Configure and create a cluster with the Amazon ParallelCluster command line interface - Amazon ParallelCluster
Configure and create your first cluster
Services or capabilities described in Amazon Web Services documentation might vary by Region. To see the differences applicable to the China Regions, see Getting Started with Amazon Web Services in China (PDF).

Configure and create a cluster with the Amazon ParallelCluster command line interface

After you install Amazon ParallelCluster, complete the following configuration steps.

  1. Verify that your Amazon Account has a role that includes the permissions needed to run the pcluster CLI. For more information, see Amazon ParallelCluster example pcluster user policies.

  2. Set up your Amazon credentials. For more information, see Configuring the Amazon CLI in the Amazon CLI user guide.

    $ aws configure
AWS Access Key ID [None]: AKIAIOSFODNN7EXAMPLE
AWS Secret Access Key [None]: wJalrXUtnFEMI/K7MDENG/bPxRfiCYEXAMPLEKEY
Default region name [us-east-1]: us-east-1
Default output format [None]:

  3. The Amazon Web Services Region where the cluster is launched must have at least one Amazon EC2 key pair. For more information, see Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud key pairs in the Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud User Guide for Linux Instances.

When you use the Amazon ParallelCluster command line interface (CLI), you only pay for the Amazon resources that are created when you create or update Amazon ParallelCluster images and clusters. For more information, see Amazon services used by Amazon ParallelCluster.

Configure and create your first cluster

To create your first cluster, use the pcluster configure CLI command to initiate a wizard that prompts you for all of the information that's required to configure and create your cluster. The details of the sequence differ when using Amazon Batch as the scheduler compared to using Slurm.

Slurm
$  pcluster configure --config config-file.yaml

From the list of valid Amazon Web Services Region identifiers, choose the Amazon Web Services Region where you want your cluster to run.

Note

The list of Amazon Web Services Regions shown is based on the partition of your account, and only includes Amazon Web Services Regions that are enabled for your account. For more information about enabling Amazon Web Services Regions for your account, see Managing Amazon Web Services Regions in the Amazon Web Services General Reference. The example shown is from the Amazon Global partition. If your account is in the Amazon GovCloud (US) partition, only Amazon Web Services Regions in that partition are listed (gov-us-east-1 and gov-us-west-1). Similarly, if your account is in the Amazon China partition, only cn-north-1 and cn-northwest-1 are shown. For the complete list of Amazon Web Services Regions supported by Amazon ParallelCluster, see Supported Amazon Web Services Regions for Amazon ParallelCluster.

Allowed values for Amazon Web Services Region ID:
1. af-south-1
2. ap-east-1
3. ap-northeast-1
4. ap-northeast-2
5. ap-south-1
6. ap-southeast-1
7. ap-southeast-2
8. ap-southeast-3
9. ap-southeast-5
10. ap-southeast-7
11. ca-central-1
12. eu-central-1
13. eu-north-1
14. eu-south-1
15. eu-west-1
16. eu-west-2
17. eu-west-3
18. il-central-1
19. me-south-1
20. sa-east-1
21. us-east-1
22. us-east-2
23. us-west-1
24. us-west-2
Amazon Web Services Region ID [ap-northeast-1]:

Choose the key pair from those that are registered with Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud in the selected Amazon Web Services Region:

Allowed values for Amazon EC2 Key Pair Name:
1. your-key-1
2. your-key-2
Amazon EC2 Key Pair Name [your-key-1]:

Choose the scheduler to use with your cluster.

Allowed values for Scheduler:
1. slurm
2. awsbatch
Scheduler [slurm]:

Choose the operating system.

Allowed values for Operating System:
1. alinux2
2. alinux2023
3. ubuntu2404
4. ubuntu2204
5. ubuntu2004
6. rhel8
7. rhel9
Operating System [alinux2]:

Choose the head node instance type:

Head node instance type [t2.micro]:

Choose the queue configuration. Note: Instance type can't be specified for multiple compute resources in the same queue.

Number of queues [1]:
Name of queue 1 [queue1]:
Number of compute resources for queue1 [1]: 2
Compute instance type for compute resource 1 in queue1 [t2.micro]:
Maximum instance count [10]:

Enable EFA to run applications that require high levels of inter-instance communication at scale on Amazon at no additional charge:

Compute instance type for compute resource 2 in queue1 [t2.micro]: c5n.18xlarge
Enable EFA on c5n.18xlarge (y/n) [y]: y
Maximum instance count [10]:
Placement Group name []:

After the previous steps are completed, decide whether to use an existing VPC or let Amazon ParallelCluster create a VPC for you. If you don't have a properly configured VPC, Amazon ParallelCluster can create a new one for you. It either places both the head and compute nodes in the same public subnet, or only the head node in a public subnet with all compute nodes in a private subnet. If you let Amazon ParallelCluster create a VPC, you must decide if all nodes are to be in a public subnet. For more information, see Network configurations.

If you configure your cluster to use instance types that have multiple network interfaces or a network card, see Network configurations for additional networking requirements.

