Create a Config Set

Lists creation strategies, when to use them and why, and provides examples for each strategy.

Choosing the best strategy for creating a config set depends on the circumstances ("when to use"):

Strategy	When to use	Rationale
create from worksheets	when performing fresh installs, major upgrades, or any time there is a large amount of configuration data to set up	Worksheets can be generated, filled out offline with site-specific data by the appropriate staff, and then imported when needed.
clone existing config set	when there is already a config set with site-specific data and additional config sets are needed with minor variations (for partitions, alternate configurations, etc.), or when manually backing up a config set	Cloning is quick, and it is easy to interactively update the clone with needed variations.
create without callbacks	when no hardware is attached to the XC system, as in some testing scenarios	Pre- and post-configuration callback scripts may invoke utilities that query hardware in order to provide additional config set content.
create interactively	when configuring a smaller system with little configuration data to change	Setting all configuration values one at a time in response to a series of prompts or when selected from a menu can be very time-consuming.

These strategies all use the cfgset command. Use cfgset create -h for information about the create subcommand. See Config Set Create/Update Process for an outline of the process followed by cfgset each time the create or update subcommand is used.

Note that when the create subcommand is used in any of these strategies (except cloning), it is necessary to specify the config set type for any type other than the default cle. Most of the following create procedures omit --type because they are for config sets of type cle.

Remember: Run cfgset as root.

CAUTION: Boot failure possible if using cfgset under certain conditions.

The cfgset create and cfgset update commands always call pre- and post-configuration scripts. Some of these scripts require HSS daemons and other CLE services to be running. This can cause problems under these conditions:

If xtdiscover is running, cfgset may hang or produce incorrect data that can result in system boot failure.
If xtbounce is in progress or if the SMW is not connected to XC hardware, cfgset will fail.

In these circumstances, use the --no-scripts option with cfgset create or cfgset update to avoid running the scripts. Because using that option results in an invalid config set, remember to run cfgset update without the --no-scripts option afterwards, when circumstances permit, to ensure that all pre- and post-configuration scripts are run.

For more information on creating a config set using --no-scripts, see Create a Config Set without Callbacks

Create Backup Config Sets Automatically

If the auto_clone option in the IMPS configuration file (/etc/opt/cray/imps/imps.json) is enabled, the cfgset create and cfgset update commands will automatically clone a config set as a backup upon successful creation/update of the original config set. A failed operation will not create a backup.

The autosave_limit parameter in the IMPS configuration file determines how many clones will be retained. Config set backups are rotated with the oldest backup removed as a new backup is generated. Config set backups are saved with names of the form CONFIGSET-autosave-YYYY-MM-DDTHH:mm:SS, where CONFIGSET is the name of the original config set.