DAIC Experimental
— Documentation for the experimental environment.
(Go to stable docs)
Interactive Jobs
Run interactive jobs on DAIC compute nodes for testing and debugging.
2 minute read
Before you begin
You should already be logged in to DAIC. If not, complete First Login.
Why use interactive jobs?
Interactive jobs let you:
- Test code before submitting batch jobs
- Debug issues on compute nodes
- Explore GPU resources
- Run short experiments that need direct interaction
Start an interactive session
1. Request resources with salloc
salloc --account=<your-account> --partition=all --time=1:00:00 --cpus-per-task=2 --mem=4G
> salloc: Granted job allocation 12345
> salloc: Waiting for resource configuration
> salloc: Nodes gpu23 are ready for job
Account required
Replace <your-account> with your SLURM account name. Find yours with:
sacctmgr show associations user=$USER format=Account -P
You may see a spank-auks: cred forwarding failed warning - this can be ignored.
2. Run commands on the compute node
Use srun to execute commands on your allocated node:
srun hostname
> gpu23.ethernet.tudhpc
3. Get an interactive shell
For a full shell session on the compute node:
srun --pty bash
Verify you're on the node
Your prompt may still showdaic01, but you’re on the compute node. Verify with hostname.4. Exit the session
When done, type exit to release the allocation:
exit
> salloc: Relinquishing job allocation 12345
To cancel from another terminal:
scancel <jobid>
Or cancel all your jobs:
scancel -u $USER
Request GPU resources
To get an interactive session with a GPU:
salloc --account=<your-account> --partition=all --time=1:00:00 --gres=gpu:1 --mem=8G
Once allocated, verify the GPU:
srun nvidia-smi
Common salloc options
| Option | Description | Example |
|---|---|---|
--account | Your account (required) | --account=ewi-insy |
--partition | Partition to use | --partition=all |
--time | Maximum run time | --time=2:00:00 |
--cpus-per-task | CPUs per task | --cpus-per-task=4 |
--mem | Memory | --mem=8G |
--gres | Generic resources (GPUs) | --gres=gpu:1 |
Resource availability
Interactive sessions use the same resources as batch jobs. You may need to wait for resources to become available. When you exit, all running processes are terminated.Next steps
- Submit Batch Jobs for longer-running work
- Learn about Modules for loading software
- Use Containers for custom environments