It's possible to reach your quota for the number of VPCs allowed in a Amazon Web Services Region. The default quota is five VPCs for a Amazon Web Services Region. For more information about this quota and how to request an increase, see VPC and subnets in the Amazon VPC User Guide.

Important

VPCs created by Amazon ParallelCluster do not enable VPC Flow Logs by default. VPC Flow Logs enable you to capture information about the IP traffic going to and from network interfaces in your VPCs. For more information, see VPC Flow Logs in the Amazon VPC User Guide.

If you let Amazon ParallelCluster create a VPC, make sure that you decide whether all nodes are to be in a public subnet.

Note

If you choose 1. Head node in a public subnet and compute fleet in a private subnet, Amazon ParallelCluster creates a NAT gateway that results in additional cost, even if you specify free tier resources.

Automate VPC creation? (y/n) [n]: y
Allowed values for Availability Zone:
1. us-east-1a
2. us-east-1b
3. us-east-1c
4. us-east-1d
5. us-east-1e
6. us-east-1f
Availability Zone [us-east-1a]:
Allowed values for Network Configuration:
1. Head node in a public subnet and compute fleet in a private subnet
2. Head node and compute fleet in the same public subnet
Network Configuration [Head node in a public subnet and compute fleet in a private subnet]: 1
Beginning VPC creation. Please do not leave the terminal until the creation is finalized

If you don't create a new VPC, you must select an existing VPC.

If you choose to have Amazon ParallelCluster create the VPC, make a note of the VPC ID so you can use the Amazon CLI to delete it later.

Automate VPC creation? (y/n) [n]: n
Allowed values for VPC ID:
  #  id                     name                                 number_of_subnets
---  ---------------------  ---------------------------------  -------------------
  1  vpc-0b4ad9c4678d3c7ad  ParallelClusterVPC-20200118031893                    2
  2  vpc-0e87c753286f37eef  ParallelClusterVPC-20191118233938                    5
VPC ID [vpc-0b4ad9c4678d3c7ad]: 1

After the VPC has been selected, decide whether to use existing subnets or create new ones.

Automate Subnet creation? (y/n) [y]: y
Creating CloudFormation stack...
Do not leave the terminal until the process has finished
Amazon Batch
$  pcluster configure --config config-file.yaml

From the list of valid Amazon Web Services Region identifiers, choose the Amazon Web Services Region where you want your cluster to run.

Note

The list of Amazon Web Services Regions shown is based on the partition of your account. It only includes Amazon Web Services Regions that are enabled for your account. For more information about enabling Amazon Web Services Regions for your account, see Managing Amazon Web Services Regions in the Amazon Web Services General Reference. The example shown is from the Amazon Global partition. If your account is in the Amazon GovCloud (US) partition, only Amazon Web Services Regions in that partition are listed (gov-us-east-1 and gov-us-west-1). Similarly, if your account is in the Amazon China partition, only cn-north-1 and cn-northwest-1 are shown. For the complete list of Amazon Web Services Regions supported by Amazon ParallelCluster, see Supported Amazon Web Services Regions for Amazon ParallelCluster.

Allowed values for Amazon Web Services Region ID:
1. af-south-1
2. ap-east-1
3. ap-northeast-1
4. ap-northeast-2
5. ap-south-1
6. ap-southeast-1
7. ap-southeast-2
8. ap-southeast-3
9. ap-southeast-5
10. ap-southeast-7
11. ca-central-1
12. eu-central-1
13. eu-north-1
14. eu-south-1
15. eu-west-1
16. eu-west-2
17. eu-west-3
18. il-central-1
19. me-south-1
20. sa-east-1
21. us-east-1
22. us-east-2
23. us-west-1
24. us-west-2
Amazon Web Services Region ID [us-east-1]:

The key pair is selected from the key pairs registered with Amazon EC2 in the selected Amazon Web Services Region. Choose the key pair:

Allowed values for Amazon EC2 Key Pair Name:
1. your-key-1
2. your-key-2
Amazon EC2 Key Pair Name [your-key-1]:

Choose the scheduler to use with your cluster.

Allowed values for Scheduler:
1. slurm
2. awsbatch
Scheduler [slurm]: 2

When awsbatch is selected as the scheduler, alinux2 is used as the operating system. The head node instance type is entered:

Head node instance type [t2.micro]:

Choose the queue configuration. The Amazon Batch scheduler only contains a single queue. The maximum size of the cluster of compute nodes is entered. This is measured in vCPUs.

Number of queues [1]:
Name of queue 1 [queue1]:
Maximum vCPU [10]:

Decide whether to use existing VPCs or let Amazon ParallelCluster create VPCs for you. If you don't have a properly configured VPC, Amazon ParallelCluster can create a new one. It either uses both the head and compute nodes in the same public subnet, or only the head node in a public subnet with all nodes in a private subnet. It's possible to reach your quota on the number of VPCs allowed in a Region. The default number of VPCs is five. For more information about this quota and how to request an increase, see VPC and subnets in the Amazon VPC User Guide.

