sas grid compute services

[woo]

Hello, we have sas 9.4 m6 installed on linux. Have sas metadata server, grid control server, mid-tier server, and 5 worker nodes. 

we have sas config dir defined like,

...path/config/meta        - server1

...path/config/control     - server2

...path/config/compute  - server3 to server7

...path/config/mid          - server8

-> at the moment, i see sas services running on metadata server (server1),

-> nothing defined under control (server2) (we decided nothing will be running on control server. server2, control server, is defined as lsf master as well). 

-> server3 (compute node) is where we have compute binaries installed. i see all sas services is up and running fine here  - so i believe job distribution will happen from here

-> for all other worker nodes (server4 to server7) only object spawner is up and running and nothing else

-> so we don't require to bring up any sas services on other worker nodes (server3 to server7)?

-> also, not sure why but admin team decided to have all users login enable for all worker nodes (server3 to server7) - is it good idea to do so? i don't think so as admin team might end up troubleshooting different issues on all different worker nodes where users can login...i believe there should be only one server defined as gateway for users where users can login and submit jobs. 

-> what is pros and cons to allow users login enable for all worker nodes? 

Thank you...

[doug_sas]

1.  

LSF must be running on all nodes in the grid.

If using grid-launched SAS servers, the object spawner is really only needed to be running on one machine, but it will spread out the job launching to other object spawners if available.

Is something currently not working?

Users must be defined on all hosts in the grid and have home directories available on every node in the grid. Having users be able to log into the machines is probably not what you want. That allows the users to bypass the workload management provided by the grid. By 'login enable' I am assuming you mean they are able to ssh to the grid machines and run commands.

[woo]

Thanks Doug for your response. This is knowledge base only. i was reading different sas document and didn't understand some concepts. 

when you say "If using grid-launched SAS servers" - do you mean sas application will be using grid functionality (use grid if available?) or something else...?

yes, users can login into all worker node and can run commands - however, even if they login into worker nodes and run jobs from server  - their job will be distributed across other grid worker node like if they run job using EG or studio. isn't it? when you say "bypass workload management provided by grid" 

[doug_sas · Accepted solution]

By "grid-launched SAS servers", I mean grid-launched workspace, stored process, and pooled workspace servers. This is enable in the logical server's load-balancing option.

If user's can login, they can run SAS directly from the command line consuming CPU and IO on the machine outside the control of LSF. Worse, multiple users could log onto the same machine and all try to run their CPU/IO consuming SAS program on the same machine. You have effectively eliminated workload management when you allow users to login directly to grid machines.

[woo]

Thanks again Doug for explaining. yes, in this design we might end up with more troubleshooting than having one server define as gateway and have all users login from there.