The following MPT modules have been removed from Pleiades:

• test/mpt-2.13-10Apr15
• test/mpt-2.13-8Apr15
• test/mpt-2.13-6Apr15
• test/mpt-2.13-24Mar15
• test/mpt-2.12-23Jan15
• test/mpt-2.12-22Jan15
• test/mpt.2.12a83
• test/mpt.2.12a39
• test/mpt.2.11r13

The removal of the following modules has been postponed:

• mpi-sgi/mpt.2.11r8
• mpi-sgi/mpt.2.11r13

If you migrated from mpi-sgi/mpt.2.11r8 or mpi-sgi/mpt.2.11r13 to the default, mpi-sgi/mpt (which currently points to mpi-sgi/mpt.2.12r16), and you are not experiencing any issues, you should continue to use mpi-sgi/mpt.

If you experienced performance regression or failures with mpi-sgi/mpt, please report the problem to support@nas.nasa.gov for investigation. You can continue to use mpi-sgi/mpt.2.11r8 or mpi-sgi/mpt.2.11r13 for your production runs until further notice.

Previous Notice

To address serious ongoing issues with Message Passing Toolkit (MPT) version 2.11, NAS will replace 11 MPT modules with the recommended MPT version 2.12r16 on July 6, 2015.

Findings

NAS and vendor engineers determined that the migration to MPT version 2.12r16 (officially released on May 14, 2015) is needed to maintain overall system stability and to more easily identify possible network issues. Version 2.12r16 provides an extension for the packet retry mechanism to cover more message types and improvements to the congestion detection and control algorithm.

Impact to Users

• You should begin testing MPT version 2.12r16 with your applications immediately. No code recompilation is necessary. Simply load the new recommended modulefile "mpi-sgi/mpt" instead of any other mpt version in your script or session start-up dot files. This modulefile always points to the currently recommended MPT version.
• If a change is made to mpi-sgi/mpt to point to a new version or in its settings, we expect no recompilation and relinking is needed for your application.
• Strongly recommended: Use the mpiexec launcher instead of other launchers such as mpirun for your MPI application. It allows logging of the MPI environment used in your PBS job (such as the MPT version and settings) to the NAS system logfiles. If you notice a change in behavior of your jobs as a result of possible changes in mpi-sgi/mpt, please provide the PBS jobid when requesting help for investigation.
• To keep track of which MPT version and settings are being used by your application, set the following environmental variables:
  • (for csh, tcsh)
    • setenv MPI_VERBOSE
    • setenv MPI_DISPLAY_SETTINGS
  • (for sh, bash)
    • export MPI_VERBOSE=1
    • export MPI_DISPLAY_SETTINGS=1

Benefits of mpi-sgi/mpt

The mpi-sgi/mpt modulefile has several benefits:

• You always get the SGI MPT library with the version and environmental settings recommended by NAS staff.
• You don't have to change your script to load an explicit MPT modulefile when a new improved version becomes available.
• Your script will not fail if an old MPT version is removed from the NAS systems.

For more information, please see the following NAS Knowledge Base articles:

• SGI MPT
• Using the NAS-Recommended MPT Library

Note: In exceptional circumstances, NAS staff can provide access to retired modules. We can also help modify your application to use a supported version of the library. If version 2.12r16 causes problems for your code, or if you have a critical need to access one or more of the modules removed after July 6, 2015, please contact the Control Room at (800) 331-8737, (650) 604-4444, or support@nas.nasa.gov.