IMPORTANT: It is strongly recommended to install QCG-Broker from RPM.

QCG Broker Installation

The QosCosGrid Resource Management System (QCG-Broker) is an open source meta-scheduling system, which allows developers to build and deploy resource management systems for large scale distributed computing infrastructures. The QCG-Broker, based on dynamic resource selection, mapping and advanced scheduling methodology, combined with feedback control architecture, deals with dynamic Grid environment and resource management challenges, e.g. load-balancing among clusters, remote job control or file staging support. Therefore, the main goal of the QCG-Broker is to manage the whole process of remote job submission to various batch queuing systems, clusters or resources. It has been designed as an independent core component for resource management processes which can take advantage of various low-level Core Services and existing technologies. Finally, the QCG-Broker can be considered as a robust system which provides abstraction of the complex grid infrastructure as well as a toolbox which helps to form and adapts to distributing computing environments.

Requirements

  • Java (>= 1.5)

    For SL5.x

    yum install java-1.6.0-sun-compat.x86_64
    
  • PostgreSQL (>= 7.0) - configured to allow TCP/IP connections from localhost (default configuration)

    For SL5.x

    yum install postgresql-server.x86_64
    

Start the PostgreSQL service:

For SL5.x

service postgresql start
  • Apache Ant (>= 1.6) ("Optional tasks for ant" are required. For SL5.x the ant-nodeps.x86_64 package must be installed)

    For SL5.x

    yum install ant.x86_64 ant-nodeps.x86_64
    
  • xml-commons-apis - installation of this package is not mandatory, but is recommended to avoid confusing information about not important errors.

    For SL5.x

    yum install xml-commons.x86_64 xml-commons-apis.x86_64
    
  • certificates
    • QCG-Broker' certificate and private key signed by one of trusted Certificate Authorities [CA],
    • set of trusted CA certificates (must be coppied either into /etc/grid-security/certificates or QCG-BROKER_USER_HOME/.globus/certificates directory)

For the PL-Grid Project install Polish Grid and PL-Grid Simpla-CA certificates:

wget https://dist.eugridpma.info/distribution/igtf/current/accredited/RPMS/ca_PolishGrid-1.40-1.noarch.rpm
wget http://software.plgrid.pl/packages/general/ca_PLGRID-SimpleCA-1.0-2.noarch.rpm
wget https://dist.eugridpma.info/distribution/util/fetch-crl/fetch-crl-2.8.5-1.noarch.rpm

su -
rpm -i ca_PolishGrid-1.40-1.noarch.rpm 
rpm -i ca_PLGRID-SimpleCA-1.0-2.noarch.rpm 

#install certificate revocation list fetching utility
rpm -i fetch-crl-2.8.5-1.noarch.rpm
 
#get fresh CRLs now
/usr/sbin/fetch-crl 
 
#install cron job for it
echo '#!/bin/sh' > /etc/cron.daily/fetch-crl.cron
echo '/usr/sbin/fetch-crl' >> /etc/cron.daily/fetch-crl.cron
chmod a+x /etc/cron.daily/fetch-crl.cron
  • range of opened ports

QCG-Broker needs set of opened ports to be able to receive notifications about changes of jobs and tasks statuses and to communicate with gridFTP server.The port range must be set in ~/.globus/cog.properties file.

mkdir -p ~/.globus
echo "tcp.port.range=5000,5100" >> ~/.globus/cog.properties

Preparing the environment

IMPORTANT: Altought it's possible to install QCG-Broker service on any account (root, regular user) we strongly recommend to deploy QCG-Broker service on the account designated specifically for this service (qcg-broker for example).

We recommend to create a new user (e.g. qcg-broker) that will be used by the service to run in unprivileged mode

mkdir -p /opt/QCG
useradd -d /opt/QCG/qcg-broker -m -s /bin/bash qcg-broker 

IMPORTANT: If you want to configure QCG-Broker to use its own list of trusted CA certificates, please do not forget to copy them into ~/.globus/certificates directory.

Database setup

  • Create new database user (e.g. qcg-broker) authenticated via password (the same password must be later used to setup QCG-Broker deployment):
    su - postgres
    createuser -P qcg-broker
    
    Enter password for new role: 
    Enter it again: 
    Shall the new role be a superuser? (y/n) n
    Shall the new role be allowed to create databases? (y/n) y
    Shall the new role be allowed to create more new roles? (y/n) n
    CREATE ROLE
    
    exit
    
  • Create new database (e.g. qcg-broker) owned by the qcg-broker user:
    su - qcg-broker
    createdb -U qcg-broker qcg-broker
    exit
    
    Note: The qcg-broker user must be allowed to create new databases.
  • Depending on the local PostgreSQL configuration you may need to edit the pg_hba.conf file (host based authentication configuration file) to enable password authentication to the qcg-broker database for the qcg-broker user.

