SJTU SLURM Skill

Log in to the SJTU HPC platform (also known as "交我算") as the user to perform job queries, submissions, cancellations, and data management. Use this skill when the user requests operations related to HPC or "交我算".

Overview

Use this skill to log in to the SJTU HPC (交我算) platform as the user, acting on their behalf to perform personal job queries, submissions, cancellations, and data management operations.

General Principles:

• Risk-aware operations: Deleting user's data and interrupting running jobs are risky operations. Before performing any risky operation, always confirm with the user that they clearly understand the impact of the operation and agree to its execution.
• private credentials: All user's credential files (like SSH key, certificate, API token, etc...) should be stored in the credentials directory under workspace (e.g., ~/.openclaw/workspace/default/credentials). Do Not store user's plain text password or contain it in your talk messages.

Quick Start

1. Ensure HPC API token file is available in the workspace, which should be stored in credentials directory. If not, request a new token.
2. For each user request, analyze whether you need to log in to an HPC entry node to perform the operation remotely. You can ask more questions to clarify any ambiguous parts of the request.
   • If user wants to know its storage quota usage or update its account (like password, binding Email/jAccount, preferred contact method), then you can meet the requirement directly by calling HPC API with the token.
   • if user is talking about job or its data, then you have to select an entry node to do remote operation. In this case, take the following steps.
   • if user want to get a passwordless certificate for SSH login, refer to certificates section.
3. Ensure SSH keys and certificates are available in the workspace, which should be stored in credentials directory. If not, request a new SSH certificate for the user. Remind the user that requesting a certificate will trigger two-factor authentication.
4. For each user request need remote operation, identify the node group/partition the user is interested in and the operation type to select the correct entry node.
5. Use the SSH certificate to connect to the corresponding entry node based on the cluster and operation type, execute the user's requested operations on it.

Ensure Token Available

Before calling any HPC API, ensure there is a valid token in the credentials directory. Go through the following steps:

1. Check whether hpc_token file exists in the credentials directory under workspace. If it exists, goto step 2, otherwise goto step 3.
2. Try to refresh the token with refresh_token.py --workspace "path_to_workspace". If success, then you have ensured a valid token and can safely skip the following steps. If the request is refused (which means the token has expired), then continue to step 3. If the request reports internal error, act according to the rules in Error Handling section .
3. Tell the user you are going to request a new token and ask for their HPC username and password. To avoid password leak, advise user to upload a text file instead of providing passwords directly in the chat window.
4. Call script to request a new token with req_token.py :
   • If user uploaded file to provide password, call script with the format like: req_token.py "username" "password" --workspace "path_to_workspace" --textfile "uploaded_file_path". So script can help to remove the file to prevent password leak.
   • Otherwise skip the --textfile option.

The token will be saved as hpc_token in the credentials directory under workspace. If any script failed, act according to the rules in Error Handling section .

HPC API

Here are some HPC API path you can call when users want to know their storage quota usage or update their account:

• GET /user: query user's information.
  • Response will includ all the attributes defined by posixAccount and some addditional fields like jAccount, email, user type, etc.
  • CURL example: curl -L 'https://api.hpc.sjtu.edu.cn/user?name=userA&domain=pi' --header 'Authorization: Bearer ***'
• PATCH /user: update user's information.
  • Only password, Email/jAccount, preferred contact method can be updated by user itself.
  • Update request will trigger two-factor authentication via JWB APP (交我办) or Email. Ask user whether it have been prepared to do the authentication before you send the request.
  • Consult the online documentation to understand the calling conventions of this API.
• GET /quota: Query the storage quota data of user or its related group account.
  • Call this API does not need authorization.
  • Always call it with explict name parameter.
  • If user's requirement didn't specify which quota_type them need, you should query with quota_type=account and quota_type=user seperately. The account name can be derived from user's home path, which can be query in GET /user. The parent dir of user‘s home is exactly its account name, for example: "home": "%H/home/acct-hpc/hpcrobot" -> account name: acct-hpc.
  • CURL example: curl -L 'https://api.hpc.sjtu.edu.cn/quota?quota_type=account&name=acct-example'

Only these tasks can be done through HPC API. Do NOT try to use API for any other user requirements.

Use the token in credentials directory if authorization is required. Ask for user's HPC name if it is needed and has not been provided during the talk.

Entry Node Selection Rules

Select the appropriate entry node based on the node group and operation type the user is interested in.

