Create a Single-Task or MPI Job

Applies To: Windows HPC Server 2008

A single task job can contain either a serial task, or a parallel task that uses a Message Passing Interface (MPI) application. For an MPI application, a parallel task usually consists of a single application that is running concurrently on multiple cores, with communication occurring between the processes.

You can use the following procedure to create a single-task job using HPC Job Manager.

To create a single-task job

1. In the Actions pane, click New Single-Task Job.

   Note

   The New Single Task Job dialog box provides a quick way to submit a single-task or MPI job. When you use this method, you automatically accept all default job property values as defined by the job template that you use. To specify job property values, you can submit the job using the New Job dialog box instead.

2. In the New Single-Task Job dialog box, choose a job template from the drop-down list.

3. Type a name for your task.

4. Type the task command, relative to the working directory, in the Command line entry box. For example, type myapp.exe.

   Jobs that work with parallel tasks through Microsoft Message Passing Interface (MS-MPI) require the use of the mpiexec command; therefore, commands for parallel tasks must be in the following format: mpiexec [mpi_options] <myapp.exe> [arguments], where myapp.exe is the name of the application to run. The mpiexec command takes a number of arguments which allow you to control MPI process placement, networking affinity, and other run time parameters. For more details on these parameters, see the Windows HPC Server 2008 Command Line Reference (https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=120724).

5. Specify the Working directory for your task. In general, a working directory should be indicated with a Universal Naming Convention (UNC) path, not a relative or a local path.

6. Specify the Standard input, Standard output, and Standard error file names relative to the working directory.

7. Set the minimum and maximum number of cores necessary for your job.

8. Click Submit.

Additional considerations

• You can also create a single-task or an MPI job by clicking New Job. In the New Job dialog box, you can specify job properties to provide more details about how the job needs to run.

• You can run the same executable using different input and output files by creating a parametric sweep job. For more information, see Create a Parametric Sweep Job.

• To open HPC Job Manager, click Start, point to All Programs, click Microsoft HPC Pack, and then click HPC Job Manager.

Additional references

• Understanding Job Templates

• Understanding Application and Data Files

• Understanding Job and Task Properties

• Managing Jobs and Tasks