DragonFly On-Line Manual Pages
RECON(1) LAM TOOLS RECON(1)
NAME
recon - Check if LAM can be started.
SYNOPSIS
recon [-a] [-b] [-d] [-h] [-v] [-nn] [-np] [-ssi key value] [bhost]
OPTIONS
-a Report all host errors.
-b Assume local and remote shell are the same. This means that
only one remote shell invocation is used to each node. If -b
is not used, two remote shell invocations are used to each
node.
-d Turn on debugging.
-h Print the command help menu.
-ssi key value
Send arguments to various SSI modules. See the "SSI" section,
below.
-v Be verbose.
-nn Don't add "-n" to the remote agent command line
-np Do not force the execution of $HOME/.profile on remote hosts
DESCRIPTION
In order for LAM to be started on a remote UNIX machine, several
requirements have to be fulfilled:
1) The machine must be reachable via the network.
2) The user must be able to remotely execute on the machine with
the default remote shell program that was chosen when LAM was
configured. This is usually rsh(1), but any remote shell
program is acceptable (such as ssh(1), etc.). Note that remote
host permission must be configured such that the remote shell
program will not ask for a password when a command is invoked on
remote host.
3) The remote user's shell must have a search path that will locate
LAM executables.
4) The remote shell's startup file must not print anything to
standard error when invoked non-interactively.
If any of these requirements is not met for any machine declared in
bhost, LAM will not be able to start. By running recon first, the user
will be able to quickly identify and correct problems in the setup that
would inhibit LAM from starting.
The local machine where recon is invoked must be one of the machines
specified in bhost.
The bhost file is a LAM boot schema written in the host file syntax.
See bhost(5). Instead of the command line, a boot schema can be
specified in the LAMBHOST environment variable. Otherwise a default
file, bhost.def, is used. LAM seaches for bhost first in the local
directory and then in the installation directory under etc/.
recon tests each machine defined in bhost by attempting to execute on
it the tkill(1) command using its "pretend" option (no action is
taken). This test, if successful, indicates that all the requirements
listed above are met, and thus LAM can be started on the machine. If
the attempt is successful, the next machine is checked. In case the
attempt fails, a descriptive error message is displayed and recon stops
unless the -a option is used, in which case recon continues checking
the remaining machines.
If recon takes a long time to finish successfully, this will be a good
indication to the user that the LAM system to be started has slow
communication links or heavily loaded machines, and it might be
preferable to exclude or replace some of the machines in the system.
SSI (System Services Interface)
The -ssi switch allows the passing of parameters to various SSI
modules. LAM's SSI modules are described in detail in lamssi(7). SSI
modules have direct impact on MPI programs because they allow tunable
parameters to be set at run time (such as which boot device driver to
use, what parameters to pass to that driver, etc.).
The -ssi switch takes two arguments: key and value. The key argument
generally specifies which SSI module will receive the value. For
example, the key "boot" is used to select which RPI to be used for
starting processes on remote nodes. The value argument is the value
that is passed. For example:
recon -ssi boot tm
Tells LAM to use the "tm" boot module for native launching in
PBSPro / OpenPBS environments (the tm boot module does not require
a boot schema).
recon -ssi boot rsh -ssi rsh_agent "ssh -x" boot_file
Tells LAM to use the "rsh" boot module, and tells the rsh module to
use "ssh -x" as the specific agent to launch executables on remote
nodes.
And so on. LAM's boot SSI modules are described in lamssi_boot(7).
This page should be consulted for specific actions that are taken by,
and how to tweak the run-time behavior of each boot module.
The -ssi switch can be used multiple times to specify different key
and/or value arguments. If the same key is specified more than once,
the values are concatenated with a comma (",") separating them.
Note that the -ssi switch is simply a shortcut for setting environment
variables. The same effect may be accomplished by setting
corresponding environment variables before running lamboot. The form
of the environment variables that LAM sets are: LAM_MPI_SSI_key=value.
Note that the -ssi switch overrides any previously set environment
variables. Also note that unknown key arguments are still set as
environment variable -- they are not checked (by lamwipe) for
correctness. Illegal or incorrect value arguments may or may not be
reported -- it depends on the specific SSI module.
Remote Executable Invocation
All tweakable aspects of launching executables on remote nodes during
recon are discussed in lamssi(7) and lamssi_boot(7). Topics include
(but are not limited to): discovery of remote shell, run-time overrides
of the agent use to launch remote executables (e.g., rsh and ssh), etc.
FILES
laminstalldir/etc/lam-bhost.def default boot schema file, where
"laminstalldir" is the directory
where LAM/MPI was installed.
EXAMPLES
recon -v mynodes
Check if LAM can be started on all the UNIX machines described in
the boot schema mynodes. Report about important steps as they are
done.
recon -v -a
Check if LAM can be started on all the UNIX machines described in
the default boot schema. Report about important steps as they are
done. Check all the machines; do not stop after the first error
message.
SEE ALSO
rsh(1), tkill(1), bhost(5), lamboot(1), lamwipe(1), lam-helpfile(5),
lamssi(7), lamssi_boot(7)
LAM 7.1.5b2 June, 2008 RECON(1)