14-batch-shipyard-configuration-jobs.md

Batch Shipyard Jobs Configuration

This page contains in-depth details on how to configure the jobs configuration file for Batch Shipyard.

Considerations

• By default, containers are executed with the working directory set to the Azure Batch task working directory (or $AZ_BATCH_TASK_WORKING_DIR). This default is set such that all files written to this path (or any child paths) are persisted to the host. This behavior can be changed through the options default_working_dir or to explicitly set the working dir with the container runtime respective switch to additional_docker_run_options or additional_singularity_options.
• Container logs are automatically captured to stdout.txt and stderr.txt within the $AZ_BATCH_TASK_DIR. You can egress these logs using the data files task command (e.g., data files task --filespec myjobid,mytaskid,stdout.txt).
• Note that environment variable conventions used below are for Linux. Windows environment variables should follow Windows conventions. For example, the Azure Batch Shared Directory on compute nodes are referenced in Linux as $AZ_BATCH_NODE_SHARED_DIR, while on Windows, it would be %AZ_BATCH_NODE_SHARED_DIR%.

Schema

The jobs schema is as follows:

job_specifications:
- id: containerjob
  auto_complete: true
  environment_variables:
    abc: xyz
  environment_variables_keyvault_secret_id: https://myvault.vault.azure.net/secrets/myjobenv
  max_task_retries: 1
  max_wall_time: 02:00:00
  retention_time: 1.12:00:00
  priority: 0
  user_identity:
    default_pool_admin: true
    specific_user:
      gid: 1001
      uid: 1001
  auto_pool:
    keep_alive: false
    pool_lifetime: job
  recurrence:
    schedule:
      do_not_run_after: null
      do_not_run_until: null
      recurrence_interval: 00:05:00
      start_window: null
    job_manager:
      allow_low_priority_node: true
      monitor_task_completion: false
      run_exclusive: false
  allow_run_on_missing_image: false
  remove_container_after_exit: true
  shm_size: 256m
  infiniband: false
  gpus: disable
  exit_conditions:
    default:
      exit_options:
        job_action: none
        dependency_action: block
  data_volumes:
  - joblevelvol
  shared_data_volumes:
  - joblevelsharedvol
  auto_scratch:
    setup: block
    task_id: batch-shipyard-autoscratch
    num_instances: pool_current_dedicated
  job_preparation:
    command: myjpcommand
  job_release:
    command: myjrcommand
  input_data:
    azure_batch:
    - job_id: someotherjob
      task_id: task-a
      exclude:
      - '*.txt'
      include:
      - wd/*.dat
      destination: null
    azure_storage:
    - storage_account_settings: mystorageaccount
      remote_path: jobcontainer/dir
      local_path: $AZ_BATCH_NODE_SHARED_DIR/jobdata
      is_file_share: false
      exclude:
      - '*.tmp'
      include:
      - jobdata*.bin
      blobxfer_extra_options: null
  default_working_dir: batch
  restrict_default_bind_mounts: false
  force_enable_task_dependencies: false
  autogenerated_task_id:
    prefix: task-
    zfill_width: 5
  federation_constraints:
    pool:
      autoscale:
        allow: true
        exclusive: false
      low_priority_nodes:
        allow: true
        exclusive: false
      native: false
      windows: false
      location: eastus
      container_registries:
        private_docker_hub: true
        public:
        - my.public.registry.io
      max_active_task_backlog:
        ratio: null
        autoscale_exempt: true
      custom_image_arm_id: null
      virtual_network_arm_id: null
    compute_node:
      vm_size: STANDARD_F1
      cores:
        amount: 2
        schedulable_variance: null
      memory:
        amount: 512m
        schedulable_variance: null
      exclusive: false
      gpu: false
      infiniband: false
  tasks:
  - id: null
    docker_image: busybox
    singularity_image: shub://singularityhub/busybox
    task_factory:
      parametric_sweep:
        combinations:
          iterable:
          - ABC
          - '012'
          length: 2
          replacement: false
        permutations:
          iterable: ABCDEF
          length: 3
        product:
        - start: 0
          step: 1
          stop: 10
        product_iterables:
        - abc
        - '012'
        zip:
        - ab
        - '01'
      random:
        distribution:
          beta:
            alpha: 1
            beta: 1
          exponential:
            lambda: 2
          gamma:
            alpha: 1
            beta: 1
          gauss:
            mu: 1
            sigma: 0.1
          lognormal:
            mu: 1
            sigma: 0.1
          pareto:
            alpha: 1
          triangular:
            high: 1
            low: 0
            mode:
          uniform:
            a: 0
            b: 1
          weibull:
            alpha: 1
            beta: 1
        generate: 3
        integer:
          start: 0
          step: 1
          stop: 10
        seed:
      file:
        azure_storage:
          storage_account_settings: mystorageaccount
          remote_path: container/dir
          is_file_share: false
          exclude:
          - '*.tmp'
          include:
          - '*.png'
        task_filepath: file_name
      custom:
        input_args:
        - a
        - b
        - c
        input_kwargs:
          abc: '012'
          def: '345'
        module: mypkg.mymodule
        package: null
      repeat: 3
      autogenerated_task_id:
        prefix: task-
        zfill_width: 5
    singularity_execution:
      cmd: exec
      elevated: false
    additional_singularity_options: []
    name:
    labels: []
    environment_variables:
      def: '123'
    environment_variables_keyvault_secret_id: https://myvault.vault.azure.net/secrets/mytaskenv
    ports: []
    data_volumes:
    - contdatavol
    - hosttempvol
    shared_data_volumes:
    - azurefilevol
    resource_files:
    - blob_source: https://some.url
      file_mode: '0750'
      file_path: some/path/in/wd/file
    input_data:
      azure_batch:
      - job_id: previousjob
        task_id: mytask1
        exclude:
        - '*.txt'
        include:
        - wd/output/*.bin
        destination: null
      azure_storage:
      - storage_account_settings: mystorageaccount
        remote_path: taskcontainer/output
        local_path: $AZ_BATCH_TASK_WORKING_DIR/taskdata
        is_file_share: false
        exclude:
        - '*.tmp'
        include:
        - taskdata*.bin
        blobxfer_extra_options: null
    output_data:
      azure_storage:
      - storage_account_settings: mystorageaccount
        remote_path: output/dir
        local_path: null
        is_file_share: false
        exclude:
        - '*.tmp'
        include:
        - 'out*.dat'
        blobxfer_extra_options: null
        condition: tasksuccess
    default_working_dir: batch
    remove_container_after_exit: true
    shm_size: 256m
    additional_docker_run_options: []
    infiniband: false
    gpus: disable
    depends_on:
    - taskid-a
    - taskid-b
    - taskid-c
    depends_on_range:
    - 1
    - 10
    max_task_retries: 1
    max_wall_time: 03:00:00
    retention_time: 1.12:00:00
    exit_conditions:
      default:
        exit_options:
          job_action: none
          dependency_action: block
    multi_instance:
      coordination_command:
      num_instances: pool_current_dedicated
      resource_files:
      - blob_source: https://some.url
        file_mode: '0750'
        file_path: some/path/in/sharedtask/file
      pre_execution_command: source myrc
      mpi:
        runtime: intelmpi
        executable_path: path/to/mpiexec/or/mpirun
        options: []
        processes_per_node: 1
    entrypoint: null
    command: mycommand
  merge_task:
    id: null
    # ... same properties found in task except for
    # depends_on, depends_on_range, multi_instance, task_factory

job_specifications array consists of jobs to create.