Important

VPCs created by Amazon ParallelCluster do not enable VPC Flow Logs by default. VPC Flow Logs enable you to capture information about the IP traffic going to and from network interfaces in your VPCs. For more information, see VPC Flow Logs in the Amazon VPC User Guide.

If you let Amazon ParallelCluster create a VPC, make sure that you decide whether all nodes are to be in a public subnet.

Note

If you choose 1. Head node in a public subnet and compute fleet in a private subnet, Amazon ParallelCluster creates a NAT gateway that results in additional cost, even if you specify free tier resources.

Automate VPC creation? (y/n) [n]: y
Allowed values for Availability Zone:
1. us-east-1a
2. us-east-1b
3. us-east-1c
4. us-east-1d
5. us-east-1e
6. us-east-1f
Availability Zone [us-east-1a]:
Allowed values for Network Configuration:
1. Head node in a public subnet and compute fleet in a private subnet
2. Head node and compute fleet in the same public subnet
Network Configuration [Head node in a public subnet and compute fleet in a private subnet]: *1*
Beginning VPC creation. Please do not leave the terminal until the creation is finalized

If you don't create a new VPC, you must select an existing VPC.

If you choose to have Amazon ParallelCluster create the VPC, make a note of the VPC ID so you can use the Amazon CLI or Amazon Web Services Management Console to delete it later.

Automate VPC creation? (y/n) [n]: n
Allowed values for VPC ID:
  #  id                     name                                 number_of_subnets
---  ---------------------  ---------------------------------  -------------------
  1  vpc-0b4ad9c4678d3c7ad  ParallelClusterVPC-20200118031893                    2
  2  vpc-0e87c753286f37eef  ParallelClusterVPC-20191118233938                    5
VPC ID [vpc-0b4ad9c4678d3c7ad]: 1

After the VPC has been selected, make sure that you decide whether to use existing subnets or create new ones.

Automate Subnet creation? (y/n) [y]: y
Creating CloudFormation stack...
Do not leave the terminal until the process has finished

When you have completed the preceding steps, a simple cluster launches into a VPC. The VPC uses an existing subnet that supports public IP addresses. The route table for the subnet is 0.0.0.0/0 => igw-xxxxxx. Note the following conditions:

  • The VPC must have DNS Resolution = yes and DNS Hostnames = yes.

  • The VPC must also have DHCP options with the correct domain-name for the Amazon Web Services Region. The default DHCP Option Set already specifies the required AmazonProvidedDNS. If specifying more than one domain name server, see DHCP options sets in the Amazon VPC User Guide. When using private subnets, use a NAT gateway or an internal proxy to enable web access for compute nodes. For more information, see Network configurations.

When all settings contain valid values, you can launch the cluster by running the create command.

$ pcluster create-cluster --cluster-name test-cluster --cluster-configuration cluster-config.yaml
{
  "cluster": {
    "clusterName": "test-cluster",
    "cloudformationStackStatus": "CREATE_IN_PROGRESS",
    "cloudformationStackArn": "arn:aws-cn:cloudformation:eu-west-1:xxx:stack/test-cluster/abcdef0-f678-890a-5abc-021345abcdef",
    "region": "eu-west-1",
    "version": "3.13.0",
    "clusterStatus": "CREATE_IN_PROGRESS"
  },
  "validationMessages": []
}

Follow the cluster progress: 

$ pcluster describe-cluster --cluster-name test-cluster

or 

$ pcluster list-clusters --query 'clusters[?clusterName==`test-cluster`]'

After the cluster reaches the "clusterStatus": "CREATE_COMPLETE" status, you can connect to it by using your normal SSH client settings. For more information about connecting to Amazon EC2 instances, see the Amazon EC2 User Guide in the Amazon EC2 User Guide. Or you can connect the cluster through 

$ pcluster ssh --cluster-name test-cluster -i ~/path/to/keyfile.pem

To delete the cluster, run the following command.

$ pcluster delete-cluster --region us-east-1 --cluster-name test-cluster

After the cluster is deleted, you can delete the network resources in the VPC by deleting the CloudFormation networking stack. The stack's name starts with "parallelclusternetworking-" and contains the creation time in "YYYYMMDDHHMMSS" format. You can list the stacks using the list-stacks command.

$ aws --region us-east-1 cloudformation list-stacks \
   --stack-status-filter "CREATE_COMPLETE" \
   --query "StackSummaries[].StackName" | \
   grep -e "parallelclusternetworking-"
   "parallelclusternetworking-pubpriv-20191029205804"

The stack can be deleted using the delete-stack command.

$ aws --region us-east-1 cloudformation delete-stack \
   --stack-name parallelclusternetworking-pubpriv-20191029205804

The VPC that pcluster configure creates for you isn't created in the CloudFormation networking stack. You can delete that VPC manually in the console or by using the Amazon CLI.

$ aws --region us-east-1 Amazon EC2 delete-vpc --vpc-id vpc-0b4ad9c4678d3c7ad