Run a Case Study Simulation

Start a simulation by providing a name and a description.

1. Click the Simulate tab.
2. Click New Simulation.
3. Click located in the upper right-hand corner of the web page.
4. Enable the Display Advanced Settings check box.
   If this setting is disabled, then a subset of Scheduler parameters is displayed for the HPC snapshot.
5. For Type, enable Case Study.
6. For Label, enter a name for the case study.

   The name can be comprised of numbers, letters, and underscores, however at least one alphanumeric character is required.

7. For Description, enter a description for the case study.

Import a previously created HPC snapshot or select a snapshot that has previously been imported.

1. Optional: To run a simulation for an HPC snapshot that has not yet been imported:
   1. Click or the Import a Snapshot link.

   
   
   Figure 1. Add a Snapshot

   1. For Snapshot Name, enter a name for the snapshot.
      The snapshot name can be comprised of numbers, letters, hyphens, and underscores.
   2. For Description, enter a description of the snapshot.
   3. For Snapshot, select the tarfile that represents a snapshot of your HPC cluster.
   4. Click Submit.
      Depending on the size of the tarfile, it may take some time to process the snapshot.
      Once the processing is complete, Workload dates, Node Classes, queues, limits and PBS Professional Scheduling parameters associated with the snapshot are populated.
2. Otherwise, to run a simulation for an HPC snapshot that has already been imported, select the HPC snapshot from the list.

   
   
   Figure 2. Choose HPC Snapshot

   Once the snapshot is selected, Workload dates, Node Classes, queues, limits, and PBS ProfessionalScheduling parameters associated with the snapshot are populated.

Select a specific workload time interval. Jobs that ran during that time interval are included in the simulation.

1. Click Workload from the PBS Professional menu located on the left-hand side of the web page.
2. Choose a workload interval by selecting a start and end date:
   1. Select a start date by clicking to the right of Start Date.
   2. Choose a start date.
   3. Select an end date by clicking to the right of End Date.
   4. Choose an end date.

Change the HPC's system configuration by increasing or decreasing a grouping of execution nodes called Node Classes.

1. Click Node Classes from the PBS Professional menu located on the left-hand side of the web page.
2. Scroll through the list until you find the grouping that you want to either scale up or down.

   Figure 3. Available Node Classes

3. Click to the right of the Node Class that you want to alter.
4. Change any of the following values:

   Value	Action
   Label	Change the name of the Node Class.
   NCPUS	Increase or decrease the number of CPUs.
   Memory (units: B, KB, MB, GB, TB, PB)	Increase or decrease the amount of RAM.
   GPUS	Increase or decrease the number of GPUs.
   Count	Increase or decrease the number of execution hosts.

5. Click to save the changes.
6. Repeat step 2 through 5 to alter additional Node Classes.

Modify the HPC cluster's execution queue configuration.

1. Click Queues from the PBS Professional menu located on the left-hand side of the web page.
2. Click located to the right of the queue you want to change.

   
   
   Figure 4. Queues

3. For Priority, set the queue's priority.
   The valid range for a queue's priority is -1024 to 1023. A higher value for priority means the queue has greater priority.
4. For En., choose one of the following options:
   • Enable the En. check box to allow the queue to accept jobs, meaning that jobs can be enqueued in the queue.
   • Disable the En. check box to disallow the queue from accepting jobs.
5. For St., choose one of the following options:
   • Enable the St. check box to start the queue, allowing the jobs in the queue to be executed.
   • Disable the St. check box to stop the queue, disallowing jobs in the queue from running.
6. Click to save the changes.

Add, edit or delete resource usage limits for the simulation.

1. Click Limits from the PBS Professional menu located on the left-hand side of the web page.
2. Change the resource usage limits for the simulation by adding, editing or removing resource usage limits.

1. Click Configuration from the PBS Professional menu located on the left-hand side of the web page.
2. Change any of the scheduling parameters:
   1. Click located to the right of the parameter.
   2. Change the value of the parameter.
   3. Click to save the changes.

Submit the simulation. Once the simulation is complete you can view the simulation results.

1. Click Start Simulation.
   A message is displayed stating that the simulation is starting and a bar is displayed showing the simulation progression.

   Tip: If you do not want to wait for the simulation to complete, you can navigate away from the New Simulation page and view the results of the simulation at a later time.

   Once the simulation is complete, the simulation results are displayed at the top of the web page.
2. Choose one of the following options:
   • View the simulation analysis charts.
   • Click the View the full analysis link to view the charts via the Analyze tab.
   • Scroll to the bottom of the web page and click New Simulation to run a new simulation.