• (required) id is the job id to create. If the job already exists, the specified tasks under the job will be added to the existing job.
• (optional) auto_complete enables auto-completion of the job for which the specified tasks are run under. In non-native mode and when run with multi-instance tasks, this performs automatic cleanup of the Docker container which is run in detached mode. It is not necessary to set auto_complete to true with native container supported pools to clean up Docker containers with multi-instance tasks. However, it is not necessary to set auto_complete to true for Singularity-based multi-instance tasks. The default is false. If creating a job recurrence, utilizing auto_complete is one way to have recurrent job instances created from a schedule to complete such that the next job recurrence can be created.
• (optional) environment_variables under the job are environment variables which will be applied to all tasks operating under the job.
• (optional) environment_variables_keyvault_secret_id under the job are environment variables stored in KeyVault that should be applied to all tasks operating under the job. The secret stored in KeyVault must be a valid YAML/JSON string, e.g., { "env_var_name": "env_var_value" }.
• (optional) max_task_retries sets the maximum number of times that Azure Batch should retry all tasks in this job for. By default, Azure Batch does not retry tasks that fail (i.e. max_task_retries is 0). Note that remove_container_after_exit must be true (the default) in order for retries to work properly.
• (optional) max_wall_time sets the maximum wallclock time that the job can stay active for (i.e., time period after it has been created). By default, or if not set, the job may stay active for an infinite period. The format for this property is a timedelta with a string representation of "d.HH:mm:ss". Note that the job will transition to completed state after the maximum wall clock time is reached along with termination of any running tasks.
• (optional) retention_time sets the timedelta to retain any tasks directories under the job on the compute node where it ran after the task completes. The format for this property is a timedelta with a string representation of "d.HH:mm:ss". For example, "1.12:00:00" would allow the compute node to clean up all of the task directories under this job 36 hours after the task completed. The default, if unspecified, is 7 days.
• (optional) priority is an integral number that indicates the job priority. Tasks within jobs with higher priority are run ahead of those with lower priority, however, tasks that are already running with lower priority are not preempted. Valid values are within the range of [-1000, 1000] and the default is 0.
• (optional) user_identity property is to define which user to run the container as. By default, if this property is not defined, the container will be run as the root user. However, it may be required to run the container with a different user, especially if integrating with storage cluster and shared file systems. All first-level properties within user_identity are mutually exclusive of one another.
  • (optional) default_pool_admin specifies if the container should be run with the default pool (compute node) administrator user that Azure Batch automatically configures upon compute node start. This user will have passwordless sudo access.
  • (optional) specific_user specifies to run the container as a specific user.
    • (required) uid is the user id of the user
    • (required) gid is the group id of the user
• (optional) auto_pool will create a compute pool on demand for the job as specified in the pool configuration. Note that storage resources required by Batch Shipyard may not be automatically cleaned up when using autopools. Note that the pool id prefix used for autopools is based on the id of the pool in the linked pool specification. Utilizing jobs term or jobs del without any jobid scoping will attempt to clean up storage resources. Otherwise, you will need to use storage del or storage clear to clean up storage resources manually.
  • (optional) pool_lifetime specifies the lifetime of the pool. Valid values are job and job_schedule. job_schedule is only valid if the recurrence property is also specified. The default is job.
  • (optional) keep_alive specifies if the pool should be kept even after its lifetime expires. The default is false. Note that setting this value to false and setting auto_complete to true will automatically delete the compute pool once all tasks under the job complete.
• (optional) recurrence will create a schedule to run the job and tasks at a set interval.
  • (required) schedule is the recurring schedule specification
    • (optional) do_not_run_until is a datetime specification that prevents the job from running until this date and time is reached. This string should be in a parseable date time format. The default is to run immediately (i.e., null).
    • (optional) do_not_run_after is a datetime specification that prevents the job from running after this date and time is reached. This string should be in a parseable date time format. The default has no limit (i.e., null).
    • (optional) start_window is the time window for when the job should be created according to this schedule to the maximum delta for which the job can be created. This is essentially the scheduling window for the job. If this property is non-null and the job cannot be created within this time window, then the job scheduling opportunity is forfeit until the next recurrence. The default is no limit (i.e., null). If the start_window exceeds the recurrence_interval then this is logically equivalent to setting the start_window to null. The format for this property is a timedelta with a string representation of "d.HH:mm:ss".
