Hello,

This is a follow-up to my message below. I am running MPICH2-1.4.1 on Windows Server 2102r2 using the job scheduler with command line through PowerShell.

I found this page which explains my issue

https://technet.microsoft.com/pt-pt/library/cc720141(v=ws.10).aspx

"An exception is the mpiexec option -n. Using this option will cause all of the processes to be run on the same processor, regardless of how many processors have been specified using /numprocessors:."

It's an older version, but I think is the cause of my problem.

Can I use MPICH2 instead of Windows MPI with the Windows Job Scheduler? If I don't specify any "-n" parameter, I only get mpiexec to execute a single task, despite the number of processors I am trying to request

I am trying to use

$j=New-HpcJob

$j | Add-HpcTask -numcores $NUMCORES -command "$MPIEXEC -n $NUMCORES lmp_mpi.exe -in in.lammps"

$j | Submit-HpcJob

where $MPIEXEC is the full path to mpiexec.exe. I am using MPICH2-1.4.1 because it works with LAMMPS and I am told Windows MPI does not because of Visual C++ compatibility with LAMMPS.

I can successfully run the cpi.exe example outside the job scheduler on all cores and nodes.

I can use a machinefile as well but when I use it, the cores and nodes that mpiexec executes don't follow the allocated nodes from the job scheduler.

Is there anyway around using MPICH2 with the -n option in Windows Job Scheduler getting jobs to run on more than one node?

Thanks again for any response I get. I've spent days trying to figure this out so would be grateful for any advice.

Josh

On Sun, Apr 24, 2016 at 11:49 PM, Joshua Moore <jdmoore@ncsu.edu> wrote:

Hello,

I am having issues running mpiexec when I run on more than one node.

I am using v 1.4.1 because it is compatible with LAMMPS software I am using.

I am running on Windows Server 2012r2 and trying to get MPICH2 to play nice with Window's batch server.

I've installed mpich2 on each of the nodes and the head node.

1) msiexec /i mpich2-1.2.1-win-ia32.msi
2) mpiexec -register (to register username and password)
3) smpd -install (to start spmd server on each of the nodes and the head node)
4) On the head node, I've used smpd -sethosts hostname1 hostname2 ... to add each of the hosts. I haven't done this on the compute nodes.

When I execute a job through Windows batch system through PowerShell, my job executes but puts all of the executions on the same node. So if for example my nodes are 16 cores, and I ask for 32 cores, 32 separate processes are run on the first node and none on the second, even though Window's scheduler is allocated 2 nodes.

It's like mpiexec is ignoring the node list that the smpd hosts is setting.

I can use a machinefile with mpiexec and this will allow me to execute on multiple nodes but it doesn't seem to follow the nodes that Windows allocates in their batch server.

I should also add that when I try to request more than one node through Window's batch server with -requestednodes "host1 host2" with new-hpcjob, Windows tells me that I can't do this because I have zero cores available. I can ask for only 1 node and up to the maximum number of cores and it is ok with this.

Any suggestions?

Thank you.

Josh