Submitting interactive jobs

Grid-scheduler also allows interactive jobs to be scheduled to run on the compute nodes of your cluster. This method can be used to allow multiple users to run command-line and graphical applications across cluster compute nodes, fairly sharing resources between other interactive applications and batch jobs.

The qrsh <binary> command can be used to schedule and launch an application, or when invoked without an application name, to launch an interactive shell session on an available compute node. The qrsh session is scheduled on the next available compute node on the default interactive queue, or a specific queue specified with the -q <queuename> parameter.

[alces-cluster@login1(awscluster) ~]$ uptime
 11:14:16 up 44 min,  1 user,  load average: 0.00, 0.00, 0.00
[alces-cluster@login1(awscluster) ~]$ qrsh
Warning: Permanently added '[node1.awscluster.alces.network]:48379,[10.75.0.164]:48379' (RSA) to the list of known hosts.
                 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
                             Welcome to awscluster
                     An Alces Clusterware environment (r3)
                              Based on CentOS 6.7
                 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
TIPS:

'module avail'            - show available application environments
'module add <modulename>' - add a module to your current environment

'alces session'           - start and manage interactive sessions
'alces gridware'          - manage software for your environment
'alces howto'             - guides on how to use your research environment
'alces template'          - tailored job script templates

'qstat'                   - show summary of running jobs
'qsub'                    - submit a job script
'qdesktop'                - submit an interactive session request

[alces-cluster@node1(awscluster) ~]$

The qrsh -V xterm command can be used to schedule and launch an interactive xterm session on a compute node. The qrsh session is scheduled on the next available compute node on the default interactive queue, or a specific queue specified with the -q <queuename> parameter. The graphical display for your application or xterm session will be displayed on the system identified by the DISPLAY environment variable setting when qrsh was invoked (usually your local graphical terminal). Although graphical applications are typically executed from an interactive graphical desktop session (via Remote Desktop or NX), advanced users can direct the graphical display to a workstation outside the cluster by setting the DISPLAY variable before running qrsh.