DOKK / manpages / debian 11 / coop-computing-tools / confuga.1.en
confuga(1) Cooperative Computing Tools confuga(1)

Confuga - An active storage cluster file system.

chirp_server --jobs --root=<Confuga URI> [options]

Configures and starts a Chirp server to act as the head node for a Confuga storage cluster.

For complete details with examples, see the Confuga User's Manual (http://ccl.cse.nd.edu/software/manuals/confuga.html).

A Chirp server acting as the Confuga head node uses normal chirp_server(1) options. In order to run the Chirp server as the Confuga head node, use the --root switch with the Confuga URI. You must also enable job execution with the --jobs switch.

The format for the Confuga URI is: confuga:///path/to/workspace?option1=value&option2=value. The workspace path is the location Confuga maintains metadata and databases for the head node. Confuga specific options are also passed through the URI, documented below. Examples demonstrating how to start Confuga and a small cluster are at the end of this manual.

 auth <method>
Enable this method for Head Node to Storage Node authentication. The default is to enable all available authentication mechanisms.
 concurrency <limit>
Limits the number of concurrent jobs executed by the cluster. The default is 0 for limitless.
 pull-threshold <bytes>
Sets the threshold for pull transfers. The default is 128MB.
 replication <type>
Sets the replication mode for satisfying job dependencies. type may be push-sync or push-async-N. The default is push-async-1.
 scheduler <type>
Sets the scheduler used to assign jobs to storage nodes. The default is fifo-0.
 tickets <tickets>
Sets tickets to use for authenticating with storage nodes. Paths must be absolute.

Confuga uses regular Chirp servers as storage nodes. Each storage node is added to the cluster using the confuga_adm(1) command. All storage node Chirp servers must be run with:

  • Ticket authentication enabled (--auth=ticket). Remember by default all authentication mechanisms are enabled.
  • Job execution enabled (--jobs).
  • Job concurrency of at least two (--job-concurrency=2).

These options are also suggested but not required:

  • More frequent Catalog updates (--catalog-update=30s).
  • Project name for the cluster (--project-name=foo).

You must also ensure that the storage nodes and the Confuga head node are using the same catalog_server(1). By default, this should be the case. The EXAMPLES section below includes an example cluster using a manually hosted catalog server.

To add storage nodes to the Confuga cluster, use the confuga_adm(1) administrative tool.

The easiest way to execute workflows on Confuga is through makeflow(1). Only two options to Makeflow are required, --batch-type and --working-dir. Confuga uses the Chirp job protocol, so the batch type is chirp. It is also necessary to define the executing server, the Confuga Head Node, and the namespace the workflow executes in. For example:

makeflow --batch-type=chirp --working-dir=chirp://confuga.example.com:9094/path/to/workflow

The workflow namespace is logically prepended to all file paths defined in the Makeflow specification. So for example, if you have this Makeflow file:

a: exe


    ./exe > a

Confuga will execute /path/to/workflow/exe and produce the output file /path/to/workflow/a.

Unlike other batch systems used with Makeflow, like Condor or Work Queue, all files used by a workflow must be in the Confuga file system. Condor and Work Queue both stage workflow files from the submission site to the execution sites. In Confuga, the entire workflow dataset, including executables, is already resident. So when executing a new workflow, you need to upload the workflow dataset to Confuga. The easiest way to do this is using the chirp(1) command line tool:

chirp confuga.example.com put workflow/ /path/to/

Finally, Confuga does not save the stdout or stderr of jobs. If you want these files for debugging purposes, you must explicitly save them. To streamline the process, you may use Makeflow's --wrapper options to save stdout and stderr:

makeflow --batch-type=chirp \


         --working-dir=chirp://confuga.example.com/ \


         --wrapper=$'{\n{}\n} > stdout.%% 2> stderr.%%' \


         --wrapper-output='stdout.%%' \


         --wrapper-output='stderr.%%'

Launch a head node with Confuga state stored in ./confuga.root:

chirp_server --jobs --root="confuga://$(pwd)/confuga.root/"

Launch a head node with workspace /tmp/confuga.root using storage nodes chirp://localhost:10001 and chirp://localhost:10002/u/joe/confuga:

chirp_server --jobs --root='confuga:///tmp/confuga.root/'
confuga_adm confuga:///tmp/confuga.root/ sn-add address localhost:10001
confuga_adm confuga:///tmp/confuga.root/ sn-add -r /u/joe/confuga address localhost:10001

Run a simple test cluster on your workstation:

# start a catalog server in the background
catalog_server --history=catalog.history \


               --update-log=catalog.update \


               --interface=127.0.0.1 \


               &
# sleep for a time so catalog can start
sleep 1
# start storage node 1 in the background
chirp_server --advertise=localhost \


             --catalog-name=localhost \


             --catalog-update=10s \


             --interface=127.0.0.1 \


             --jobs \


             --job-concurrency=10 \


             --root=./root.1 \


             --port=9001 \


             --project-name=test \


             --transient=./tran.1 \


             &
# start storage node 2 in the background
chirp_server --advertise=localhost \


             --catalog-name=localhost \


             --catalog-update=10s \


             --interface=127.0.0.1 \


             --jobs \


             --job-concurrency=10 \


             --root=./root.2 \


             --port=9002 \


             --project-name=test \


             --transient=./tran.2 \


             &
# sleep for a time so catalog can receive storage node status
sleep 5
confuga_adm confuga:///$(pwd)/confuga.root/ sn-add address localhost:9001
confuga_adm confuga:///$(pwd)/confuga.root/ sn-add address localhost:9002
# start the Confuga head node
chirp_server --advertise=localhost \


             --catalog-name=localhost \


             --catalog-update=30s \


             --debug=confuga \


             --jobs \


             --root="confuga://$(pwd)/confuga.root/?auth=unix" \


             --port=9000

The Cooperative Computing Tools are Copyright (C) 2005-2019 The University of Notre Dame. This software is distributed under the GNU General Public License. See the file COPYING for details.

confuga_adm(1)

CCTools 7.1.2 FINAL