Burst a Cloud Node Manually

Burst nodes manually (without the intervention of the PBS cloud bursting hook) for testing purposes or when your site wants to keep nodes burst for an indeterminate amount of time.

A cloud bursting scenario must be created before you can burst cloud nodes.
Cloud nodes can be burst manually (without using the PBS cloud bursting hook) to test the bursting scenario, to ensure that the connectivity from the PBS Server to the cloud infrastructure is working properly, or so that the cloud node remains burst indefinitely.
The below instructions, show how to manually burst a node via the Node tab. You can also burst a cloud node manually and manage manually burst nodes through the bursting scenario's Customization tab.

Manual Bursting via Customization Tab
Figure 1. Manual Bursting via Customization Tab
Important: Cloud nodes burst manually remain up and running until explicitly unburst.
  1. Login to Control.
  2. Click the Cloud tab.
  3. Click Bursting from the Infrastructure menu located on the left-hand side of the web page.
  4. Select a bursting scenario by clicking its name.
  5. Click Node.
    Nodes that were burst by the PBS cloud bursting hook are displayed at the top while manually burst nodes are displayed below. By default, the manually burst nodes are grouped by instance type.
    Tip: To group the manually burst nodes by tags, click Tag located to the right of Group by.

    Burst Machines
    Figure 2. Burst Machines
  6. Under Machines - manually burst, click Burst machines.
    A list of instance types that have been enabled for the bursting scenario is displayed.
  7. For Tags, enter a key-value pair to add a label to the cloud node and press ENTER.
    A tag is a label that is assigned to a cloud node. Tags enable cloud nodes to be categorized in different ways, for example, by purpose, owner, or environment.
    The key-value pair must be entered as key:value. The key must be less than 36 characters and the value must be less than 43 characters. The length of both the key + value should be less than 80 characters. Valid values are alphanumeric, dash (-) and an underscore ( _ ).
    Once the tag is added, it will appear within its own bubble.

    Key-Value Tag
    Figure 3. Key-Value Tag
  8. Repeat the previous step to add more tags.

    Additional Tags
    Figure 4. Additional Tags
    Tip: To remove a tag click on the 'x' located within the tag bubble.
  9. Enable End date and provide a date and time to automatically unburst cloud nodes on a given date and time.
    All machines will be unburst on this date within five minutes of the specified time. Jobs currently running on the node will be canceled.
  10. Click to choose an instance type to burst.

    Choose Instance Type
    Figure 5. Choose Instance Type
  11. Enter the number of machines to burst.

    Number of Machines to Burst
    Figure 6. Number of Machines to Burst
  12. Optionally, override the default OS image by entering a different OS image.
    An OS image is the template used to create the virtual machine.

    Override the OS Image
    Figure 7. Override the OS Image
  13. Optionally, click again to burst the same instance type with a different OS image.

    Choose a Different OS Image
    Tip: Click to remove an OS image.
    Figure 8. Choose a Different OS Image
  14. Repeat steps 10 through 13 to burst any other instance types.
  15. Click Burst xx machines.
    Where xx indicates the number of virtual machines that will be burst.
  16. Click Burst xx machines to confirm the action.
  17. Click to view messages in the Notification Center about the progress of the bursting activity.
Once bursting is complete, a list of virtual machine that have been burst is displayed.

Burst Machines
Figure 9. Burst Machines