xpbs - Graphical Interface to PBS
The xpbs command provides a user-friendly point-and-click interface to PBS commands. Please see the sections below for a tour and tutorials. Also, within every dialog box, a Help button can be found for assistance.
Running xpbs will initially load preference settings defined by the system administrator in the global .xpbsrc file. And then it checks the user's ~/.xpbsrc file. This file defines various X resources like fonts, colors, list of PBS hosts to query, criteria for listing queues and jobs, and various view states. See Preferences section below for a list of resources that can be set.
To run xpbs as a regular, non-privileged user:
setenv DISPLAY <display_host>:0
xpbs
This section describes the main parts of the xpbs display:
xpbs Main Window
|
Click here to view a full-size image.
The main window is composed of 5 distinct areas (subwindows) arranged vertically (one on top of another) in the following order:
1) Menu
2) Hosts
3) Queues
4) Jobs
5) Info
The Menu area is composed of a row of command buttons that signal some action with a click of the left mouse button. The buttons are:
- Update Data Manually - to update the information on hosts, queues, and jobs.
- Update Data Auto - same as "Update" except updating is done automatically every <some specified> number of minutes.
- Submit - for submitting a job to any of the queues managed by the selected host(s).
- Track Job - for periodically checking for returned output files of jobs.
- Preferences - for setting certain parameters such as the list of server host(s) to query.
- Close - for exiting xpbs plus saving the current setup information in the user's $HOME/.xpbsrc file. Information saved include the selected host(s), queue(s), job(s), the different jobs listing criteria, and the view states (i.e. minimized/maximized) of the Hosts, Queues, and Jobs regions.
- Help - contains some help information.
The Hosts area is composed of a leading horizontal HOSTS bar, a listbox, and a set of command buttons. The HOSTS bar contains a minimize/maximize button, identified by a dot or a rectangular image, for displaying or getting rid of the Hosts region. The listbox displays information about favorite server host(s), and each entry is meant to be selected via a single left mouse button click, shift key + mouse button 1 click for contiguous selection, or ctrl key + mouse button 1 click for non-contiguous selection. The command buttons represent actions on selected host(s), and commonly found buttons are:
- detail - for obtaining detailed information about selected server host(s). This functionality can also be achieved by double clicking on an entry in the Hosts listbox.
- terminate - for terminating PBS servers on selected host(s). (-admin only)
The server hosts can be chosen by specifying in the ~/.xpbsrc file (or .Xdefaults) the resource:
*serverHosts: hostname1 hostname2 ...
Another way of specifying the host is to click on the Preferences button in the Menu region, and manipulate the server Hosts entry widget from the preferences dialog box.
The Queues area is composed of a leading horizontal QUEUES bar, a listbox, and a set of command buttons. The QUEUES bar lists the hosts that are consulted when listing queues; the bar also contains a minimize/maximize button for displaying or iconizing the Queues region. The listbox displays information about queues managed by the server host(s) selected from the Hosts listbox; each listbox entry is meant to be selected (highlighted) via a single left mouse button click, shift key + mouse button 1 click for contiguous selection, or ctrl key + mouse button 1 click for non-contiguous selection. The command buttons represent actions for operating on selected queue(s), and commonly found buttons are:
- detail - for obtaining detailed information about selected queue(s). This functionality can also be achieved by double clicking on a Queues listbox entry.
The Jobs area is composed of a leading horizontal JOBS bar, a listbox, and a set of command buttons. The JOBS bar lists the queues that are consulted when listing jobs; the bar also contains a minimize/maximize button for displaying or iconizing the Jobs region. The listbox displays information about jobs that are found in the queue(s) selected from the Queues listbox; each listbox entry is meant to be selected (highlighted) via a single left mouse button click, shift key + mouse button 1 click for contiguous selection, or ctrl key + mouse button 1 click for non-contiguous selection. The region just above the Jobs listbox shows a collection of command buttons whose labels describe a corresponding criteria used for filtering the Jobs listbox contents. The list of jobs can be selected according to the owner of jobs (Owners), job state (Job_States), name of the job (Job_Name), type of hold placed on the job (Hold_Types), the account name associated with the job (Account_Name), checkpoint attribute (Checkpoint), time the job is eligible for queueing/execution (Queue_Time), resources requested by the job (Resources), priority attached to the job (Priority), and whether or not the job is rerunnable (Rerunnable). The selection criteria can be modified by clicking on any of the appropriate command buttons to bring up a selection box. The criteria command buttons are accompanied by a "Select Jobs" button, which when clicked, will update the contents of the Jobs listbox based on the new selection criteria.