For SL5.x: edit the /var/lib/pgsql/data/pg_hba.conf file.

If the PostgreSQL installation is fully dedicated for QCG-Broker replace the default configuration with rules (lines) given below, otherwise insert them to the configuration file in a proper place:

local   qcg-broker   qcg-broker                         md5
host    qcg-broker   qcg-broker   127.0.0.1/32          md5

Note: You must reload the PostgreSQL server in order to make the changes visible e.g:

service postgresql reload

Installation

IMPORTANT: Perform the installation as the qcg-broker user.

su - qcg-broker
  • unpack the archive
    tar xzf qcg-broker.tgz
    

Compilation [Optional step]

The distribution contains precompiled version of QCB-Broker, that can be deployed as it is. The compilation step is optional and can be skiped, except the situation in which some specific compiler options should be added or changed.

  • compile sources
    cd qcg-broker-<VERSION>
    ant rebuildall
    

Setup

  • setup deployment configuration - all configuration variables are placed in the deploy.prop file
    • deploy.dir - directory where QCG-Broker will be deployed. This directory must not exist, so before deployment this directory must be eventually removed by hand. Later we assume that QCG-Broker was installed into /opt/QCG/qcg-broker/service directory.
    • deploy.certs.dir - directory with QCG-Broker credentials (must contain qcg-brokercert.pem and qcg-brokerkey.pem)
    • deploy.cert.dn distinguish name of QCG-Broker credential
    • deploy.db.user PostgreSQL user name
    • deploy.db.pwd Password for PostgreSQL user
    • deploy.db.host PostgreSQL database host name (127.0.0.1 by default. If PostgreSQL service is on the same host as QCG-Broker, this property should not be changed. Otherwise some changes in PostgreSQL configuration (pg_hba.conf file) may be needed).
    • deploy.db.name PostgreSQL database name
    • deploy.https_port the port which QCG-Broker will be listening for https requests on
    • deploy.rmi_port the port needed for internal communication between QCG-Broker components.
    • deploy.shutdown_port the port which the tomcat will be listening for shutdown requests on
    • deploy.port_range the range of opened ports
  • setup QCG-Broker database
    cd qcg-broker-<VERSION>
    ant -f build.deploy.xml setupdb
    

Deployment

Process of deployment is responsible for copping the QCG-Broker distribution to destination directory and configuring the service.

  • Deploy QCG-Broker service
    ant deploy
    

Configuration

  • Edit the QCG-BROKER-DEPLOY_DIR/broker/etc/providers.list file specyfying list of resource providers (instances of QCG BES/AR services controling resources and creating together virtual pool of resources)

providers.count=<n> - number of providers

For x=0 to n-1 define locations of domain providers:

provider.x.domain=<DOMAIN> - name of the administrative domain, which resources controlled by the given provider belong to,
provider.x.type=qcg - type of the provider, DO NOT CHANGE THIS VALUE,
provider.x.id=<PROVIDER ID> - identifier of the provider (must be globally unique),
provider.x.location=<LOCATION> - address of provider service.

For example:

# how many providers should be used for testing
providers.count=1

provider.0.domain=PSNC
provider.0.id=qcg_cluster
provider.0.type=qcg
provider.0.location=httpg://qcg.man.poznan.pl:19000
  • For cross-clusters job submission, edit QCG-BROKER_DEPLOY_DIR/broker/etc/config.prop file, and set following variables:
    • broker.qoscos.proactive.pncURL - ProActvie node coordinator address
    • broker.qoscos.ompi.pncURL - OpenMPI node coordinator address

See  QCG-ProActive Coordinator,  QCG-OpenMPI Coordinator for detailed information about installation of ProActive and OpenMPI node coordinators.

Resource Providers setup

To allow QCG-Broker to create and manage advance reservations on resources accessible via  QCG BES/AR service some additional configuration steps are needed on Administrative Domain level:

  • the QCG-Broker credential must be mapped (in the grid-mapfile file) to the local user that is authorized to create and manage reservations. Usually the LRMS administrator user (like sgeadmin in SGE or lsfadmin in LSF) has sufficient rights, e.g.:
    "/C=PL/O=GRID/O=PSNC/CN=qcg-broker/qcg.man.poznan.pl" sgeadmin
    

Starting the service

As the qcg-broker user type:

cd /opt/QCG/qcg-broker/service
./broker/bin/start-broker.sh
./service/bin/startup.sh

IMPORTANT: Do not forget to set JAVA_HOME or JRE_HOME environment variables.

Stopping the service

As the qcg-broker user type:

cd /opt/QCG/qcg-broker/service
./broker/bin/stop-broker.sh
./service/bin/shutdown.sh

Veryfing the installation

To verify the installation please use QCG-Broker Client User Guide.

License

For license details please visit the  QCG License page.