NAS provides a special queue on Electra and Aitken, called the devel queue, that is designated for development work. Using this queue for development work provides faster turnaround than using other, non-designated queues.

Note: The devel queue should not be used for production work. Misuse of the devel queue may result in loss of access to the queue. See devel Queue Policies for more information.

Flexible Node Types

From the devel queue, you can access nodes of all Aitken and Electra processor types.

Requesting Resources

Because the devel queue does not have a default processor type, you must specify the processor type by including the :model=xxx attribute in your PBS resource request (where xxx is  bro_ele, sky_ele, cas_ait or rom_ait. Note that mil_ait is not allowed to be used in devel queue.) For example, to request a Rome node:

#PBS -q devel
#PBS -l select=1:ncpus=128:model=rom_ait

Submitting Jobs

To submit your job to the devel queue, run the qsub command:

pfe21% qsub -q devel job_script
1234.pbspl1.nas.nasa.gov

To check the status of a job submitted to the devel queue, run the qstat command:

pfe21% qstat -u your_username devel 

Determining Available Resources

In order to obtain the fastest possible start time, run the node_stats.sh script to view the number and types of nodes currently available in the devel queue before you submit your job. For example:

pfe21% node_stats.sh

devel Queue Policy

When using the devel queue, be aware of the following policy:

• Each user is allowed only one job on the devel queue, either running or queued. You cannot stack up a list of queued jobs or create self-submitting jobs.
• The maximum wall-clock time of a job is always 2 hours.
• A job may request no more than 512 nodes, either of a single processor/node type or a mixture of different processor/node types.
• The PBS scheduler predominately considers which users have used the most devel queue resources to decide which jobs to run next.
• devel queue usage is applied to your mission share.

The devel queue is intended for developing and testing code and cases to prepare them for production runs in other queues, such as the normal and long queues. It should not be used for performing parameter studies or for breaking a long production run into multiple consecutive runs that each fit within the 2-hour limit.

Disregarding these devel queue policies and guidelines may result in loss of access to the queue.