Finally, to the right of the listbox, the Jobs region is accompanied by the following command buttons, for operating on selected job(s):
- detail - for obtaining detailed information about selected job(s). This functionality can also be achieved by double clicking on a Jobs listbox entry.
- modify - for modifying attributes of the selected job(s).
- delete - for deleting the selected job(s).
- hold - for placing some type of hold on selected job(s).
- release - for releasing held job(s).
- signal - for sending signals to selected job(s) that are running.
- msg - for writing a message string into the output streams of the selected job(s).
- move - for moving selected job(s) into some specified destination queue.
- order - for exchanging order of two selected jobs in a queue.
- run - for running selected job(s). (-admin only)
- rerun - for requeueing selected job(s) that are running. (-admin only)
The Info Area shows the progress of the commands' executed by xpbs. Look into this box for errors.
Some of the widgets used in xpbs and how they are manipulated are described in the following:
- listbox - can be multi-selectable (a number of entries can be selected/highlighted using a mouse click) or single-selectable (one entry can be highlighted at a time). For a multi-selectable listbox, the following operations are allowed:
- single click with mouse button 1 to select/highlight an entry.
- shift key + mouse button 1 to contiguously select more than one entry.
- ctrl key + mouse button 1 to non-contiguously select more than one entry. NOTE: For systems running Tk < 4.0, the newly selected item is reshuffled to appear next to already selected items.
- click the "Select All/Deselect All" button to select all entries or deselect all entries at once.
- double clicking an entry usually activates some action that uses the selected entry as a parameter.
- scrollbar - usually appears either vertically or horizontally and contains 5 distinct areas that are mouse clicked to achieve different effects:
- top arrow - Causes the view in the associated widget to shift up by one unit (i.e. the object appears to move down one unit in its window). If the button is held down the action will auto-repeat.
- top gap - Causes the view in the associated window to shift up by one less than the number of units in the window (i.e. the portion of the object that used to appear at the very top of the window will now appear at the very bottom). If the button is held down the action will auto-repeat.
- slider - Pressing button 1 in this area has no immediate effect except to cause the slider to appear sunken rather than raised. However, if the mouse is moved with the button down then the slider will be dragged, adjusting the view as the mouse is moved.
- bottom gap - Causes the view in the associated window to shift down by one less than the number of units in the window (i.e. the portion of the object that used to appear at the very bottom of the window will now appear at the very top). If the button is held down the action will auto-repeat.
- bottom arrow - Causes the view in the associated window to shift down by one unit (i.e. the object appears to move up one unit in its window). If the button is held down the action will auto-repeat.
- entry - brought into focus with a click of the left mouse button. To manipulate this widget, simply type in the text value. Use of arrow keys, mouse selection of text for deletion or overwrite, copying and pasting with sole use of mouse buttons are permitted. This widget is usually accompanied by a scrollbar for horizontally scanning a long text entry string.
- matrix of entry boxes - usually shown as several rows of entry widgets where a number of entries (called fields) can be found per row. The matrix is accompanied by up/down arrow buttons for paging through the rows of data, and each group of fields gets one scrollbar for horizontally scanning long entry strings. Moving from field to field can be done using the <Tab>, <Ctrl-f>, or <Ctrl-b> (move backwards) keys.
- spinbox - a combination of an entry widget and a horizontal scrollbar. The entry widget will only accept values that fall within a defined list of valid values, and incrementing through the valid values is done by clicking on the up/down arrows.
- button - a rectangular region appearing either raised or pressed that invokes an action when clicked with the left mouse button. When the button appears pressed, then hitting the <RETURN> key will automatically select the button.
- text - an editor like widget. This widget is brought into focus with a click of the left mouse button. To manipulate this widget, simply type in the text. Use of arrow keys, backspace/delete key, mouse selection of text for deletion or overwrite, copying and pasting with sole use of mouse buttons are permitted. This widget is usually accompanied by a scrollbar for vertically scanning a long entry.
