qdir

A very low overhead first-in, first-out job queue for the local machine

The queue is maintained as a directory of tiny job queue files. When a new job is submitted, this script will identify any existing job queue files and then add its own queue file to the directory. No job will begin until all the preceeding queue files are gone. Each job will delete its own queue file upon completion so the next job can begin. A shared queue directory can be specified on a multi-user system. On Linux this is /tmp by default.

Any command may be submitted to the job queue using qsub (see usage below). You may check the status of the queue (qstat) and remove jobs (qdel).

Installation

Requires python3 running on Windows or Linux. One way to get python3 on Windows is through the Microsoft Store. Here is the command to install qdir once you have python3 available:

python3 -m pip install qdir

See here if there is "no module named pip."

Abaqus Finite Element Analysis (FEA) extras

The package includes additional files to help Abaqus users submit and monitor the qdir job queue. Use the following command to configure Abaqus after qdir itself has been installed:

python3 -m qdir.abaqus install

By default, the necessary settings are appended to the end of your user abaqus_v6.env file. To uninstall you may removed the settings manually or with this command:

python3 -m qdir.abaqus uninstall

Usage

Command line job submission

Submit commands or scripts to the queue using the qsub command. For example, on Linux:

qsub ./myJobFile.sh

or on Windows:

qsub myJobFile.cmd

Any printed output from the command will be saved to a file based on the job name with the job Id appended to the end.

Display command options with qsub -h

Command line queue status

Check status with the qstat command, for example:

qstat

or, for full details:

qstat -f

Command line job removal

First use the qstat command above to find the jobIds and job names in the queue. Delete or kill jobs with the qdel command followed by a jobId or job name. For example, to delete job 12343:

qdel 12343

Abaqus extras

Submit Abaqus jobs as usual from the command line:

abaqus job=whatever

This will invoke the qdir_submit.py module to create a job script and submit it to qdir.

You may submit jobs within Abaqus CAE by selecting qdir as the Job's queue before submitting. You may check the queue status within CAE in the menu Plug-ins > QDir Job Queue Monitor... Click on a Job to see more detailed information. Right-click on a Job to expose the menu allowing you to delete the Job.

Customization

Most parameters used by the script may be customized with command line options, system environment variables, or directives within the job file itself.