Preparing your systems for installation

Follow these steps to plan and prepare for installation.

  • Make sure that the installation file system on the file server host has enough disk space for all host types.
  • Make sure that the top level LSF installation directory (that is, the LSF_TOP directory, which is the same a the EGO_TOP directory) is accessible with the same path name from all hosts in the LSF cluster (for example, the /usr/share/lsf directory).
  • Make sure that the installation file system that contains the LSF_TOP directory (EGO_TOP) is writable by the user account that is running the lsfinstall script.
  • Create user accounts for LSF administrators (for example, create the lsfadmin user account).
  • Get the LSF entitlement file for the edition you are installing:
    • lsf_std_entitlement.dat file for LSF Standard Edition
    • lsf_exp_entitlement.dat file for LSF Express Edition
    • lsf_adv_entitlement.dat file for LSF Advanced Edition
  • Select the appropriate LSF installer script package:
    • lsf<version>_lsfinstall_linux_x86_64.tar.Z file for Linux x86_64 platforms that require the Linux JRE. Requires approximately 120 MB.
    • lsf<version>_lsfinstall.tar.Z file for all other platforms that require the JRE. Requires approximately 1300 MB.
    • lsf<version>_no_jre_lsfinstall.tar.Z file for all platforms not requiring the JRE. JRE version 1.4 or higher must already be installed on the system. Requires approximately 1 MB.
  • Get the LSF installer script package that you selected and extract it.
    • Linux x86_64 platforms:
      # zcat lsf<version>_lsfinstall_linux_x86_64.tar.Z | tar xvf -
    • Other platforms:
      # zcat lsf<version>_lsfinstall.tar.Z | tar xvf -
    • No JRE required:
      # zcat lsf<version>_no_jre_lsfinstall.tar.Z | tar xvf -
  • Get the LSF distribution packages for all host types you need and put them in the same directory as the extracted LSF installer script.

    For example, for Linux 2.6 kernel glibc version 2.3, the distribution package is lsf<version>_linux2.6-glibc2.3-x86_64.tar.Z.

    Do not extract the distribution packages.

  • If you are installing LSF on MacOS, obtain the JRE from the Apple support website or through software update and install the JRE on the MacOS host first. You can also set the $JAVA_HOME environment variable to point to the JRE installation directory. The LSF installation program will search for the JRE in $JAVA_HOME. If $JAVA_HOME is not set or LSF cannot find the JRE in $JAVA_HOME, LSF searches for the JRE in $PATH.

UNIX and Linux Installer packages

The same installer packages are used for LSF editions on UNIX and Linux.
lsf<version>_lsfinstall.tar.Z
The standard installer package. Use this package in a heterogeneous cluster with a mix of systems other than x86-64. Requires approximately 1 GB free space.
lsf<version>_lsfinstall_linux_x86_64.tar.Z
Use this smaller installer package in a homogeneous x86-64 cluster. If you add other non-x86-64 hosts, you must use the standard installer package. Requires approximately 100 MB free space.
lsf<version>_no_jre_lsfinstall.tar.Z
For all platforms not requiring the JRE. JRE version 1.4 or higher must already be installed on the system. Requires approximately 1 MB free space.
lsf<version>_lsfinstall_linux_ppc64le.tar.Z

Installer package for Linux on IBM Power 6, 7, and 8 Little-Endian (LE) systems

IBM Spectrum LSF entitlement files

LSF uses entitlement files to determine which feature set is enabled or disabled based on the edition of the product.

The following LSF entitlement configuration files are available for each edition:
LSF Standard Edition
lsf_std_entitlement.dat
LSF Express Edition
lsf_exp_entitlement.dat
LSF Advanced Edition
lsf_adv_entitlement.dat

The entitlement file is installed as <LSF_TOP>/conf/lsf.entitlement.

You must download the entitlement file for the edition of the product you are running, and set the LSF_ENTITLEMENT_FILE parameter in the install.config file to the full path to the entitlement file you downloaded.

If you are installing LSF Express Edition, you can later upgrade to LSF Standard Edition to take advantage of the additional functionality of LSF Standard Edition. Reinstall the cluster with the LSF Standard Edition entitlement file (lsf_std_entitlement.dat).

You can also upgrade to LSF Advanced Edition to take advantage of even more functionality. Reinstall the cluster with the LSF Advanced Edition entitlement file (lsf_adv_entitlement.dat).

You can also manually upgrade from LSF Express Edition to Standard Edition or Advanced Edition. Get the LSF Standard entitlement configuration file lsf_std_entitlement.dat or lsf_adv_entitlement.dat, copy it to <LSF_TOP>/conf/lsf.entitlement, and restart your cluster. The new entitlement configuration enables extra functionality, but you might need to change some of the default LSF Express Edition configuration parameters to use the LSF Standard Edition or LSF Advanced Edition features.

After LSF is installed and running, run the lsid command to see which edition of LSF is enabled.

Integrating LDAP with LSF

To install LSF in an LDAP environment, check that the following are satisfied:

  • The LSF administrator is a defined user in LDAP.
  • The OS is configured to use LDAP for authentication.
  • The LDAP administrator grants privileges to the LSF installer user (usually root) to retrieve the user list from the LDAP server.