How to create AWS ParallelCluster with Slurm scheduler

Environment preparation phase within AWS Management Console

• Login the AWS IAM console:

https://console.aws.amazon.com/iam/

• From the left pane, click on Policies -> click on Users -> Add User -> specify the name parallelcluster-user -> Access type: Programmatic access -> click Next: Permissions -> Set permissions -> select a group with “AdministratorAccess” role -> click Next: Tags -> click Next: Review -> click on Create user -> click on Download .csv and keep it in a secured location -> click on Close
• Follow the instructions below to create a key pair to access the cluster machines:

https://docs.aws.amazon.com/AWSEC2/latest/UserGuide/ec2-key-pairs.html#having-ec2-create-your-key-pair

• Follow the instructions below to create S3 bucket (with unique name) for storing data to export and import data to/from the FSx Lustre storage:

https://docs.aws.amazon.com/AmazonS3/latest/gsg/CreatingABucket.html

Note 1: Document the S3 bucket name for use inside the ParallelCluster config file

Note 2: Create a folder called export (in small letters), inside the S3 bucket

• In-case you wish to create a dedicate VPC and subnet for the HPC cluster, follow the instructions below:

https://docs.aws.amazon.com/directoryservice/latest/admin-guide/gsg_create_vpc.html

• Logoff the AWS console

Python installation phase on Linux (Debian / Ubuntu)

• Login to a Linux machine using SSH, and follow the instructions below to install Python 3:

https://docs.aws.amazon.com/cli/latest/userguide/install-linux-python.html

Note: In-case you already have Python 3 install, use the command below to upgrade to the latest build:

sudo apt-get upgrade python3

• To install pip3, run the command below:

sudo apt install python3-pip

Python installation phase on Windows

• Login to a Windows machine using privileged account, and follow the instructions below to install Python 3 and PIP:

https://docs.aws.amazon.com/cli/latest/userguide/install-windows.html

AWS ParallelCluster installation phase

• Run the commands below to install the AWS ParallelCluster:

• Linux:

sudo pip install aws-parallelcluster

• Windows:

pip install aws-parallelcluster

• Run the command below to verify the installed version:

pcluster version

• Follow the instructions below to install the AWS CLI:

https://docs.aws.amazon.com/cli/latest/userguide/cli-chap-install.html

• Run the command below in-order to configure AWS CLI:

aws configure

• AWS Access Key ID – Specify the value from the CSV of the previously created IAM user parallelcluster-user
• AWS Secret Access Key – Specify the value from the CSV of the previously created IAM user parallelcluster-user
• Default region name – specify a region such as eu-west-1

Full list: https://docs.aws.amazon.com/general/latest/gr/rande.html

• Default output format: JSON

• Run the command below to setup the initial configuration:

pcluster configure

• Cluster Template: Specify here a custom name for the HPC template (such as HPC Cluster)
• AWS Region ID: Specify the same region you specified for the aws configure command (such as eu-west-1)
• VPC Name: Specify the same name as the Cluster Template (such as HPC Cluster)
• Key Name: Specify the name of the EC2 Key pair previously created
• VPC ID: Specify the name of the target VPC ID to deploy the HPC cluster into

Note: The full list of VPC’s can be found within the AWS management console: https://console.aws.amazon.com/vpc

• Master Subnet ID: Specify here the name of the target subnet ID to deploy the HPC cluster into

Note: The full list of subnets can be found within the AWS management console: https://console.aws.amazon.com/vpc

• Edit the ParallelCluster config file:

• Linux: The file is located inside ~/.parallelcluster/config
• Windows: The file is located inside %UserProfile%\.parallelcluster\config