doc/html/slurm.shtml

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<h1>SLURM: A Highly Scalable Resource Manager</h1>
<p>SLURM is an open-source resource manager designed for Linux clusters of all 
sizes. It provides three key functions. First it allocates exclusive and/or non-exclusive 
access to resources (computer nodes) to users for some duration of time so they 
can perform work. Second, it provides a framework for starting, executing, and 
monitoring work (typically a parallel job) on a set of allocated nodes. Finally, 
it arbitrates conflicting requests for resources by managing a queue of pending 
work. </p>

<p>SLURM is not a sophisticated batch system, but it does provide an Applications 
Programming Interface (API) for integration with external schedulers such as 
<a href="http://www.clusterresources.com/pages/products/maui-cluster-scheduler.php">
The Maui Scheduler</a> and 
<a href="http://www.clusterresources.com/pages/products/moab-cluster-suite.php">
Moab Cluster Suite</a>.
While other resource managers do exist, SLURM is unique in several respects: 
<ul>
<li>Its source code is freely available under the 
<a href="http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html">GNU General Public License</a>.</li>
<li>It is designed to operate in a heterogeneous cluster with up to 65,536 nodes.</li>
<li>It is portable; written in C with a GNU autoconf configuration engine. While 
initially written for Linux, other UNIX-like operating systems should be easy 
porting targets. A plugin mechanism exists to support various interconnects, authentication 
mechanisms, schedulers, etc.</li>
<li>SLURM is highly tolerant of system failures, including failure of the node 
executing its control functions.</li>
<li>It is simple enough for the motivated end user to understand its source and 
add functionality.</li>
</ul></p>

<p>SLURM provides resource management on about 1000 computers worldwide,
including many of the most powerful computers in the world:
<ul>
<li><a href="http://www.llnl.gov/asc/computing_resources/bluegenel/bluegene_home.html">BlueGene/L</a> 
at LLNL with 65,536 dual-processor compute nodes</li>
<li><a href="http://www.llnl.gov/asc/computing_resources/purple/purple_index.html">ASC Purple</a>
an IBM SP/AIX cluster at LLNL with 12,208 Power5 processors and a Federation switch</li>
<li><a href="http://www.bsc.es/plantillaA.php?cat_id=5">MareNostrum</a>
a Linux cluster at Barcelona Supercomputer Center
with 10,240 PowerPC processors and a Myrinet switch</li>
<li>Peloton with 1,152 nodes each having four sockets with dual-core Opteron processors and an InfiniBand switch</li>
<li>An <a href="http://hpc.uky.edu/">IBM HPC Server</a> at the University of Kentucky.
This is a heterogeneous cluster with 128 Power5+ processors and
340 HS21 Blades each with dual-socket and dual-core Intel Woodcrest processors 
for a total of 1,488 cores connected with Infiniband switch</li>
</ul>
<p>There are about 200 downloads of SLURM per month from LLNL's FTP server 
and <a href="https:sourceforge.net">SourceForge.net</a>.
As of March 2007, SLURM has been downloaded over 5000 times to over 500 
distinct sites in 41 countries. 
SLURM is also actively being developed, distributed and supported by 
<a href="http://www.hp.com">Hewlett-Packard</a> and
<a href="http://www.bull.com">Bull</a>.</p>

<p style="text-align:center;">Last modified 4 June 2007</p>

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