    • (required) recurrence_interval is the recurrence interval for the job. The format for this property is a timedelta with a string representation of "d.HH:mm:ss". The minimum value is 00:01:00 or 1 minute. Note that a recurring job schedule can only have at most one active job. If a prior recurrence of the job is still active when the next recurrence fires, no new job is created. An important implication is that even if you set this property to a minimum value of 1 minute, there may be delays in completing the job and triggering the next which may artificially increase the time between recurrences. It is important to set either the auto_complete or the job_manager:monitor_task_completion setting to true if your tasks have no logic to terminate or delete the parent job.
  • (optional) job_manager property controls the job manager execution. The job manager is the task that is automatically created and run on a compute node that submits the tasks at the given recurrence_interval.
    • (optional) allow_low_priority_node allows the job manager to run on a low priority node. The default is true. Sometimes it is necessary to guarantee that the job manager is not preempted, if so, set this value to false and ensure that your pool has dedicated nodes provisioned.
    • (optional) run_exclusive forces the job manager to run on a compute node where there are no other tasks running. The default is false. This is only relevant when the pool's max_tasks_per_node setting is greater than 1.
    • (optional) monitor_task_completion allows the job manager to monitor the tasks in the job for completion instead of relying on auto_complete. The advantage for doing so is that the job can move much more quickly into completed state thus allowing the next job recurrence to be created for very small values of recurrence_interval. In order to properly utilize this feature, you must either set your pool's max_tasks_per_node to greater than 1 or have more than one compute node in your pool. If neither of these conditions are met, then the tasks that the job manager creates will be blocked as there will be no free scheduling slots to accommodate them (since the job manager task occupies a scheduling slot itself). The default is false. Setting both this value and auto_complete to true will result in auto_complete as true behavior.
• (optional) allow_run_on_missing_image allows tasks with a Docker image reference that was not pre-loaded on to the compute node via global_resources:docker_images in the global configuration to be able to run. Note that you should attempt to specify all Docker images that you intend to run in the global_resources:docker_images property in the global configuration to minimize scheduling to task execution latency.
• (optional) remove_container_after_exit property specifies if all containers under the job should be automatically removed/cleaned up after the task exits. Note that this only cleans up the Docker container and not the associated Batch task. This defaults to true. This option only applies to Docker containers.
• (optional) shm_size property specifies the size of /dev/shm in all containers under the job. The default is 64m. The postfix unit can be designated as b (bytes), k (kilobytes), m (megabytes), or g (gigabytes). This value may need to be increased from the default of 64m for certain Docker applications, including multi-instance tasks using Intel MPI (see issue #8). This option only applies to Docker containers.
• (optional) infiniband designates if all tasks under the job require access to the Infiniband/RDMA devices on the host. Note that this will automatically force containers to use the host network stack. If this property is set to true, ensure that the pool_specification property inter_node_communication_enabled is set to true. If this property is not set, it will default to true if the task is destined for an RDMA-enabled compute pool and inter_node_communication_enabled is set to true. This option has no effect on native container support pools as it is automtically enabled by the system.
• (optional) gpus designates if all containers under the job require access to the GPU devices on the host. If this property is set to a valid value, containers are instantiated with appropriate GPU enablement options for the respective container runtime. This requires N-series VM instances. If this property is not set, it will default to all if the task is destined for a compute pool with GPUs, which exposes all GPUs to the task. The value disable will disable exposing GPUs to the container. For Docker containers, valid values for the --gpus parameter will be accepted. For singularity containers, the only valid values are all or disable. This option has no effect on native container support pools as it is automatically enabled by Batch.
• (optional) exit_conditions sets the exit conditions for all tasks under this job. Currently only the default exit conditions can be set which react to any non-zero exit code.
  • (required) default is the default exit conditions. Meaning if any task in this job exits with a non-zero exit code, perform the following actions below.
    • (optional) job_action is the job action to perform if any task in this job exits with a non-zero exit code. This can be set to none, disable, or terminate. The default is none.
    • (optional) dependency_action is the dependency action to perform if any task in this job exits with a non-zero exit code. This can be set to block or satisfy. The default is block.
• (optional) data_volumes is an array of data_volume aliases as defined in the global configuration file. These volumes will be mounted in all containers under the job.
• (optional) shared_data_volumes is an array of shared_data_volume aliases as defined in the global configuration file. These volumes will be mounted in all containers under the job.
• (optional) auto_scratch will enable on-demand distributed scratch space creation across all dedicated or low priority nodes in the associated pool for this job. This scratch will be available at the location $AZ_BATCH_TASK_DIR/auto_scratch within the container. The scratch space is cleaned up automatically on job termination or deletion. This option requires setting the property per_job_auto_scratch to true in the corresponding pool configuration.
  • (required) setup is the setup process to use which can be either block or dependency. block will invoke a client-side wait on the setup task before adding subsequent tasks which may be dependent upon the auto scratch task to complete successfully. dependency will use task dependencies to enforce ordering of the auto scratch setup task to complete first. However, if one specifies task dependencies for other tasks in this job with dependency actions that are not set to block, then this can interfere with proper setup. In these cases, it's recommended to use the block client-side wait. Note that if dependency is specified as the setup method and the task fails, it will block all subsequent tasks in the job. There is no default value and an option must be specified.
  • (optional) task_id is the task id of the autoscratch setup task. If not specified, the default is batch-shipyard-autoscratch.
  • (required) num_instances is the number of instances for the auto scratch volume to span. Note that if you specify a number less than the number of available nodes, then subsequent tasks may not get assigned to nodes with the auto scratch volume; you must ensure that this property is specified correctly for all tasks within your job that must use the defined auto scratch volume. Valid values for this property are:
    1. An integral number. Note that if there are insufficient nodes to matching this number, the task will be blocked.
    2. pool_current_dedicated which is the instantaneous reading of the target pool's current dedicated count during this function invocation.
