LSF Simulator experiments

An LSF Simulator experiment is an LSF simulation that is run using a selected workload snapshot and a full set of LSF cluster configuration files and workload policies. Use the Experiments tab in the LSF Simulator web console to work with experiments.

About this task

The Experiments tab in the LSF Simulator web console displays an overview of all existing experiments and allows you to perform additional actions on these experiments.

Note that when LSF Simulator is configured with LSF License Scheduler, measuring experiment data differs for jobs running in different LSF License Scheduler modes. LSF License Scheduler provides modes: a cluster mode, a traditional project mode. Each LSF License Scheduler mode uses a different scheduling mechanism that affects how LSF Simulator measures its experiment data. For example, with LSF License Scheduler project mode, license token distribution is defined at each scheduling cycle, after the lmstat or rlmstat command confirms the availability of the license token. Compare with LSF License Scheduler cluster or fast dispatch modes, when a job finishes running, the next job gets its license immediately without having to wait for the next lmstat or rlmstat interval. These different scheduling mechanisms for the different modes measure the LSF Simulator experiment data differently. For instance, the pending time of experiments configured with the FAST_DISPATCH=N setting is much higher that for experiments where FAST_DISPATCH=Y.

• Click New to create a new experiment.
  1. In the Cluster Configuration tab, select an LSF cluster configuration to use for your experiment.
  2. In the Workload Snapshot tab, select a workload snapshot from which to run your experiment.

     A workload snapshot is a set of job submission and completion records that are imported from the LSF cluster event file (lsb.events).

     You can also select a Time Compression Factor to speed up your simulation.

  3. Click Start to start your experiment.
• Click the name of an existing experiment to view details on that experiment.
  • The Cluster Configuration and Workload Snapshot tabs show the parameters of the experiment that you created, including changes that you made to the configuration after importing it from the production cluster.
  • When the experiment is running, the Experiment Progress tab shows the current progress of jobs that are in the simulated cluster.
  • When the experiment is done, the Experiment Results tab shows details of the jobs that ran on the simulated cluster.

    You can compare different experiment versions by selecting the appropriate version in the list. You can also select Baseline to compare simulation results with data results from the actual production cluster.

  • The Graphs tab show a graphical representation of the experiments.
• When an experiment is running, you can go into the simulation environment to view the simulated cluster by clicking the Xterm action item.

  A new terminal window opens and logs you in to the simulated cluster as the primary LSF administrator. Run LSF commands to view the status of the cluster.