This section provides a variety of information that may prove to be useful in the configuration and management of your EASA system’s set of compute servers.

This section provides tips on how to better control the throughput of EASAP runs on your set of compute servers.

• To temporarily remove a compute server from the EASA system, you do NOT have to delete its Compute server object. Instead, you can disable by right-clicking the object in the tree and choosing ‘Disable’.

• To avoid a compute server being totally occupied by a long-running EASAP process, you can create a second Compute Server object for the same computer and then specify fast-running software in its Software parameter. This second Compute Server object will create a by-pass thus allowing software applications that run quickly, say less than a minute or two, to run at the same time as large, long-running applications. Otherwise, these fast running applications would have to wait in the EASAP queue until the long- running application finished.

This section provides tips on how to make better use of computer resources that may not be dedicated solely for use by your EASA system.

• In the case where a Windows compute server may be used interactively by someone at the same time EASA is running processes on it, you can create a Custom Server Processing object and set its Run File parameter to easarun_low.bat. This run file will submit EASA processes with a low priority on the compute server, thus minimizing the interruption caused to any interactive users of the computer.

• Alternatively, when a Windows compute server is used by someone during the work day, you can create a Custom Server Processing object and set its Run File parameter to easarun_evenings.bat. This run file will submit EASA processes only after 6:00 PM local time and before 7:00 AM. These times can be modified by editing the easarun_evenings.bat file, which is located in the <SERVERDATA>/admin/config folder.

Note: EASA will not stop any runs submitted for overnight computing, so only software applications that will finish running before the next work day begins should be allowed to run on evenings-only compute servers.

EASA Run Files are used to run processes on compute servers. The EASA Run Files shipped with EASA and available for use with compute servers are located in the

 <SERVERDATA>/admin/config

folder. The EASA Run File used for a specific compute server is determined by the Run File parameter of the Server Processing object selected in the Server Processing parameter of the Compute server object.

Modifications to the EASA Run File used in a Server Processing object can allow new behavior and functionality to be introduced into the way EASA submits processes to compute servers for processing. For example, EASA Run Files have been modified to provide the following enhancements:

• Run EASA processes with a “low” priority on Windows computer servers (included in EASA as easarun_low.bat).

• Start EASA processes on Windows compute servers only during specified times during the day (included in EASA as easarun_evenings.bat and works with SSH and RSH communication approaches, but not WSCS approach).

• Submit EASA processes to separate queuing systems, for example Platform LSF and Portable Batch System (PBS).

• Check for available licenses managed by the commercial license management software, FlexNet Publisher™, before submitting an EASA process.

• Improve stopping of running processes on Windows compute servers by acting directly on Process ID (PID) values (included in EASA as easarun_stoppable.bat). See Stopping Jobs on Windows Compute Servers below for details.

If you are interested in implementing one of the enhancements listed above for which the Run File is not available within EASA, please contact your designated EASA support representative for further assistance.

The default method used for stopping processes on Windows compute servers is to terminate the EASA Run File script initially used to start the process running. This default method can sometimes prove to be ineffective in stopping all processes initiated by the EASA Run File and “child” processes can be left running. By using a modified EASA Run File and making other configuration changes, improvements can be made when configuring a Windows XP or later compute server.

You should follow the procedure described below to improve the stopping of processes on Windows XP or later compute servers:

• Copy the file <EASAROOT>/webapps/easa/etc/easa_process.exe to the system directory on the compute server:

 C:\windows\system32

• Log in to EASA and then set your mode to Administrator.

• Select Compute Servers under the Configure menu.

• Click on the compute server configuration link to initiate the Compute Server Configuration tool.

• Add a new Server Processing object under the CUSTOM SERVER PROCESSING branch by copying and pasting the appropriate default Server Processing object from the DEFAULT SERVER PROCESSING branch.

• In the new Server Processing object, set its Run File parameter to easarun_stoppable.bat and its Stop Using parameter to easa_process.exe -stop.

• Finally, set the new Server Processing object as the value of Server Processing parameters for your Windows compute servers.

Now when users stop jobs that have been sent to a Windows compute server for processing, the command easa_process.exe -stop will be executed, which will end the process using its PID.

Under EASA→Administrator→Configure→Compute Servers, table allows “closed to business” status flag to be set for each remote server to allow a rolling update of a group of servers. A server with “Closed to business” status will refuse new EASAP's while allowing currently running EASAPs to complete.