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Commit ceac6bf1 authored by Bert Wesarg's avatar Bert Wesarg :keyboard:
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Review: rename file and fix command lines

Closes #143

See merge request !265
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3 merge requests!322Merge preview into main,!319Merge preview into main,!265Review: rename file and fix command lines
# Ramdisk
## Using parts of the main memory as a temporary file system
On systems with a very large main memory, it is for some workloads very
attractive to use parts of the main memory as a temporary file system.
This will reduce file access times dramatically and has proven to speed
up applications that are otherwise limited by I/O.
We provide tools to allow users to create and destroy their own
ramdisks. Currently, this is only allowed on the SGI UV2 (venus). Please
note that the content of the ramdisk will vanish immediatelly when the
ramdisk is destroyed or the machine crashes. Always copy out result data
written to the ramdisk to another location.
### Creating a ramdisk
On venus, the creation of ramdisks is only allowed from within an LSF
job. The memory used for the ramdisk will be deducted from the memory
assigned to the LSF job. Thus, the amount of memory available for an LSF
job determines the maximum size of the ramdisk. Per LSF job only a
single ramdisk can be created (but you can create and delete a ramdisk
multiple times during a job). You need to load the corresponding
software module via
```Bash
module load ramdisk
```
Afterwards, the ramdisk can be created with the command
```Bash
make-ramdisk «size of the ramdisk in GB»
```
The path to the ramdisk is fixed to `/ramdisks/«JOBID»`.
### Putting data onto the ramdisk
The ramdisk itself works like a normal file system or directory. We
provide a script that uses multiple threads to copy a directory tree. It
can also be used to transfer single files but will only use one thread
in this case. It is used as follows
```Bash
parallel-copy.sh «source directory or file» «target directory»
```
It is not specifically tailored to be used with the ramdisk. It can be
used for any copy process between two locations.
### Destruction of the ramdisk
A ramdisk will automatically be deleted at the end of the job. As an
alternative, you can delete your own ramdisk via the command
```Bash
kill-ramdisk
```
It is possible, that the deletion of the ramdisk fails. The reason for
this is typically that some process still has a file open within the
ramdisk or that there is still a program using the ramdisk or having the
ramdisk as its current path. Locating these processes, that block the
destruction of the ramdisk is possible via using the command
```Bash
lsof +d /ramdisks/«JOBID»
```
...@@ -97,6 +97,5 @@ so you have to compile the binaries specifically for their target. ...@@ -97,6 +97,5 @@ so you have to compile the binaries specifically for their target.
#### File Systems #### File Systems
- The large main memory on the system allows users to create ramdisks - The large main memory on the system allows users to create RAM disks
within their own jobs. The documentation on how to use these within their own jobs.
ramdisks can be found [here](ram_disk_documentation.md).
...@@ -120,7 +120,6 @@ nav: ...@@ -120,7 +120,6 @@ nav:
- No IB Jobs: archive/no_ib_jobs.md - No IB Jobs: archive/no_ib_jobs.md
- Phase2 Migration: archive/phase2_migration.md - Phase2 Migration: archive/phase2_migration.md
- Platform LSF: archive/platform_lsf.md - Platform LSF: archive/platform_lsf.md
- RamDisk Documentation: archive/ram_disk_documentation.md
- Switched-Off Systems: - Switched-Off Systems:
- Overview: archive/systems_switched_off.md - Overview: archive/systems_switched_off.md
- System Altix: archive/system_altix.md - System Altix: archive/system_altix.md
......
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