    3. pool_current_low_priority which is the instantaneous reading of the target pool's current low priority count during this function invocation.
    4. pool_specification_vm_count_dedicated which is the vm_count:dedicated specified in the pool configuration.
    5. pool_specification_vm_count_low_priority which is the vm_count:low_priority specified in the pool configuration.
• (optional) job_preparation is the property for a user-specified job preparation task. The user-specified job preparation task runs after any implicit job preparation tasks created by Batch Shipyard (such as job-level data ingress). For more information about job preparation and release tasks, see this document.
  • (required) command is the command to execute. This command runs on the host without a container context.
• (optional) job_release is the property for a user-specified job release task. The user-specified job release task runs after any implicit job release tasks created by Batch Shipyard (such as multi-instance non-native job auto completion steps). For more information about job preparation and release tasks, see this document.
  • (required) command is the command to execute. This command runs on the host without a container context.
• (optional) input_data is an object containing data that should be ingressed for the job. Any input_data defined at this level will be downloaded for this job which can be run on any number of compute nodes depending upon the number of constituent tasks and repeat invocations. However, input_data is only downloaded once per job invocation on a compute node. For example, if job-1:task-1 is run on compute node A and then job-1:task-2 is run on compute node B, then this input_data is ingressed to both compute node A and B. However, if job-1:task-3 is then run on compute node A after job-1:task-1, then the input_data is not transferred again. This object currently supports azure_batch and azure_storage as members.
  • azure_batch will transfer data from a compute node that has run the specified task. Note that there is no implied dependency. It is recommended to specify a depends_on in order to ensure that the specified task runs before this one (note that depends_on requires that the upstream task must exist within the same job). Additionally, the compute node which ran the task must not have been deleted or resized out of the pool.
    • (required) job_id the job id of the task
    • (required) task_id the id of the task to fetch files from
    • (optional) include is an array of include filters
    • (optional) exclude is an array of exclude filters
    • (required) destination is the destination path to place the files
  • azure_storage contains the following members:
    • (required) storage_account_settings contains a storage account link as defined in the credentials config.
    • (required) remote_path is required when downloading from Azure Storage. This path on Azure includes either the container or file share path along with all virtual directories.
    • (required) local_path is required when downloading from Azure Storage. This specifies where the files should be downloaded to on the compute node. If you require ingressing to a shared file system location like a GlusterFS volume, then use the global configuration files property and the data ingress command.
    • (optional) is_file_share denotes if the remote_path is on a file share. This defaults to false.
    • (optional) include property defines optional include filters.
    • (optional) exclude property defines optional exclude filters.
    • (optional) blobxfer_extra_options are any extra options to pass to blobxfer.
• (optional) default_working_dir defines the default working directory when the container executes. Valid values for this property are batch and container. If batch is selected, the working directory for the container execution is set to the Azure Batch task working directory, or $AZ_BATCH_TASK_WORKING_DIR. If container is selected, the working directory for the container execution is not explicitly set. The default is batch if not specified. If you wish to specify a different working directory, you can pass the appropriate working directory parameter to the container runtime through either additional_docker_run_options or additional_singularity_options. A working directory option specified within that property takes precedence over this option.
• (optional) restrict_default_bind_mounts will restrict the mapped host directories into the container. If this property is set to true, only the $AZ_BATCH_TASK_DIR is mapped from the host into the container. This is useful when it is necessary to restrict the scope of the Azure Batch directory hierarchy is exposed to the container and in particular when in used in combination with isolation models such as Hyper-V or Kata containers. Note that if shared file systems or other mounts are placed in the $AZ_BATCH_NODE_SHARED_DIR then enabling this option may prevent tasks from accessing required data and working correctly. This option has no effect on native container pools. The default is false.
• (optional) force_enable_task_dependencies will flag this job as having task dependencies explicitly even if no tasks have dependencies specified. This is useful for scenarios where the same job is used for tasks at a later time that do have dependencies and/or are dependent on tasks previously added to the same job. The default is false.
• (optional) autogenerated_task_id controls how autogenerated task ids are named. Note that the total length of an autogenerated task id must not exceed 64 characters. The property specified at this level will overwrite the "global" setting in the Global configuration file.
  • (optional) prefix is the task prefix to use with the task id. This can be any combination of alphanumeric characters including hyphens and underscores. Empty string is permitted for the prefix. The default is task-.
  • (optional) zfill_width is the number of zeros to left pad the integral task number. This can be set to zero which may be useful for task dependency range scenarios in combination with an empty string prefix above. The default is 5.
• (optional) federation_constraints defines properties to apply to the job and all tasks (i.e., the task group) when submitting the job to a federation. Please see the federation guide for more information and terminology definitions.
  • (optional) pool properties defines pool-level constraints for the job.
    • (optional) autoscale properties define autoscale constraints. allow cannot be set to false and exclusive to true.
      • (required) allow specifies if the job is allowed to be scheduled on an autoscale-enabled pool. The default, if not specified, is true.
      • (required) exclusive specifies if the job can only be scheduled to an autoscale-enabled pool. The default, if not specified, is false.
    • (optional) low_priority_nodes properties define low priority constraints. Both of these properties are enforced on a best-effort basis. allow cannot be set to false and exclusive to true.
      • (required) allow specifies if the job is allowed to run on pools with low priority nodes. The default, if not specified, is true.
      • (required) exclusive specifies if the job can only be scheduled to pools with low priority nodes. The default, if not specified, is false.
    • (optional) native specifies if the job must be run on native container pools. The default, if not specified, is null which adopts the pool settings as submitted with the job.
    • (optional) windows specifies if the job must run on Windows pools. The default, if not specified, is null which adopts the pool settings as submitted with the job.