Submitting a PBS job requires only to manipulate the widgets found in the Submit window.
xpbs Main Window
|
Click here to view a full-size image.
To submit a job, do the following steps:
- Select a host from the HOSTS listbox in the main xpbs display.
- Click on the "Submit" button located in the Menu bar.
- The submit dialog box is composed of 4 distinct regions:
(1) Job Script
(2) OPTIONS
(3) OTHER OPTIONS
(4) Command Buttons
The Job Script file region is at the upper left, the OPTIONS region containing various widgets for setting job attributes is scattered all over the dialog box, the OTHER OPTIONS is located just below the Job Script file region, and Command Buttons region is at the bottom.
The job script region is composed of a header box, the text box, FILE entry box, and a couple of buttons labeled "load" and "save". If you have a script file containing PBS options and executable lines, then type the name of the file on the FILE entry box, and then click on the "load" button. The various widgets in the Submit window will get loaded with values found in the script file. The script file text box will only be loaded with executable lines (non-PBS) found in the script. The job script header box has a "Prefix" entry box that can be modified to specify the PBS directive to look for when parsing a script file for PBS options.
If you don't have a script file, you can start typing the executable lines of the job in the file text box.
- Start manipulating the various widgets in the Submit window. Particularly, pay close attention to the Destination listbox. This box lists all the queues found in the host that you selected. A special entry called "@host" refers to the default queue at host. Select appropriately the destination queue of the job. More options can be found by clicking the OTHER OPTIONS buttons.
- At the bottom of the Submit window, click "confirm submit". You can also click on "interactive" to run the job interactively. Running a job interactively will open an xterm window to your display host containing the session.
NOTE: The script FILE entry box is accompanied by a "save" button that you click to save the current widget values to the specified file in a form that can later be read by xpbs or by the qsub command.
Modifying a PBS job requires only to manipulate the widgets found in the Modify window. To modify a job or jobs, do the following steps:
- Select one or more jobs from the JOBS listbox in the main xpbs display.
- Click on the "modify" button located to the right of the listbox.
- The Modify window is structured similarly to the Submit window. Simply manipulate the widgets to specify
replacement or additional values of job attributes.
- Click on the "confirm modify" button located at the bottom of the dialog box.
Deleting a PBS job requires only to manipulate the widgets found in the Delete window. To delete a job or jobs, do the following steps:
- Select one or more jobs from the JOBS listbox in the main xpbs display.
- Click on the "delete" button located to the right of the listbox.
- Manipulate the spinbox widget to set the kill delay signal interval.
- Click on the "delete" button located at the bottom of the dialog box.
If you want to be informed of returned output files of current jobs, and be able to quickly see the contents of those files, then enable the "track job" feature as follows:
- Submit all the jobs that you want monitored.
- Click on the "Track Job" button located in the Menu bar to bring up the Track Job dialog box.
- Specify the list of user names, whose jobs are to be monitored for returned output files, in the matrix located at the upper left of the dialog box.
- Manipulate the minutes spinbox, located just below the user names matrix, to specify the interval value when output files will be periodically checked.
- Specify the location of job output files (whether locally or remotely) by clicking on one of the radio buttons located at the upper right of the dialog box. If the output files are returned to some remote host, then xpbs will execute an "RSH <remote_host> test -f <output_files>" to test the existence of the files.
NOTE: Be sure the files are accessible from the host where xpbs was run (i.e. .rhosts appropriately set).
- Click "start tracking" button located at the bottom of the dialog box to:
- cancel any previous tracking
- build a new list of jobs to be monitored for returned
output files based on currently queued jobs.
- start periodic tracking.
- Click on "close window" button.
When an output file for a job being monitored is found, then the "Track Job" button (the one that originally invoked the Track Job dialog box) will turn into a different color, and the "Jobs Found Completed" listbox, located in the Track Job dialog box, is then loaded with the corresponding job id(s). Then click on a job id to see the contents of the output file and the error file. Click "stop tracking" if you want to cancel tracking.
Click on the Close button located in the Menu bar to leave xpbs. It will bring up a dialog box asking for a confirmation in regards to saving state information like the view states (minimize/maximize) of the HOSTS, QUEUES, and JOBS subwindows, and various criteria for listing queues and jobs. The information is saved in ~/.xpbsrc file.
