LB

Section: User Commands (1)
Updated: options
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NAME

Lb - load balancer for homogeneous environment

SYNOPSIS

lb [ -v | -q ] [ -h ]
        [ -t timeout ] [ -p 0.ppp ] [ -f numforks ] [ -c config-file ]
        [ -r remote-shell ] <command string>

DESCRIPTION

lb finds the best machine in the environment on which to run a batch type compute task. This is done by comparing load averages and computing power for various machines, and selecting the machine best able to accept the compute task. lb is especially useful in distributing compute intensive jobs among the many computers in a homogeneous environment.

OPTIONS

With no options, lb prints a one line output identifying the selected machine and the command being submitted.

        -v      verbose mode:  causes an excessive amount of
                information about the determination of the best
                machine selection to be printed.

        -q      quiet mode:  causes even the usual one line
                output identifying the selected machine to be
                eliminated.  The job will be sent to the remote
                machine, but you will never be told which machine
                was selected!

        -h      output the help list

        -t nnn  time out after nnn seconds when collecting 
                remote host statistics.

        -p 0.ppp once a machine with a selection factor of 0.ppp is
                detected, stop querying other machines. 

        -f nn   maximum allowed number of forks. 

        -c path selects hosts from an alternate config file.

        -r rsh  uses an alternate remote shell.

EXAMPLES

lb

This gives the output of lb -v, but executes no command

lb fortune

This executes "fortune" on the least loaded machine.

lb -v foobar

This executes "foobar" on the least loaded machine, and gives
verbose messages.

lb -q minimos infile

This executes "minimos infile" on the least loaded machine,
and gives no messages.

lb 'spice<infile>outfile'

This is an important example. Here, a program called "spice" is
being run with redirected input and output. Anytime redirection is desired in using lb, the portion using redirection must be quoted to avoid interpretation at the originating shell. The quoted string in this example allows for the redirection to take place on the remote machine.

FILES

lb also requires the configuration file lb.conf which lists machines to be considered, and some basic information about them. See the manual page lb(5) for more on the configuration file.

NOTES

This program is still under development. Send descriptions of problems and/or comments to deke@ee.rochester.edu (also ...!rochester!ur-valhalla!deke).

AUTHORS

Dikran Kassabian,
University of Rochester Dept. of Electrical Engineering
Rochester, NY 14627 (716) 275-3106
deke@ceas.rochester.edu

Tolga Soyata
University of Rochester Dept. of Electrical Engineering
soyata@ee.rochester.edu

Special thanks to Lan Gao (gao@ee.rochester.edu)
for assistance and testing with version 2

This document was created by man2html, using the manual pages.
Time: 21:49:37 GMT, February 02, 2023

LB