LinuxHPC.org/Cluster Builder 1.3 - Maui Cluster Scheduler

Maui Cluster Scheduler

Maui Cluster Scheduler is an open source advanced job scheduler for use on clusters and supercomputers. The predecessor of Moab Cluster Suite, Maui is a highly optimized and configurable tool capable of supporting an array of scheduling policies, dynamic priorities, extensive reservations and fairshare capabilities.

Benefits/Features

Maui improves the manageability and efficiency of machines ranging from clusters of a few processors to multi-teraflops supercomputers. While performance of clusters on Maui does not reach that of clusters on Moab (90-99 percent), organizations using Maui generally see performance levels of 60-75 percent.

Maui extends the capabilities of base resource management systems by adding the following features:

Job priority policies and configurations
Multi-resource admin and job advance reservation support
Metascheduling interface
QOS support including service targets and resource and function access control
Extensive fairness policies
Multi-attribute fairshare
Configurable node allocation policies
Multiple configurable backfill policies
Detailed system diagnostic support
Allocation manager support and interface
Extensive resource utilization tracking and statistics
Non-intrusive 'Test' modes
Advanced built-in HPC simulator for analyzing workload, resource, and policy changes

Technical Requirements

Resource Manager - TORQUE *, PBS , Loadleveler, SGE, BProc, SSS XML, LSF or Wiki FlatText Scheduling API’s
Operating System - Linux, AIX, OSF/Tru-64, Solaris, HP-UX, IRIX, FreeBSD, and other UNIX platforms Evaluating

Moab Workload Manager vs. Maui Cluster Scheduler

Both Maui Scheduler and Moab Workload Manager provide cluster scheduling capabilities for HPC clusters. Both provide policy management capabilities and workload optimizations which are unmatched by any other tools. Both operate on all major platforms and with most major resource managers. Community and professional support and services are available with each. Cluster Resources, Inc. continues to maintain and develop both products allowing customers a choice. The overview below is intended to be a high-level summary allowing evaluation of which product best meets local needs.

Maui Scheduler is a freely available cluster scheduler. It is highly configurable and possesses strong optimizations. However, it is based on a older architectural design which limits its extensibility. While it possesses some flexibility, the learning curve required to take advantage of these capabilities is significant. Its architecture precludes many features available in Moab. It is perhaps the most widely used open-source scheduler in the industry.

Moab Cluster Suite is a professional release workload management package based on a more robust, scalable, and dynamic infrastructure. It provides a superset of all capabilities found in Maui and includes capabilities in the following areas:

Ease of Use - full graphical cluster administration with integrated documentation and wizards
Multi-Cluster Support - efficient integration of resources from multiple clusters
Grid Support - advanced grid queries, policies, workload management features
On Demand Support - the most advanced on demand intelligence and policy controls available anywhere
Integrated Billing - highly flexible costing, allocation management, and billing
Extended Resource Control - monitoring, co-allocating, reservation, provisioning, and reporting on compute, data, network, software, and other resources
Cluster Visualization - true real-time visualization of what the cluster is and has been doing providing usage breakdown, failures, inefficiencies, etc
Instant Charting and Reporting - instant display of graphs and professional reports covering any timeframe and combination of data
ROI - unparalleled ROI features to reduce staff time, empower users, increase resource availability, improve cluster efficiency, more quickly diagnose failures, and steer the cluster with instant comprehensive feedback and dynamic policies to do what it is supposed to do.

Status

Maui Cluster Scheduler is maintained and supported by Cluster Resources, Inc.

Related Concepts

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