    • (optional) location specifies a specific location constraint. The location must be a proper ARM name and not the "display name". For example, the region "East US" is the display name, while the proper name is eastus. To get a listing of ARM region names, they can be queried via the Azure CLI command az account list-locations -o table. The default, if not specified, is null which does not impose a region constraint.
    • (optional) container_registries defines container registry constraints. All container images specified within each task group for a job must have the corresponding container registry login information loaded for each possible target pool within the federation; the image itself does not need to be pre-loaded on each individual compaute node (but can be pre-loaded to improve task startup times - please see the global configuration doc for more information under global_resources).
      • (optional) private_docker_hub specifies if any container image within the task group that reside on Docker Hub require a Docker Hub login. The default, if not specified, is false - which means all container images that refer to Docker Hub are public and require no login.
      • (optional) public is a list of registries that do not require a login. If desired, you can create non-Docker Hub repos that do not have logins. You will need to specify any tasks within the group referencing images that do not require logins.
    • (optional) max_active_task_backlog defines the maximum active task backlog constraint.
      • (optional) ratio is the maximum ratio as defined by: active tasks in pool / available scheduling slots in pool. Thus, if there are 8 active tasks waiting, with 4 available scheduling slots for a particluar pool, the backlog ratio for this pool would be 2. Thus if this property was set to 1, then this particular pool would be skipped as a potential target for the job. The default, if not specified, is null or that there is no ratio and scheduling of task groups can target any pool with any backlog amount.
      • (optional) autoscale_exempt specifies if autoscale-enabled pools should not be subject to this constraint while in allocation state steady and the number of available slots is 0. This is to ensure that autoscale pools would be able to be targetted for jobs even if the pool currently contains no nodes. The default, if not specified, is true.
    • (optional) custom_image_arm_id defines the custom image ARM image id that must be used as the pool host OS for this task group to be scheduled.
    • (optional) virtual_network_arm_id defines that a pool must be joined with this specific ARM subnet id to be scheduled with this task group.
  • (optional) compute_node are compute node level specific constraints.
    • (optional) vm_size defines an Azure Batch supported Azure VM size that this task group must be scheduled to. The default, if not specified, is null or no restriction. This property is mutually exclusive of cores and/or memory constraints below.
    • (optional) cores defines scheduling behavior for the number of cores required for each task within the task group. This property is mutually exclusive of the vm_size constraint.
      • (optional) amount is the number of cores required for each task in the task group. Azure Batch schedules to scheduling slots and does not schedule to cores. This limitation leads to the next constraint. The default, if not specified, is null or no restriction.
      • (optional) schedulable_variance is the maximum "over-provisioned" core capacity allowed for each task which constructs a valid compute node core range target of [amount, amount * (1 + schedulable_variance)]. For example, if amount is set to 2 and this property is set to 1 (which is equivalent to 100% of the specified amount) then the job's tasks will only target pools with compute nodes with a range of cores [2, 4], inclusive. The default value, if not specified, is null which infers no upper-bound limit on the core range. A value of 0 infers exact match required for the specified amount.
    • (optional) memory defines scheduling behvior for the amount of memory required for each task within the task group. This property is mutually exclusive of the vm_size constraint.
      • (optional) amount is the amount of memory required for each task in the task group. This value should be a string where the amount is followed directly by a suffix b, k, m, g, or t. Azure Batch schedules to scheduling slots and does not schedule to memory. This limitation leads to the next constraint. The default, if not specified, is null or no restriction.
      • (optional) schedulable_variance is the maximum "over-provisioned" memory capacity allowed for each task which constructs a valid compute node memory range target of [amount, amount * (1 + schedulable_variance)]. For example, if amount is set to 4096m and this property is set to 1 (which is equivalent to 100% of the specified amount) then the job's tasks will only target pools with compute nodes with a range of memory [4096m, 8192m], inclusive. The default value, if not specified, is null which infers no upper-bound limit on the memory range. A value of 0 infers exact match required for the specified amount. It is not recommended to set this value to 0 for a memory constraint.
    • (optional) exclusive specifies if each task within the task group must not be co-scheduled with other running tasks on compute nodes. Effectively this excludes pools as scheduling targets that have been provisioned with the setting max_tasks_per_node greater than 1.
    • (optional) gpu specifies if tasks within the task group should be scheduled on a compute node that has a GPU. Note that specifying this property as true does not implicitly create tasks that can utilize the GPU in a containerized context (e.g., nvidia-docker). You must, instead, specify the gpu property as true at the job or task-level to enable GPU access within a container task.
    • (optional) infiniband specifies if tasks within the task group should be scheduled on a compute node that has a RDMA/IB. Note that specifying this property as true does not implicitly create tasks that can utilize the RDMA/IB device with Intel MPI in a containerized context. You must, instead, specify the infiniband property as true at the job or task-level to access RDMA/IB within a container task.

The required tasks property is an array of tasks to add to the job:

• (optional) id is the task id. Note that if the task id is null or empty then a generic task id will be assigned. The generic task id is formatted as dictated by the autogenerated_task_id setting in the global configuration; if this setting is not set, then by default the task id will be formatted as task-NNNNN where NNNNN starts from 00000 and is increased by 1 for each task added to the same job. If there are more than 99999 autonamed tasks in a job then the numbering is not padded for tasks exceeding 5 digits. This behavior can be controlled by the autogenerated_task_id setting in the global configuration. id should not be specified in conjunction with the task_factory property as ids will be automatically generated. A task id may not exceed 64 characters in length.
• (required if using a Docker image) docker_image is the Docker image to use for this task.
• (required if using a Singularity image) singularity_image is the Singularity image to use for this task. Due to Singularity limitations, if the image specified at a certain URI changes, the image will automatically be pulled again from the registry the next time that the image is used in a task which can lead to increased latency to begin task execution if the image differs from a previous pull, and lead to potential inconsistencies between task executions.
• (optional) task_factory is a way to dyanmically generate tasks. This enables parameter sweeps and task repetition without having to explicitly generate a task array with different parameters for the command. Please see the Task Factory Guide for more information.
