Create a Parametric Sweep Job

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Applies To: Windows HPC Server 2008

A parametric sweep job contains a single task that runs multiple times with a set of different inputs. This is a change from Compute Cluster Server 2003, where a parametric sweep was a job with many tasks.

You can use the following procedure to create a parametric sweep job using HPC Job Manager.

Important

To complete this procedure, you must have been added as a user on the cluster, or you must be a member of a domain group that has been added as a user on the cluster. For more information, contact your cluster administrator.

To create a parametric sweep job

  1. In the Actions pane, click New Parametric Sweep Job.

    Note

    The New Parametric Sweep Job dialog box provides a quick way to submit a parametric sweep 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 Parametric Sweep Task Job dialog box, choose a job template from the drop-down list.

  3. Type a name for your task.

  4. The index for your parametric sweep applies to the instances of your application, and to your input, output, and error files. Define the index for your parametric sweep as follows:

    1. In Step 1 in the dialog box, set the start and end index values for your sweep.

    2. In Step 2, choose the increment for the sweep index.

    You can verify your index series under Preview your sweep at the bottom of the dialog box.

  5. Type the task command, relative to the working directory, in the Command line entry box. For example, type myApp.exe *. This creates multiple indexed instances of you application.

  6. Specify the Working directory for your task. In general, a working directory should be indicated with a UNC path, not a relative or a local path. The working directory can include the wildcard character (*) if each step in the sweep needs a discrete working directory.

  7. Specify the Standard input, Standard output, and Standard error file names relative to the working directory. Use the wildcard character (*) to represent a file number that will increment from one iteration to the next according to the index settings you chose in Step 5 of this procedure. For example: myInput*.dat.

    Note

    In a parametric sweep task, the input and output are usually a set of indexed files (for example, input1, input2, input3…, output1, output2, output3…).

  8. Preview your parametric sweep job. If the job is not what you intended, make changes and preview again.

  9. Click Submit.

Additional considerations

  • You can also create a parametric sweep 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.

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

Additional references