
SLURM_JOBID
The ID of the job allocation. See SLURM_JOB_ID. Included for backwards compatibility.
SLURM_MEM_BIND
Set to value of the --mem-bind option.
SLURM_MEM_BIND_LIST
Set to bit mask used for memory binding.
SLURM_MEM_BIND_PREFER
Set to "prefer" if the --mem-bind option includes the prefer option.
SLURM_MEM_BIND_SORT
Sort free cache pages (run zonesort on Intel KNL nodes)
SLURM_MEM_BIND_TYPE
Set to the memory binding type specified with the --mem-bind option. Possible values are "none",
"rank", "map_map", "mask_mem" and "local".
SLURM_MEM_BIND_VERBOSE
Set to "verbose" if the --mem-bind option includes the verbose option. Set to "quiet" otherwise.
SLURM_MEM_PER_CPU
Same as --mem-per-cpu
SLURM_MEM_PER_GPU
Requested memory per allocated GPU. Only set if the --mem-per-gpu option is specified.
SLURM_MEM_PER_NODE
Same as --mem
SLURM_NNODES
Total number of nodes in the job allocation. See SLURM_JOB_NUM_NODES. Included for backwards
compatibility.
SLURM_NODELIST
List of nodes allocated to the job. See SLURM_JOB_NODELIST. Included for backwards compabitility.
SLURM_NODE_ALIASES
Sets of node name, communication address and hostname for nodes allocated to the job from the
cloud. Each element in the set if colon separated and each set is comma separated. For example:
SLURM_NODE_ALIASES=ec0:1.2.3.4:foo,ec1:1.2.3.5:bar
SLURM_NTASKS
Same as -n, --ntasks
SLURM_NTASKS_PER_CORE
Set to value of the --ntasks-per-core option, if specified.
SLURM_NTASKS_PER_GPU
Set to value of the --ntasks-per-gpu option, if specified.
SLURM_NTASKS_PER_NODE
Set to value of the --ntasks-per-node option, if specified.
SLURM_NTASKS_PER_SOCKET
Set to value of the --ntasks-per-socket option, if specified.
SLURM_OVERCOMMIT
Set to 1 if --overcommit was specified.
SLURM_PROFILE
Same as --profile
SLURM_SUBMIT_DIR
The directory from which salloc was invoked or, if applicable, the directory specified by the -D,
--chdir option.
SLURM_SUBMIT_HOST
The hostname of the computer from which salloc was invoked.
SLURM_TASKS_PER_NODE
Number of tasks to be initiated on each node. Values are comma separated and in the same order as
SLURM_JOB_NODELIST. If two or more consecutive nodes are to have the same task count, that count
is followed by "(x#)" where "#" is the repetition count. For example,
"SLURM_TASKS_PER_NODE=2(x3),1" indicates that the first three nodes will each execute two tasks
and the fourth node will execute one task.
SLURM_THREADS_PER_CORE
This is only set if --threads-per-core or SALLOC_THREADS_PER_CORE were specified. The value will
be set to the value specified by --threads-per-core or SALLOC_THREADS_PER_CORE. This is used by
subsequent srun calls within the job allocation.
SIGNALS
While salloc is waiting for a PENDING job allocation, most signals will cause salloc to revoke the
allocation request and exit.
However if the allocation has been granted and salloc has already started the specified command, then
salloc will ignore most signals. salloc will not exit or release the allocation until the command exits.
One notable exception is SIGHUP. A SIGHUP signal will cause salloc to release the allocation and exit
without waiting for the command to finish. Another exception is SIGTERM, which will be forwarded to the
spawned process.
EXAMPLES
To get an allocation, and open a new xterm in which srun commands may be typed interactively:
$ salloc -N16 xterm
salloc: Granted job allocation 65537
# (at this point the xterm appears, and salloc waits for xterm to exit)
salloc: Relinquishing job allocation 65537
To grab an allocation of nodes and launch a parallel application on one command line:
$ salloc -N5 srun -n10 myprogram
To create a heterogeneous job with 3 components, each allocating a unique set of nodes:
$ salloc -w node[2-3] : -w node4 : -w node[5-7] bash
salloc: job 32294 queued and waiting for resources
salloc: job 32294 has been allocated resources
salloc: Granted job allocation 32294
COPYING
Copyright (C) 2006-2007 The Regents of the University of California. Produced at Lawrence Livermore
National Laboratory (cf, DISCLAIMER).
Copyright (C) 2008-2010 Lawrence Livermore National Security.
Copyright (C) 2010-2021 SchedMD LLC.
This file is part of Slurm, a resource management program. For details, see
<https://slurm.schedmd.com/>.
Slurm is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General
Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or (at your
option) any later version.
Slurm is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the
implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public
License for more details.
SEE ALSO
sinfo(1), sattach(1), sbatch(1), squeue(1), scancel(1), scontrol(1), slurm.conf(5), sched_setaffinity
(2), numa (3)
November 2021 Slurm Commands salloc(1)