How do I import cluster profiles without access to a GUI?

I am trying to create and validate a cluster profile for slurm on a HPC server that runs linux.

Creating the profile is easily possible on my local desktop environment, following the steps in Install MATLAB Parallel Server for Slurm.

However, I find myself unable to validate my profile on the server, because I can't seem to import the profile without a GUI, as outlined in the section 'Validate the Cluster Profile'.

So, how do I import my new cluster profile via shell/command line on the server?

Answer 1

[Edric Ellis]

You can use parallel.importProfile to do exactly this from within MATLAB on the server. You can't currently run cluster profile validation without a UI, but you could try running a simple batch command, or calling parpool directly.

I wonder if this is really what you want to do though? There are modes of operation where you can submit work to a remote cluster directly from your desktop machine. I.e. item 4.j from the section "Configure Client Machine" in the doc page you linked to - set up a remote connection to the cluster right from your desktop so you can submit work without having to log in directly to the cluster.

[Felix]

I wonder if this is really what you want to do though?

Well, no. You are correct in assuming, I don't want to do that. I would of course like to run jobs from my desktop. But there's other problems with this:

If I understand correctly, i would need to specify the network address of the HPC as the 'ClusterHost' property of a cluster profile. How would I do that, if the HPC is not accessible directly via ssh, but instead via a ssh jump host, an intermediary server? I.e., to reach the HPC I would run the command :

ssh -J jump.address hpc.address

[Edric Ellis]

Unfortunately, jump hosts are not currently supported.

Answer 2

[Alison Eele]

Hi Felix,

There is a programmatic interface for importing a cluster profile see the documentation page here: https://www.mathworks.com/help/parallel-computing/parallel.importprofile.html

You may also want to be aware of some steps you can take to validate the cluster profile without access to a GUI using this MATLAB Answer: https://www.mathworks.com/matlabcentral/answers/130554-how-do-i-validate-my-matlab-cluster-when-i-do-not-have-access-to-a-gui

If you run into any issues with getting set up I would recommend contacting our support teams for help.

https://www.mathworks.com/support/contact_us.html