HPC cluster has 3 node groups: pi, sy (思源) , kp (鲲鹏) . Partitions belong to node groups. If user does not explicitly specify a node group but only provides a target partition or a target storage, look up the corresponding node group from this table:

node group	partition	storage
pi	cpu, debug, dgx2, huge, 192c6t	lustre
kp	debugarm, arm128c256g, scnet_arm
sy	small, 64c512g, el9, debug64c512g, win32, a100, a800, debug100	dssg(gpfs)

Then select the entry node according to this table:

business	node group	entry node
job	pi	pilogin.hpc.sjtu.edu.cn
job	sy	sylogin.hpc.sjtu.edu.cn
job	kp	armlogin.hpc.sjtu.edu.cn
data	pi, kp	data.hpc.sjtu.edu.cn
data	sy	sydata.hpc.sjtu.edu.cn

SSH Keys and Certificates

SSH login to entry nodes requires the user's passwordless certificate. The agent should store all credentials (tokens, SSH keys, certificates) in the workspace's credentials directory. If no certificate available, follow the steps to request a new SSH certificate:

1. Ask for certificate owner: If you have asked username when requesting token, directly use that username and skip the ask. Otherwise ask for user's HPC username.
2. Make sure user is prepared: Tell the user that requesting the certificate will trigger two-factor authentication via JWB APP (交我办) or Email. Ask user whether it have been prepared to do the authentication.
3. Call synchronous script with long timeout: Give the user a prompt like "Requesting certificate now, please check your JWB App (交我办) or Email...", Do NOT wait for the user's confirmation before proceeding. Immediately call the script req_certificate.py <username> --workspace "path_to_workspace" with timeout >= 600s because the script will block waiting for the user to complete two-factor authentication on another channel.
4. Handle errors: After script execution, check the exit code. If non-zero, act according to the rules in Error Handling section .

The SSH key and certificate will be saved to the credentials directory under workspace.

If user directly asked for the key or certificate, follow the steps to send files to user:

1. Check whether the valid time of the existing certificate meets the user's requirement. If not, request a new certificate with --valid-time argument.
2. Check if there is any channel tools or skills can be used to send files directly to user. List all the candidate methods and ask user which one is preferred.
3. Use the selected method to send private key and certificate file to user. Remind user of the security sensitivity of these files and advise user never use them in public environments.

Error Handling

If any script execution or API call failed, parse the error message from stderr and inform the user with clear details:

• If the error message indicates "user have not set email or jAccount", Direct the user to read the platform documentation: https://docs.hpc.sjtu.edu.cn/accounts/security.html . Ask them to follow the instructions in the documentation to bind their second identity channel (jAccount or email).
• If the error message indicates internal error, tell user the session ID in error message, suggest them to ask help from [e-mail] with this ID.

Executing User-Requested Operations on Entry Nodes

Use the SSH key and certificate from the workspace credentials directory to log in to the entry node and remotely execute the user's requested operations:

bash

ssh -i "/path_to_workspace/credentials/private_key" -o "CertificateFile=/path_to_workspace/credentials/certificate" user@entry_node "command"

Note that user data is distributed across multiple shared storage pools, and visible storage varies depending on the node group. The storage where the user's home directory resides also differs:

node group	mount point	storage information
pi, kp	/lustre	Hot storage, Lustre, user home directory is here
sy	/dssg	Hot storage, GPFS, user home directory is here
pi, sy, kp	/archive	Cold storage A, NFS, for archived data, writable only on data and sydata nodes, read-only on other nodes
pi, sy, kp	/vault	Cold storage B, NFS, for archived data, writable only on data and sydata nodes, read-only on other nodes
pi, sy, kp	/union	mergerfs virtual filesystem, combines /archive and /vault, same read/write restrictions as the two cold storages

User personal directory paths are consistent across storage pools. Replace the top-level path of the user's home directory with the target storage to get the corresponding personal directory path. For example: /lustre/home/acct-hpc/hpcrobot -> /archive/home/acct-hpc/hpcrobot

If the user is interested in platform status or personal jobs, use SLURM commands to perform operations like: sinfo, squeue, sacct, seff, sbatch, scancel, etc...

Due to different storage pool visibility across node groups, job data computed on a partition can only be viewed on entry nodes belonging to the corresponding node group. Each entry node only allows submitting job to partitions within its own node group.

Never use cold storage data directly for job. If cold storage data is needed, transfer it to hot storage first before using it for job.

Large-scale data transfer operations should be performed on data.hpc.sjtu.edu.cn and sydata.hpc.sjtu.edu.cn. To aviod connection lost, wrap the remote transfer operation on data nodes with tmux. HPC has multiple cold storages, so before writing data to cold storage, check the free space of these candidates, and select the cold storage with most free space as the write target. If user asks about their data in cold storage and did not clearly specified which one, use the combined virtual filesystem /union .

Resources

scripts/

• req_token.py: Request a new bearer token from HPC API. This is a one-time setup that enables other operations.
• refresh_token.py: Refresh an existing bearer token to extend the session without re-authenticating.
• req_certificate.py: Request SSH key and certificate files using an existing token, which can be used to log in to the entry nodes without a password.