  • (optional) parametric_sweep is a parameter sweep task factory. This has multiple modes of task generation and only one may be specified.
    • (optional) product is a potentially nested parameter generator. If one set of start (inclusive), stop (exclusive), step properties are specified (all required parameters), then a simple range of values are generated. In the example above, the integers 0 to 9 are provided as arguments to the command property. If another set of start, stop, step properties are specified, then these are nested within the prior set.
    • (optional) product_iterables is similar to product but will use iterables to generate the parameters.
    • (optional) combinations generates length subsequences of parameters from the iterable. Combinations are emitted in lexicographic sort order.
      • (required) iterable is the iterable to generate parameters from
      • (required) length is the subsequence "r" length
      • (optional) replacement allows individual elements to be repeated more than once.
    • (optional) permutations generates length permutations of parameters from the iterable. Permutations are emitted in lexicographic sort order.
      • (required) iterable is the iterable to generate parameters from
      • (required) length is the subsequence "r" length
    • (optional) zip generates parameters where the i-th parameter contains the i-th element from each iterable.
  • (optional) random is a random task factory. This has multiple modes of task generation and only one may be specified.
    • (required) generate will generate N number of random values and thus N number of tasks
    • (optional) seed will initialize the internal state to the specified seed
    • (optional) integer will generate random integers
      • (required) start is the inclusive beginning of the random range
      • (required) stop is the exclusive end of the random range
      • (required) step is the stepping between potential random numbers within the range
    • (optional) distribution will generate random floating point values given a distribution. The distribution can be one of (please refer to the docs for required properties):
      • (optional) uniform for uniform distribution
      • (optional) triangular for triangular distribution
      • (optional) beta for beta distribution
      • (optional) exponential for exponential distribution
      • (optional) gamma for gamma distribution
      • (optional) gauss for Gaussian distribution
      • (optional) lognormal for Log normal distribution
      • (optional) pareto for Pareto distribution
      • (optional) weibull for Weibull distribution
  • (optional) file is a file-based task factory. This will generate a task for each file enumerated. The command should be keyword formatted with any combination of: file_path, file_path_with_container, file_name, or file_name_no_extension. Please see the Task Factory Guide for more information.
    • (required) azure_storage specifies the Azure Storage settings to use for the file task factory.
      • (required) storage_account_settings is the storage account link to enumerate files from
      • (required) remote_path is the remote Azure Storage path to enumerate files from.
      • (optional) is_file_share denotes if the remote_path is on a file share. This defaults to false.
      • (optional) include are include filters
      • (optional) exclude are exclude filters
      • (required) task_filepath specifies how to place the file relative to the task working directory (i.e., $AZ_BATCH_TASK_WORKING_DIR). This can be one of: file_path, file_path_with_container, file_name, or file_name_no_extension.
  • (optional) custom is a custom task factory where the logic for parameter generation exists in a custom Python module that can be imported at runtime. Please see the Task Factory Guide for more information.
    • (required) module specifies the Python module to import. This must be valid and resolvable by importlib. This module must define a generate generator function that is callable with *args and **kwargs. The generate generator function must yield an iterable to pass to the command for transformation.
    • (optional) package is required if module is specified in relative terms (i.e., the anchor for package resolution).
    • (optional) input_args are positional arguments to pass to the generate generator function.
    • (optional) input_kwargs are keyword arguments to pass to the generate generator function. This should be a dictionary where all keys are strings.
  • (optional) repeat will create N number of identical tasks.
  • (optional) autogenerated_task_id controls how autogenerated task ids are named for tasks of this task factory only. Note that the total length of an autogenerated task id must not exceed 64 characters. The property specified at this level will overwrite both the "global" setting in the Global configuration file and at the job level.
    • (optional) prefix is the task prefix to use with the task id. This can be any combination of alphanumeric characters including hyphens and underscores. Empty string is permitted for the prefix. The default is task-.
    • (optional) zfill_width is the number of zeros to left pad the integral task number. This can be set to zero which may be useful for task dependency range scenarios in combination with an empty string prefix above. The default is 5.
• (optional) depends_on is an array of task ids for which this container invocation (task) depends on and must run to successful completion prior to this task executing. Note that when a task_factory is specified, all tasks generated by the task factory depend on the listed dependent tasks. You cannot specify another task factory to depend on, only discrete tasks.
• (optional) depends_on_range is an array with exactly two integral elements containing a task id range for which this task is dependent upon, i.e., the start id and the end id for which this task depends on. Although task ids are always strings, the dependent task ids for ranges must be expressed by their integral representation for this property. This also implies that task ids for which this task depends on must be integral in nature. For example, if depends_on_range is set to [1, 10] (note the integral members), then there should be task ids of "1", "2", ... "10" within the job. Once these dependent tasks complete successfully, then this specified task will execute. Note that when a task_factory is specified all tasks generated by the task factory depend on the range of dependent tasks. You cannot specify another task factory to depend on, only a range of discrete tasks.
• (optional) singularity_execution defines the invocation pattern for the Singularity container. This option only applies to Singularity containers.
  • (optional) cmd is the singularity command to use. This can be either exec or run. The default is exec.
  • (optional) elevated if set to true will run the command elevated as root. The default is false.
• (optional) additional_singularity_options are any additional options to pass to the singularity_cmd. This option only applies to Singularity containers.
• (optional) name is the name to assign to the Docker container. If not specified, the value of the id property will be used for name. This option will be ignored for multi-instance tasks, and this option only applies to Docker containers.
• (optional) labels is an array of labels to apply to the container. This option only applies to Docker containers.
• (optional) environment_variables are any additional task-specific environment variables that should be applied to the container.
• (optional) environment_variables_keyvault_secret_id are any additional task-specific environment variables that should be applied to the container but are stored in KeyVault. The secret stored in KeyVault must be a valid YAML/JSON string, e.g., { "env_var_name": "env_var_value" }.
