WEXAC Quick Guide

To use WEXAC, you must register for the service via Internal Services with your lab’s departmental administrator. Please contact us if the lab you are associated with is not a WEXAC member (i.e. does not have WEXAC nodes).

For detailed information, please refer to our WEXAC policy on the policy information page.

Using the WEXAC Software Stack with the Environment Modules Package

The Environment Modules package allows you to dynamically modify your WEXAC cluster user environment, so as to run specific software packages.

While module implementation is shell dependent, commands are not. The table below lists a number of sample commands.

Description Command
List available software modules module avail
List currently loaded module packages module list
Load a particular environment for a package module load matlab/R2011b load
Switch the environment of a package module switch matlab/R2012a
Unload a particular environment for a package module unload matlab/R2012a

Following is a list of sample installed software packages, which can be loaded using modules:

  • BEDTools/2.16.2
  • blast/2.2.26
  • blat/3.4
  • clustalw/2.1
  • comsol/4.2a
  • EMBROSS/6.4.0
  • fasta/36.3.5a
  • IGV/2.1
  • jdk/1.7.0
  • matlab/R2007b
  • matlab/R2010b
  • matlab/R2011b
  • matlab/R2012a
  • mpich/1.2.7
  • mysql/5.5.22
  • ncbi-blast+/2.2.25
  • ncbi-blast+/2.2.26
  • perl/5.14.2
  • perl/5.8.8
  • pgi/11.10
  • pgi/12.4
  • php/5.3.10
  • prank/111130
  • pymol/1.5
  • python/3.2.2
  • R/2.12.1
  • R/2.14.2
  • rmblast/1.2
  • rstudio-server/0.95.265
  • samtools/0.1.17
  • tcltk/8.5.11
  • velvet/1.2.03
  • vim-7.3/7.3
  • websvn/2.3.3

To learn more about the Environment Modules project, visit http://modules.sourceforge.net.

LSF (Load Sharing Facility)

WEXAC runs Platform LSF - powerful, enterprise-grade IBM middleware with comprehensive resource management and job scheduling functionality.

LSF’s scheduling policy is based largely on the fairshare model.

Running LSF commands

To run a package from tcsh using LSF, enter the following command:

# bsub -o somepath.o -e somepath.e somescript.csh

Scripts will resemble the following:

#!/bin/bash
module load matlab/R2010b
hostname
matlab -nodisplay -nojvm < /myhome/h.m > /myhome/h.out

bash users can modify the .bashrc file to include the following lines:

if [ -f /storage/apps/Modules/default/etc/profile.modules ]; then
. /apps/Modules/default/etc/profile.modules
module load matlab/R2010b R/2.14.2
fi

The table below lists key LSF commands, along with their SGE equivalents.

Description LSF Command SGE Equivalent
Queue Commands    
List all jobs running on the cluster bjobs -u all qstat
List all jobs running on the cluster,
expanded to display nodes
bjobs -u all -X qstat -g t
List your running jobs
(also accepts -X flag to expand to display nodes)
bjobs qstat -u User_ID
Display detailed information on a job
(with JOBID representing the job ID number)
bjobs -l JOBID qstat -j JOBID
List available queues, including the number bqueues qstat -g c
Job Commands    
Submit job named jobname bsub < jobname.bsub qsub jobname.job
Delete running job
(with JOBID representing the job ID number)
bkill JOBID qdel JOBID
Job Flags    
Submit job to queue queuename #BSUB -q queuename #$ -q queuename.q
Job name #BSUB -J JobName #$ -N JobName
Array job with 10 elements #BSUB -J JobName[1-10 #$ -t 1-10
Request xx number of slots #BSUB -n xx #$ -pe mvapich xx
Issue e-mail notification upon job initiation #BSUB -B #$ -m b
Issue e-mail notification upon job completion #BSUB -N #$ -m e
Write output to output.log (LSF - I for array JOBINDEX) #BSUB -o output.log #$ -o output.log
Write error to error.log
(LSF - I for array JOBINDEX)
#BSUB -e error.log #$ -e error.log
Job Variables    
Job ID $LSB_JOBID $JOB_ID
Array job index
(when using -t in SGE and
-J Name[1-X] in LSF)
$LSB_JOBINDEX $SGE_TASK_ID
Number of parallel slots requested $LSB_DJOB_NUMPROC $NSLOTS

For further information on LSF, refer to the LSF quick reference guide.

For specifics on SGE to LSF migration, feel free to review the WEXAC SGE-to-LSF Migration user training presentation.