get-submit-node.shtml

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layout: default
title: Getting a Submit Node
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<p>
In order to submit jobs to our campus-wide collection of resources, you will need access
to a submit node. There are several options for getting access to a submit node:
</p>
<ol>
<li><strong><a href="{{ 'use-submit-node' | relative_url}}">Use ours</a>.</strong> We operate a
submit node that is shared by many researchers. This is a great way to get started
quickly, and it is sufficient if you do not need to run tens of thousands of
jobs with heavy data transfer requirements.
<P>
<li><strong>Use your department's.</strong> Perhaps your department already 
has its own submit node, in which case you can contact your local administrator for an
account.  You will still need to provide all the info requested on the 
<a href="{{ 'get-started' | relative_url}}">getting started</a> form,
so we can set up things on our end.  The benefits of using a departmental or group submit
node are: access to data on local file systems; limited impact from other, potentially new users;
and, greater scalability in the number of simultaneous jobs you can run, as well as the amount
of data you can transfer.
<P>
<li><strong>Set up a new submit node on a server.</strong> If you do not already have
one and need access to data on local file systems, or if you believe that you will have
a significant job and/or data volume, getting your own submit node is probably the best
way to go. Here's an example system configuration that we've found works well for a
variety of submit work loads. You can expect to spend around $4,000 - $5,000 for such a
system.
<P>
<strong>Typical submit node configuration</strong>
<ul>
<li>A 1U rack-mount enclosure, like a Dell PowerEdge 410.
<li>Two processors with 12 cores total, for example Intel Xeon E5645, 2.4GHz 6-core processors
<li>24GB of 1.3 GHz RAM
<li>Two drives for the operating system. 500GB each is enough. You can use mirroring or a RAID
configuration like RAID-6 for reliability.
<li>Two or more 2-3TB drives for data, depending on your needs.
</ul>
<P>
<li><strong>Use your desktop.</strong> Depending on your department's level of  system
adminstration support, you may be able to have HTCondor installed on your desktop and configured
to submit into our campus resources. Another option that is under development is
<a href="https://twiki.grid.iu.edu/bin/view/CampusGrids/BoSCO" target="new">Bosco</a>, a
user-installable software package that lets you submit jobs into resources managed by HTCondor,
PBS or SGE.
</li>
</ol>
<p>
Still not sure what option is right for you? No worries. This is one of the topics we discuss
in our initial consultation.  To schedule an initial consultation, fill out our
<a href="get-started' | relative_url}}">getting started</a> form.
</p>