• (optional) ports is an array of port specifications that should be exposed to the host. This option only applies to Docker containers.
• (optional) data_volumes is an array of data_volume aliases as defined in the global configuration file. These volumes will be mounted in the container. Volumes specified here will be merged with any job-level volumes specified.
• (optional) shared_data_volumes is an array of shared_data_volume aliases as defined in the global configuration file. These volumes will be mounted in the container. Volumes specified here will be merged with any job-level volumes specified.
• (optional) resource_files is an array of resource files that should be downloaded as part of the task. Each array entry contains the following information:
  • file_path is the path within the task working directory to place the file on the compute node.
  • blob_source is an accessible HTTP/HTTPS URL. This need not be an Azure Blob Storage URL.
  • file_mode if the file mode to set for the file on the compute node. This is optional.
• (optional) input_data is an object containing data that should be ingressed for this specific task. This object currently supports azure_batch and azure_storage as members. Note for multi-instance tasks, transfer of input_data is only applied to the task running the application command.
  • azure_batch will transfer data from a compute node that has run the specified task. Note that there is no implied dependency. It is recommended to specify a depends_on in order to ensure that the specified task runs before this one (note that depends_on requires that the upstream task must exist within the same job). Additionally, the compute node which ran the task must not have been deleted or resized out of the pool.
    • (required) job_id the job id of the task
    • (required) task_id the id of the task to fetch files from
    • (optional) include is an array of include filters
    • (optional) exclude is an array of exclude filters
    • (optional) destination is the destination path to place the files. If destination is not specified at this level, then files are defaulted to download into $AZ_BATCH_TASK_WORKING_DIR.
  • azure_storage contains the following members:
    • (required) storage_account_settings contains a storage account link as defined in the credentials config.
    • (required) remote_path is required when downloading from Azure Storage. This path on Azure includes either the container or file share path along with all virtual directories.
    • (required) local_path is required when downloading from Azure Storage. This specifies where the files should be downloaded to on the compute node. Unlike the job-level version of input_data, this property can be ommitted. If local_path is not specified at this level, then files are defaulted to download into $AZ_BATCH_TASK_WORKING_DIR. Please note that you should not specify a location that is on a shared file system. If you require ingressing to a shared file system location like a GlusterFS volume, then use the global configuration files property and the data ingress command.
    • (optional) is_file_share denotes if the remote_path is on a file share. This defaults to false.
    • (optional) include property defines optional include filters.
    • (optional) exclude property defines optional exclude filters.
    • (optional) blobxfer_extra_options are any extra options to pass to blobxfer.
• (optional) output_data is an object containing data that should be egressed for this specific task. This object currently only supports azure_storage as a member. Note for multi-instance tasks, transfer of output_data is only applied to the task running the application command.
  • azure_storage contains the following members:
    • (required) storage_account_settings contains a storage account link as defined in the credentials config.
    • (required) remote_path is required when uploading to Azure Storage. This path on Azure includes either the container or file share path along with all virtual directories.
    • (required) local_path is required when uploading from Azure Storage. This specifies where the files should be uploaded from the compute node to Azure Storage. If this property is not specified, then source is defaulted to $AZ_BATCH_TASK_DIR.
    • (optional) is_file_share denotes if the remote_path is on a file share. This defaults to false.
    • (optional) condition property defines the output file condition depending upon the task command exit code. The possible options are taskcompletion, taskfailure and tasksuccess. Please see this document for more information.
    • (optional) include property defines optional include filters.
    • (optional) exclude property defines optional exclude filters.
    • (optional) blobxfer_extra_options are any extra options to pass to blobxfer.
• (optional) remove_container_after_exit property specifies if the container should be automatically removed/cleaned up after it exits. This defaults to false. This overrides the job-level property, if set. This option only applies to Docker containers.
• (optional) shm_size property specifies the size of /dev/shm in the container. The default is 64m. The postfix unit can be designated as b (bytes), k (kilobytes), m (megabytes), or g (gigabytes). This value may need to be increased from the default of 64m for certain Docker applications, including multi-instance tasks using Intel MPI (see issue #8). This overrides the job-level property, if set. This option only applies to Docker containers.
• (optional) additional_docker_run_options is an array of addition Docker run options that should be passed to the Docker daemon when starting this container. The option only applies to Docker containers.
• (optional) infiniband designates if this container requires access to the Infiniband/RDMA devices on the host. Note that this will automatically force the container to use the host network stack. If this property is set to true, ensure that the pool_specification property inter_node_communication_enabled is set to true. This overrides the job-level property, if set. It follows the same default behavior as the job-level property if not set.
• (optional) gpus designates if this container require access to the GPU devices on the host. If this property is set to a valid value, containers are instantiated with appropriate GPU enablement options for the respective container runtime. This requires N-series VM instances. If this property is not set, it will default to all if the task is destined for a compute pool with GPUs, which exposes all GPUs to the task. The value disable will disable exposing GPUs to the container. For Docker containers, valid values for the --gpus parameter will be accepted. For singularity containers, the only valid values are all or disable. This option has no effect on native container support pools as it is automatically enabled by Batch. This overrides the job-level property, if set. It follows the same default behavior as the job-level property if not set.
• (optional) max_task_retries sets the maximum number of times that Azure Batch should retry this task for. This overrides the job-level task retry count. By default, Azure Batch does not retry tasks that fail (i.e. max_task_retries is 0). Note that remove_container_after_exit must be true (the default) in order for retries to work properly.
• (optional) max_wall_time sets the maximum wallclock time for this task. Please note that if this is greater than the job-level constraint, then the job-level contraint takes precendence. By default, or if not set, this is infinite, however, please note that tasks can only run for a maximum of 7-days due to an Azure Batch limitation. The format for this property is a timedelta with a string representation of "d.HH:mm:ss".
