Important LSF configuration files and directories

Four important LSF configuration files

The following are the four most important files you work with most often:

LSF_CONFDIR/lsf.conf
LSF_CONFDIR/lsf.cluster.cluster_name
LSF_CONFDIR/lsf.shared
LSB_CONFDIR/cluster_name/configdir/lsb.queues

These files are created during product installation according to the options you specified in the install.config file. After installation, you can change the configuration parameters in these files to suit the needs of your site.

Who owns these files: Except for LSF_CONFDIR/lsf.conf, which is owned by root, all of these files are owned by the primary LSF administrator, and readable by all cluster users.
lsf.conf: The most important file in LSF. It contains the paths to the configuration directories, log directories, libraries, and other global configuration information. The location of the lsf.conf file is defined by the LSF_ENVDIR variable. If LSF cannot find this file, it cannot start properly.
By default, LSF checks the directory that is defined by the LSF_ENVDIR parameter for the location of the lsf.conf file. If the lsf.conf file is not in LSF_ENVDIR, LSF looks for it in the /etc directory.
lsf.cluster.cluster_name: Defines the host names, models, and types of all of the hosts in the cluster. It also defines the user names of the LSF administrators, and the locations of different shared resources for one cluster.
lsf.shared: This file is like a dictionary that defines all the keywords that are used by the cluster. You can add your own keywords to specify the names of resources or host types.
lsb.queues: Defines the workload queues and their parameters for one cluster.

LSF directories

The following directories are owned by the primary LSF administrator and are readable by all cluster users:

Directory	Description	Example
LSF_CONFDIR	LSF configuration directory	/usr/share/lsf/cluster1/conf/
LSB_CONFDIR	Batch system configuration directory	/usr/share/lsf/cluster1/conf/lsbatch/
LSB_SHAREDIR	Job history directory	/usr/share/lsf/cluster1/work/
LSF_LOGDIR	Server daemon error logs, one for each daemon	/usr/share/lsf/cluster1/log/

The following directories are owned by root and are readable by all cluster users:

Directory	Description	Example
LSF_BINDIR	LSF user commands, which are shared by all hosts of the same type	/usr/share/lsf/cluster1/10.1.0/sparc-sol10/bin/
LSF_INCLUDEDIR	Header files lsf/lsf.h and lsf/lsbatch.h	/usr/share/lsf/cluster1/10.1.0/include/
LSF_LIBDIR	LSF libraries, which are shared by all hosts of the same type	/usr/share/lsf/cluster1/10.1.0/sparc-sol10/lib/
LSF_MANDIR	LSF man pages	/usr/share/lsf/cluster1/10.1.0/man/
LSF_MISC	Examples and other miscellaneous files	/usr/share/lsf/cluster1/10.1.0/misc/
LSF_SERVERDIR	Server daemon binary files, scripts, and other utilities, which are shared by all hosts of the same type	/usr/share/lsf/cluster1/10.1.0/sparc-sol10/etc/
LSF_TOP	Top-level installation directory	/usr/share/lsf/cluster1/

Other configuration directories can be specified in the LSF_CONFDIR/lsf.conf file.

LSF cluster configuration files

The following files are owned by the primary LSF administrator and are readable by all cluster users:

File	Example
Global configuration files, which describe the configuration and operation of the cluster	/usr/share/lsf/cluster1/conf/ego/cluster1/kernel/ego.conf /usr/share/lsf/cluster1/conf/lsf.conf
Keyword definition file that is shared by all clusters. Defines cluster name, host types, host models, and site-specific resources	/usr/share/lsf/cluster1/conf/lsf.shared
Cluster configuration file that defines hosts, administrators, and location of site-defined shared resources	/usr/share/lsf/cluster1/conf/lsf.cluster.cluster1

LSF batch workload system configuration files

The following files are owned by the primary LSF administrator and are readable by all cluster users:

File	Example
Server hosts and their attributes, such as scheduling load thresholds, dispatch windows, and job slot limits. If no hosts are defined in this file, then all LSF server hosts listed in LSF_CONFDIR/lsf.cluster.`cluster_name` are assumed to be LSF batch server hosts.	/usr/share/lsf/cluster1/conf/lsbatch/cluster1/configdir/lsb.hosts
LSF scheduler and resource broker plug-in modules. If no scheduler or resource broker modules are configured, LSF uses the default scheduler plug-in module named schmod_default.	/usr/share/lsf/cluster1/conf/lsbatch/cluster1/configdir/lsb.modules
LSF batch system parameter file	/usr/share/lsf/cluster1/conf/lsbatch/cluster1/configdir/lsb.params
Job queue definitions	/usr/share/lsf/cluster1/conf/lsbatch/cluster1/configdir/lsb.queues
Resource allocation limits, exports, and resource usage limits.	/usr/share/lsf/cluster1/conf/lsbatch/cluster1/configdir/lsb.resources
LSF user groups, hierarchical fair share for users and user groups, and job slot limits for users and user groups. Also used to configure account mappings for the LSF multicluster capability.	/usr/share/lsf/cluster1/conf/lsbatch/cluster1/configdir/lsb.users
Application profiles, which contain common parameters for the same type of jobs, including the execution requirements of the applications, the resources they require, and how they are run and managed. This file is optional. Use the DEFAULT_APPLICATION parameter in the lsb.params file to specify a default application profile for all jobs. LSF does not automatically assign a default application profile.	/usr/share/lsf/cluster1/conf/lsbatch/cluster1/configdir/lsb.applicatons

LSF batch log files

File	Example
Batch events log	/usr/share/lsf/cluster1/work/ cluster1/logdir/lsb.events
Batch accounting log	/usr/share/lsf/cluster1/work/ cluster1/logdir/lsb.acct

Daemon log files

LSF server daemon log files are stored in the directory that is specified by LSF_LOGDIR in LSF_CONFDIR/lsf.conf.

File	Example
Load information manager (lim)	/usr/share/lsf/cluster1/log/lim.log.hosta
Remote execution server (res)	/usr/share/lsf/cluster1/log/res.log.hosta
Management batch daemon (mbatchd)	/usr/share/lsf/cluster1/log/ mbatchd.log.hosta
Management scheduler daemon (mbschd)	/usr/share/lsf/cluster1/log/mbschd.log.hosta
Server batch daemon (sbatchd)	/usr/share/lsf/cluster1/log/sbatchd.log.hosta
process information manager (pim)	/usr/share/lsf/cluster1/log/ pim.log.hosta

Who owns and who should write to LSF_LOGDIR

Note: Make sure that the primary LSF administrator owns the LSF log directory (LSF_LOGDIR parameter), and that root can write to this directory. If an LSF server cannot write to LSF_LOGDIR parameter, the error logs are created in /tmp.

Where to go next

Use your new IBM® Spectrum LSF cluster, described in Work with LSF.