Intel® MPI Library Developer Reference for Windows* OS

ID 768734
Date 11/07/2023
Public

A newer version of this document is available. Customers should click here to go to the newest version.

Document Table of Contents

Hydra Environment Variables

I_MPI_HYDRA_HOST_FILE

Set the host file to run the application.

Syntax

I_MPI_HYDRA_HOST_FILE=<arg>

Argument

<arg> String parameter
<hostsfile> The full or relative path to the host file

Description

Set this environment variable to specify the hosts file.

I_MPI_HYDRA_HOSTS_GROUP

Set node ranges using brackets, commas, and dashes.

Syntax

I_MPI_HYDRA_HOSTS_GROUP=<arg>

Argument

<arg> Set a node range.

Description

Set this variable to be able to set node ranges using brackets, commas, and dashes (like in Slurm* Workload Manager). For example:

I_MPI_HYDRA_HOSTS_GROUP="hostA[01-05],hostB,hostC[01-05,07,09-11]"

You can set node ranges with the -hosts-group option.

I_MPI_HYDRA_DEBUG

Print out the debug information.

Syntax

I_MPI_HYDRA_DEBUG=<arg>

Argument

<arg> Binary indicator
enable | yes | on | 1 Turn on the debug output
disable | no | off | 0 Turn off the debug output. This is the default value

Description

Set this environment variable to enable the debug mode.

I_MPI_HYDRA_ENV

Control the environment propagation.

Syntax

I_MPI_HYDRA_ENV=<arg>

Argument

<arg> String parameter
all Pass all environment to all MPI processes

Description

Set this environment variable to control the environment propagation to the MPI processes. By default, the entire launching node environment is passed to the MPI processes. Setting this variable also overwrites environment variables set by the remote shell.

I_MPI_JOB_TIMEOUT

Set the timeout period for mpiexec .

Syntax

I_MPI_JOB_TIMEOUT=<timeout>

I_MPI_MPIEXEC_TIMEOUT=<timeout>

Argument

<timeout> Define mpiexec timeout period in seconds
<n>0 The value of the timeout period. The default timeout value is zero, which means no timeout.

Description

Set this environment variable to make mpiexec terminate the job in <timeout> seconds after its launch. The <timeout> value should be greater than zero. Otherwise the environment variable setting is ignored.

I_MPI_JOB_STARTUP_TIMEOUT

Set the mpiexec job startup timeout.

Syntax

I_MPI_JOB_STARTUP_TIMEOUT=<timeout>

Argument

<timeout> Define mpiexec startup timeout period in seconds
<n>0 The value of the timeout period. The default timeout value is zero, which means no timeout.

Description

Set this environment variable to make mpiexec terminate the job in <timeout> seconds if some processes are not launched. The <timeout> value should be greater than zero.

I_MPI_HYDRA_BOOTSTRAP

Set the bootstrap server.

Syntax

I_MPI_HYDRA_BOOTSTRAP=<arg>

Argument

<arg> String parameter
service Use hydra service agent
lsf Use the LSF blaunch command
powershell Use the powershell based bootstrap. This is the default values.

Description

Set this environment variable to specify the bootstrap server.

NOTE:
LSF bootstrap is chosen automatically if LSF environment variables are found.  If the -hosts option is specified, LSF bootstrap will not be chosen by default. Set I_MPI_HYDRA_BOOTSTRAP=lsf for this case.

I_MPI_HYDRA_BOOTSTRAP_EXEC

Set the executable file to be used as a bootstrap server.

Syntax

I_MPI_HYDRA_BOOTSTRAP_EXEC=<arg>

Argument

<arg> String parameter
<executable> The name of the executable file

Description

Set this environment variable to specify the executable file to be used as a bootstrap server.

I_MPI_HYDRA_PMI_CONNECT

Define the processing method for PMI messages.

Syntax

I_MPI_HYDRA_PMI_CONNECT=<value>

Argument

<value> The algorithm to be used
nocache Do not cache PMI messages
cache Cache PMI messages on the local pmi_proxy management processes to minimize the number of PMI requests. Cached information is automatically propagated to child management processes.
lazy-cache cache mode with on-demand propagation.
alltoall Information is automatically exchanged between all pmi_proxy before any get request can be done. This is the default value.

Description

Use this environment variable to select the PMI messages processing method.

I_MPI_PERHOST

Define the default behavior for the -perhost option of the mpiexec command.

Syntax

I_MPI_PERHOST=<value>

Argument

<value> Define a value used for -perhost by default
integer > 0 Exact value for the option
all All logical CPUs on the node
allcores All cores (physical CPUs) on the node. This is the default value.

Description

Set this environment variable to define the default behavior for the -perhost option. Unless specified explicitly, the -perhost option is implied with the value set in I_MPI_PERHOST.

NOTE:

When running under a job scheduler, this environment variable is ignored by default. To control process placement with I_MPI_PERHOST, disable the I_MPI_JOB_RESPECT_PROCESS_PLACEMENT variable.