• (optional) retention_time sets the timedelta to retain the task directory on the compute node where it ran after the task completes. The format for this property is a timedelta with a string representation of "d.HH:mm:ss". For example, "1.12:00:00" would allow the compute node to clean up this task's directory 36 hours after the task completed. The default, if unspecified, is 7 days. This overrides the job-level property.
• (optional) exit_conditions sets the exit conditions for this task. Currently only the default exit conditions can be set which react to any non-zero exit code. This and any nested property within exit_conditions setting overrides the job-level property, if set.
  • (required) default is the default exit conditions. Meaning if this task exits with a non-zero exit code, perform the following actions below.
    • (optional) job_action is the job action to perform if this task exits with a non-zero exit code. This can be set to none, disable, or terminate. The default is none.
    • (optional) dependency_action is the dependency action to perform if this task exits with a non-zero exit code. This can be set to block or satisfy. The default is block.
• (optional) multi_instance is a property indicating that this task is a multi-instance task. This is required if the task to run is an MPI program. Additional information about multi-instance tasks and Batch Shipyard can be found here. Do not define this property for tasks that are not multi-instance. Additional members of this property are:
  • (required) num_instances is a property setting the number of compute node instances are required for this multi-instance task. Note that it is generally recommended not to use low priority nodes for multi-instance tasks as compute nodes may be pre-empted at any time. This property can be any one of the following:
    1. An integral number. Note that if there are insufficient nodes to matching this number, the task will be blocked.
    2. pool_current_dedicated which is the instantaneous reading of the target pool's current dedicated count during this function invocation.
    3. pool_current_low_priority which is the instantaneous reading of the target pool's current low priority count during this function invocation.
    4. pool_specification_vm_count_dedicated which is the vm_count:dedicated specified in the pool configuration.
    5. pool_specification_vm_count_low_priority which is the vm_count:low_priority specified in the pool configuration.
  • (optional) coordination_command is the coordination command this is run by each instance (compute node) of this multi-instance task prior to the application command. This command must not block and must exit successfully for the multi-instance task to proceed. For Docker containers, this is the command passed to the container in docker run for multi-instance tasks. This Docker container will automatically be daemonized for multi-instance tasks running on non-native pools. For Singularity containers, usually this property will be unspecified.
  • (optional) resource_files is an array of resource files that should be downloaded as part of the multi-instance task. Each array entry contains the following information:
    • (required) file_path is the path within the task working directory to place the file on the compute node.
    • (required) blob_source is an accessible HTTP/HTTPS URL. This need not be an Azure Blob Storage URL.
    • (optional) file_mode if the file mode to set for the file on the compute node.
  • (optional) pre_execution_command is a command that is run only on the master node of this multi-instance task prior to the application command. For Docker containers, this command is executed in the master compute node container just before the application command is executed. For Singularity containers, this command is executed on the master compute node just before the application command is executed. This command must not block and must exit successfully for the multi-instance task to proceed. This command, for example, can be used to populate environment variables required to run the application command. This is optional and may be null.
  • (required if using MPI) mpi contains the following members:
    • (required) runtime is the runtime that should be used. Valid values are intelmpi, intelmpi_ofa, mpich, and openmpi. With Docker containers, it is the user's responsibility to provide a container image that has the specified runtime installed. For Singularity containers, the specified runtime must be installed and loaded on the host compute node.
    • (optional) options is a list of options that will be passed to the mpiexec or mpirun (executable_path) command.
    • (optional) processes_per_node is either a number that represents the number of processes per node or a command that, when evaluated on the master compute node (or master compute node container), gives the number of processes per node. If the field is specified, options will be automatically passed to the mpiexec or mpirun (executable_path) command in accordance with the specified runtime so that num_instances * processes_per_node processes spawn. If this field is used with options, it is the user's responsibility to make sure that the options are not interferring with the options automatically added by processes_per_node.
    • (optional) executable_path is the path to the mpiexec or mpirun executable. By default, it assumes that the mpirun executable is in the PATH. The default value is mpirun.
• (optional) entrypoint is the property that can override the Docker image defined ENTRYPOINT. This option only applies to Docker containers.
• (optional) command is the command to execute in the container context. If this task is a regular non-multi-instance task, then this is the command passed to the container context during docker run for a Docker container or to the singularity_cmd for a Singularity container. If this task is a multi-instance task under a Docker container, then this command is the application command and is executed with docker exec in the running Docker container context from the coordination_command in the multi_instance property. If this task is a multi-instance task under a Singularity container, then this command acts similar to a regular non-multi-instance task as no special run+exec behavior is needed with Singularity containers to achieve multi-instance execution. Thus, for multi-instance tasks with Singularity containers, this command is the actual command executed on the host without any modifications such as with a regular task (i.e., prepending with singularity exec). When executing a Singularity container under a multi-instance task, an additional environment variable is populated, SHIPYARD_SINGULARITY_COMMAND which can be used in custom scripts to control execution (note that this command will need to be expanded prior to use as it may contain other environment variables). This property may be null. If chaining multiple commands together, please ensure your command is wrapped in a shell. Note that if you are using a task_factory for the specification, then task factory arguments are applied to the command. Therefore, Python-style string formatting options (excluding keyword formatting) are required for certain task factories that generate parameters to modify the command: {} positional, {0} numbering style, or {keyword} keyword style formatters are required depending upon the task_factory used. Please see the Task Factory Guide for more information.

merge_task is an optional property that defines a final task that should be run after all tasks specified within the tasks array complete. All properties that can be specified for a normal task can be specified for a merge_task except for: depends_on, depends_on_range, multi_instance, and task_factory. If no id is specified for the merge_task the task id will be generated from the autogenerated_task_id settings with a task id of merge-task-NNNNN (e.g., if the prefix is task- with a padding of 5, then the first merge task id will be merge-task-00000). Please see the Merge Task Guide for more information.

Full template

A full template of a credentials file can be found here. Note that these templates cannot be used as-is and must be modified to fit your scenario.