Copy template

Copy the file /opt/parastation/config/parastation.conf.tmpl to /etc/parastation.conf.

The template file contains all possible parameters known by the ParaStation MPI daemon psid(8). Most of these parameters are set to their default value within lines marked as comments. Only those that have to be modified in order to adapt ParaStation MPI to the local environment are enabled. Additionally all parameters are exemplified using comments. A more detailed description of all the parameters can be found in the parastation.conf(5) manual page.

The template file is a good starting point to create a working configuration of ParaStation MPI for your cluster. Beside basic information about the cluster, this template file defines all hardware components ParaStation MPI is able to handle. Since these definitions require a deeper knowledge of ParaStation MPI, it is easier to copy the template file anyway.

HWType

In order to tell ParaStation MPI which general kind of communication hardware should be used, the HWType parameter has to be set. This could be changed on a per node basis within the nodes section (see below).

For clusters running ParaStation MPI utilizing the optimized ParaStation MPI communication stack on Ethernet hardware of any flavor this parameter has to be set to:

  HWType { p4sock ethernet }

This will use the optimized ParaStation MPI protocol, if available. Otherwise, TCP/IP will be used.

The values that might be assigned to the HWType parameter have to be defined within the parastation.conf configuration file. Have a brief look at the various Hardware sections of this file in order to find out which hardware types are actually defined.

Other possible types are: mvapi, openib, gm, ipath, elan, dapl.

Define Nodes

Furthermore ParaStation MPI has to be told which nodes should be part of the cluster. The usual way of using the Nodes parameter is the environment mode, that is already enabled in the template file.

The general syntax of the Nodes environment is one entry per line. Each entry has the form

  hostname id [HWType] [runJob] [starter] [accounter] 

This will register the node hostname to the ParaStation MPI system with the ParaStation MPI ID id. The ParaStation ID has to be an integer number between 0 and the maximum number of nodes minus one.

For each cluster node defined within the Nodes environment at least the hostname of the node and the ParaStation MPI ID of this node have to be given. The optional parameters HWType, runJobs, starter and accounter may be ignored for now. For a detailed description of these parameters refer to the parastation.conf(5) manual page.

Usually the nodes will be enlisted ordered by increasing ParaStation MPI IDs, beginning with 0 for the first node. If a front end node exists and furthermore should be integrated into the ParaStation MPI system, it usually should be configured with ID 0.

Within an cluster the mapping between hostnames and ParaStation MPI ID is completely unrestricted.

More options

More configuration options may be set as described in the configuration file parastation.conf. For details refer to the parastation.conf(5) manual page.

Copy configuration file to all other nodes

The modified configuration file must be copied to all other nodes of the cluster. E.g., use psh to do so. Restart all ParaStation MPI daemons.