M-Star Queue

M-Star comes with a queue processing interface that allows the user to build a queue of simulations and run them on GPUs. Basic resource management configuration is supported, such as picking GPUs to use and number of GPUs per simulation. Loading in a parameter sweep is supported.

../_images/queue.png
Setup

This opens the Solver Queue Preferences where you can specify the number of GPUs you’d like to run. The first time you run the queue, you will need to select the number of GPUs per simulation.

Add

This opens a window to select the case directories to add.

Remove

This will remove the selected job in the solver queue.

Up

This will move the selected job up in the solver queue.

Down

This will move the selected job down in the solver queue.

Start

This will begin the queue processing.

Stop

This will stop the queue processing.

Show Log

This shows the output solver window at a given point in time.

Browse

This launches the output files for the simulation that is currently processing.

Post

This launches the current processing simulation in M-Star Post.

Aggregator

This brings up all the data from the runs in the queue and shows a summary.

Configuring the Queue

  1. Click Setup.

  2. Select the GPUs you want to use for queue processing.

  3. Specify the number of GPUs per job.

  4. Click OK.

Adding Jobs

  1. Click Add.

  2. Select an individual case directory or a directory that contains sub-directories with the case data.

  3. Click OK.

  4. The directory is scanned for cases and added to the queue.

Note

Job paths must be unique. If you attempt to add the same case more than once to the queue, the case addition will be skipped.

Removing Jobs

  1. Select the cases in the list.

  2. Click Remove.

Running the Queue

Simply click Start to begin queue processing. The queue will process jobs from the top of the list to the bottom. The Queue GUI implements a simulation exclusive use of each GPU, so that only one job uses a given GPU at a time. When a job finishes, the next job will start up on the available resources.

If a job is queued for processing and has existing output data, you will be prompted to delete the output directories prior to starting the queue.

Monitoring Jobs

The Queue GUI will indicate a basic status about the job—whether it is queued, running, finished successfully, or failed.

Click on Show Log to see the job simulation log file. Note that this is not a live updating reader; it only displays the log file at a point in time. Click Refresh to update the log view.

Stopping the Queue

Click Stop to terminate queue processing. The queue manager attempts to stop the job gracefully before force-terminating the running jobs. Jobs that are not complete are marked as “Queued” again. Note that resuming a queue is currently not supported at this time.

Post Processing

Select the jobs you want to post processing and click Post. This opens M-Star Post with the selected case output data.