Creating and Submitting Jobs

Applies To: Windows HPC Server 2008

A Windows HPC Server 2008 cluster job is a request for resources on a cluster, and a payload of tasks to run on those resources. A cluster job can be as simple as a single task, or it can include many tasks.

You create a job by specifying the job properties, including the priority of the job, any limits on how long the job may run, and a description of the candidate resources for the job which can include the following properties: Requested Nodes, Node Group, Minimum Memory per Node, Maximum Memory per Node, Minimum Cores per Node, and Maximum Cores per Node. All of these properties are optional: the Job Template for your job provides default values for any job property that you do not specify.

After defining the job properties, you can add one or more tasks to the job. A task must include the command to be run. If the task uses a Microsoft Message Passing Interface (MS-MPI) application, the task command must be preceded by mpiexec.

You can define how a task runs by setting task properties. A task can include properties such as the input, output, and error files to be used. You can also specify task properties that are similar to those of the job in terms of required nodes, number of required processors, the run time limit, and node exclusivity.

The most common job types are an MPI job, a parametric sweep job, and a task flow job. For more information, see Understanding Job Types.

In this section

• Understanding Jobs and Tasks

• Create a Single-Task or MPI Job

• Create a Parametric Sweep Job

• Create a Task Flow Job

• Understanding Application and Data Files

• Best Practices for Optimizing Job Completion Time

Additional considerations

You can also submit, manage, and view jobs on a cluster using the HPC command-line tools, HPC PowerShell, or HPC Basic Profile Web service. For more information, see Online Resources.

Additional references

• Understanding Job and Task Properties

• Managing Jobs and Tasks