pbs(1B) PBS pbs(1B)
NAME
pbs - general information on pbs
DESCRIPTION
PBS stands for Portable Batch System. It is a networked subsystem for
submitting, monitoring, and controlling a work load of batch jobs on
one or more systems. More information about PBS is available in the
PBS Users Guide.
Batch means that the job will be scheduled for execution at a time cho‐
sen by the subsystem according to a defined policy and the availability
of resources. For a normal batch job, the standard output and standard
error of the job will be returned to files available to the user when
the job is complete. This differs from an interactive session where
commands are executed when entered via the terminal and output is
returned directly to the terminal. PBS also supports an interactive
batch mode where the input and output is connected to the user’s termi‐
nal, but the scheduling of the job is still under control of the batch
system.
A job is typically a shell script and a set of attributes which provide
resource and control information about the job. A job does not have to
be submitted on the system where it will run, tt can be submitted on
any system with the PBS commands and access to the execution system,
see qsub(1B). Output will be returned to the system from which the job
was submitted unless directed otherwise.
Attributes offer control over when a job is eligible to be run, what
happens to the output when it is completed and how the user is notified
when it completes. The attributes of the job may be specified on the
command line or in the job script when the job is submitted. For
information about job attributes, see qsub(1B) and
pbs_job_attributes(7B).
One important attribute is the resource list. The list specifies the
amount and type of resources needed by the job in order to execute.
The list also implies a hard upper limit on usage of those resources.
When the limit is reached, the job is terminated. The types of
resources available to a job vary with the system architecture. For a
list of resources supported on the default system, see
pbs_resources(7B). There are man pages for other systems types as
well, see pbs_resources_aix4(7B), pbs_resources_fujitsu(7B),
pbs_resources_irix5(7B), pbs_resources_solaris5(7B),
pbs_resources_sp2(7B), pbs_resources_sunos4(7B), or pbs_resources_uni‐
cos8(7B).
Once a job has been submitted, it may be monitored by use of the
qstat(1B) command. Two forms of output are available with the qstat
command. The default form is the short display. Information about a
job is limited to a single line. Complete information about the job
or jobs is available through qstat with the -f option. Information
will be given about all jobs in the system, all jobs in specified
queues, or only specified jobs.
When displaying status of jobs, you will see in which queue the job
resides. In PBS a queue is just a collection point for jobs, it does
not imply any execution ordering. That ordering is determined by a
scheduling policy implemented by the system administration.
Other commands of interest which have man pages of their own are:
qalter Alter a job’s attributes.
qdel Delete a job.
qhold Place a hold on a job to keep it from being scheduled for run‐
ning.
qmove Move a job to a different queue or server.
qmsg Append a message to the output of an executing job.
qrerun Terminate an executing job and return it to a queue.
qrls Remove a hold from a job.
qselect Obtain a list of jobs that met certain criteria.
qsig Send a signal to an executing job.
SEE ALSO
qalter(1B), qdel(1B), qhold(1B), qmove(1B), qmsg(1B), qrerun(1B),
qrls(1B), qselect(1B), qsig(1B), qsub(1B) and the PBS User Guide.
Starting with qsub(1B), you can find all other available PBS man pages
by following references in the "See Also" section.
Local pbs(1B)