The resources that can be set in the X resources file, ~/.xpbsrc, are:
*serverHosts
list of server hosts (space separated) to query by
xpbs.
*xtermCmd
the xterm command to run driving an interactive PBS
session.
*labelFont
font applied to text appearing in labels.
*fixlabelFont
font applied to text that label fixed-width widgets
such as listbox labels. This must be a fixed-width
font.
*textFont
font applied to a text widget. Keep this as fixed-width
font.
*backgroundColor
the color applied to background of frames, buttons,
entries, scrollbar handles.
*foregroundColor
the color applied to text in any context (under
selection, insertion, etc...).
*activeColor
the color applied to the background of a selection, a
selected command button, or a selected scroll bar
handle.
*disabledColor
color applied to a disabled widget.
*signalColor
color applied to buttons that signal something to the
user about a change of state. For example, the color of
the "Track Job" button when returned output files are
detected.
*shadingColor
a color shading applied to some of the frames to
emphasize focus as well as decoration.
*selectorColor
the color applied to the selector box of a radiobutton
or checkbutton.
*selectHosts
list of hosts (space separated) to automatically
select/highlight in the HOSTS listbox.
*selectQueues
list of queues (space separated) to automatically
select/highlight in the QUEUES listbox.
*selectJobs
list of jobs (space separated) to automatically
select/highlight in the JOBS listbox.
*selectOwners
list of owners (space separated) checked when limiting
the jobs appearing on the Jobs listbox in the main xpbs
window. See -j option in qselect(1B) for format.
*selectStates
list of job states to look for (do not space separate)
when limiting the jobs appearing on the Jobs listbox in
the main xpbs window. See -s option in qselect(1B) for
format.
*selectRes
list of resource amounts (space separated) to consult
when limiting the jobs appearing on the Jobs listbox in
the main xpbs window. See -l option in qselect(1B) for
format.
*selectExecTime
the Execution Time attribute to consult when limiting
the list of jobs appearing on the Jobs listbox in the
main xpbs window. See -a option in qselect(1B) for
format.
*selectAcctName
the name of the account that will be checked when
limiting the jobs appearing on the Jobs listbox in the
main xpbs window. See -A option in qselect(1B) for
format.
*selectCheckpoint
the checkpoint attribute relationship (including the
logical operator) to consult when limiting the list of
jobs appearing on the Jobs listbox in the main xpbs
window. See -c option in qselect(1B) for format.
*selectHold
the hold types string to look for in a job when
limiting the jobs appearing on the Jobs listbox in the
main xpbs window. See -h option in qselect(1B) for
format.
*selectPriority
the priority relationship (including the logical
operator) to consult when limiting the list of jobs
appearing on the Jobs listbox in the main xpbs window.
See -p option in qselect(1B) for format.
*selectRerun
the rerunnable attribute to consult when limiting the
list of jobs appearing on the Jobs listbox in the main
xpbs window. See -r option in qselect(1B) for format.
*selectJobName
name of the job that will be checked when limiting the
jobs appearing on the Jobs listbox in the main xpbs
window. See -N option in qselect(1B) for format.
*iconizeHostsView
a boolean value (true or false) indicating whether or
not to iconize the HOSTS region.
*iconizeQueuesView
a boolean value (true or false) indicating whether or
not to iconize the QUEUES region.
*iconizeJobsView
a boolean value (true or false) indicating whether or
not to iconize the JOBS region.
xpbs calls PBS commands as follows:
Command Button PBS Command
-------------- -----------
detail (Hosts) qstat -B -f <selected server_host(s)>
terminate qterm <selected server_host(s)>
detail (Queues) qstat -Q -f <selected queue(s)>
stop qstop <selected queue(s)>
start qstart <selected queue(s)>
enable qenable <selected queue(s)>
disable qdisable <selected queue(s)>
detail (Jobs) qstat -f <selected job(s)>
modify qalter <selected job(s)>
delete qdel <selected job(s)>
hold qhold <selected job(s)>
release qrls <selected job(s)>
run qrun <selected job(s)>
rerun qrerun <selected job(s)>
signal qsig <selected job(s)>
msg qmsg <selected job(s)>
move qmove <selected job(s)>
order qorder <selected job(s)>
|
)
){kind=link}