1.4 Manual Setup of Initial Server Configuration

Configuration of the pbs_server daemon is accomplished using the qmgr command. On a new system, the configuration database must be initialized using the command pbs_server -t create. Once this is done, the minimal configuration requires setting up the desired queue structure and enabling the scheduling interface.

The following example shows a simple one-queue configuration:

pbs_server -t create
qmgr -c "set server scheduling=true"
qmgr -c "create queue batch queue_type=execution"
qmgr -c "set queue batch started=true"
qmgr -c "set queue batch enabled=true"
qmgr -c "set queue batch resources_default.nodes=1"
qmgr -c "set queue batch resources_default.walltime=3600"
qmgr -c "set server default_queue=batch"

These commands need to be executed by root.

In this example, the configuration database is initialized and the scheduling interface is activated (using 'scheduling=true'). This interface allows the scheduler to receive job and node events which allow it to be more responsive. The next step creates a queue and specifies the queue type. Within PBS, the queue must be declared an 'execution queue in order for it to run jobs. Additional configuration (i.e., setting the queue to started and enabled) allows the queue to accept job submissions, and launch queued jobs.

The next two lines are optional, setting default node and walltime attributes for a submitted job. These defaults will be picked up by a job if values are not explicitly set by the submitting user. The final line, default_queue=batch, is also a convenience line and indicates that a job should be placed in the batch queue unless explicitly assigned to another queue.

Additional information on configuration can be found in the admin manual and in the qmgr man page.