I_MPI_HYDRA_BRANCH_COUNT

Set the hierarchical branch count.

Syntax

I_MPI_HYDRA_BRANCH_COUNT =<num>

Argument

<num> Number
<n> >= 0

The default value is 16. This value means that hierarchical structure is enabled if the number of nodes is more than 16.

If I_MPI_HYDRA_BRANCH_COUNT=0, then there is no hierarchical structure.

If I_MPI_HYDRA_BRANCH_COUNT=-1, then branch count is equal to default value.

Description

Set this environment variable to restrict the number of child management processes launched by the mpiexec operation or by each pmi_proxy management process.

I_MPI_HYDRA_PMI_AGGREGATE

Turn on/off aggregation of the PMI messages.

Syntax

I_MPI_HYDRA_PMI_AGGREGATE=<arg>

Argument

<arg> Binary indicator
enable | yes | on | 1 Enable PMI message aggregation. This is the default value.
disable | no | off | 0 Disable PMI  message aggregation.

Description

Set this environment variable to enable/disable aggregation of PMI messages.

I_MPI_HYDRA_IFACE

Set the network interface.

Syntax

I_MPI_HYDRA_IFACE=<arg>

Argument

<arg> String parameter
<network interface> The network interface configured in your system

Description

Set this environment variable to specify the network interface to use. For example, use "-iface ib0", if the IP emulation of your InfiniBand* network is configured on ib0.

I_MPI_TMPDIR

Specify a temporary directory.

Syntax

I_MPI_TMPDIR=<arg>

Argument

<arg> String parameter
<path> Temporary directory. The default value is /tmp

Description

Set this environment variable to specify a directory for temporary files.

I_MPI_JOB_RESPECT_PROCESS_PLACEMENT

Specify whether to use the process-per-node placement provided by the job scheduler, or set explicitly.

Syntax

I_MPI_JOB_RESPECT_PROCESS_PLACEMENT=<arg>

Argument

<value> Binary indicator
enable | yes | on | 1 Use the process placement provided by job scheduler. This is the default value
disable | no | off | 0 Do not use the process placement provided by job scheduler

Description

If the variable is set, the Hydra process manager uses the process placement provided by job scheduler (default). In this case the -ppn option and its equivalents are ignored. If you disable the variable, the Hydra process manager uses the process placement set with -ppn or its equivalents.

I_MPI_PORT_RANGE

Specify a range of allowed port numbers.

Syntax

I_MPI_PORT_RANGE=<range>

Argument

<range> String parameter
<min>:<max> Allowed port range

Description

Set this environment variable to specify a range of the allowed port numbers for the Intel® MPI Library.

I_MPI_HYDRA_SERVICE_PORT

Set the port on which the hydra service is installed.

Syntax

I_MPI_HYDRA_SERVICE_PORT=<int>

Argument

<int> Define the port number

Description

Set this environment variable to inform  mpiexec.hydra, on which port the hydra service is installed. Use this  variable if you want to run a number of services on different ports.

To be able to run a number of hydra services, follow these steps:

  1. Start cmd and run hydra services:
    > start hydra_service -p <port1> -d> start hydra_service -p <port2> -d
  2. Set the environment variable to choose the service to be used:
    set I_MPI_HYDRA_SERVICE_PORT="port2"
  3. Run mpiexec as usual

I_MPI_SILENT_ABORT

Control abort warning messages.

Syntax

I_MPI_SILENT_ABORT=<arg>

Argument

<arg> Binary indicator
enable | yes | on | 1 Do not print abort warning message
disable | no | off | 0 Print abort warning message. This is the default value

Description

Set this variable to disable printing of abort warning messages. The messages are printed in case of the MPI_Abort call.  

You can also disable printing of these messages with the -silent-abort option.

I_MPI_HYDRA_NAMESERVER

Specify the nameserver.

Syntax

I_MPI_HYDRA_NAMESERVER=<arg>

Argument

<arg> String parameter
<hostname>:<port> Set the hostname and the port.

Description

Set this variable to specify the nameserver for your MPI application in the following format:

I_MPI_HYDRA_NAMESERVER = hostname:port

You can set the nameserver with the -nameserver option.

I_MPI_HYDRA_BSTRAP_KEEP_ALIVE

Set this variable to keep hydra_bstrap_proxy alive after launching hydra_pmi_proxy.

Syntax

I_MPI_HYDRA_BSTRAP_KEEP_ALIVE=<arg>

Argument

<arg> Binary indicator
enable | yes | on | 1 Do not close hydra_bstrap_proxy.
disable | no | off | 0 Close hydra_bstrap_proxy. This is the default value.

Description

Set this variable to keep hydra_bstrap_proxy alive after launching hydra_pmi_proxy. It allows you to keep full process tree (mpiexec —> hydra_bstrap_proxy —> hydra_pmi_proxy —> app) connected on localhost. The default value closes hydra_bstrap_proxy to reduce the number of running processes.