Ticket 21398 - Please remove AccountingStorageType=accounting_storage/none from configuration examples
Summary: Please remove AccountingStorageType=accounting_storage/none from configuratio...
Status: OPEN
Alias: None
Product: Slurm
Classification: Unclassified
Component: Configuration (show other tickets)
Version: 24.05.4
Hardware: Linux Linux
: 4 - Minor Issue
Assignee: Ben Roberts
QA Contact: Documentation
URL:
Depends on:
Blocks:
 
Reported: 2024-11-12 00:48 MST by Ole.H.Nielsen@fysik.dtu.dk
Modified: 2024-11-19 13:52 MST (History)
1 user (show)

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Description Ole.H.Nielsen@fysik.dtu.dk 2024-11-12 00:48:48 MST 
In the slurm-users list we had a discussion with a new Slurm user trying the https://slurm.schedmd.com/configurator.easy.html tool which has this default value:

Select one value for AccountingStorageType:
None: No job accounting storage

The user was understandably confused because he was getting InvalidAccount messages.  

Also, in the slurm-example-configs RPM file the accounting_storage/none is given:

$ grep AccountingStorageType /etc/slurm/slurm.conf.example
AccountingStorageType=accounting_storage/none

However, documentation of accounting_storage/none was removed from 23.11 whereas it was still present in 23.02:

https://github.com/SchedMD/slurm/blob/slurm-23.02/doc/man/man5/slurm.conf.5#L210

Could you kindly remove these examples of the obsolete accounting_storage/none configuration and list only accounting_storage/slurmdbd in stead?

IMHO, slurmctld ought to log a warning message in slurmctld.log in case AccountingStorageType is undefined or set to accounting_storage/none.  I wonder if this is already implemented?

Thanks,
Ole
Comment 1 Ole.H.Nielsen@fysik.dtu.dk 2024-11-12 00:59:46 MST 
It would probably be a good idea to add a new item on the https://slurm.schedmd.com/faq.html page right under the Accounting Database heading.  

Such a FAQ item should explain why AccountingStorageType=accounting_storage/slurmdbd is strongly encouraged, and that accounting_storage/none was deprecated from 23.11.  The lack of functionality if omitting AccountingStorageType in slurm.conf should be pointed out.
Comment 2 Ole.H.Nielsen@fysik.dtu.dk 2024-11-12 01:12:22 MST 
(In reply to Ole.H.Nielsen@fysik.dtu.dk from comment #0)
> However, documentation of accounting_storage/none was removed from 23.11
> whereas it was still present in 23.02:
> 
> https://github.com/SchedMD/slurm/blob/slurm-23.02/doc/man/man5/slurm.conf.
> 5#L210

Interestingly, the removed documentation of accounting_storage/none was seemingly never mentioned in any Release Notes, for example https://github.com/SchedMD/slurm/blob/slurm-23.11/RELEASE_NOTES

Perhaps removal of accounting_storage/none ought to be mentioned somewhere?
Comment 3 Ben Roberts 2024-11-12 13:30:45 MST 
Hi Ole,

Thanks for pointing this out.  I do agree that we should update the example config file to use a supported plugin.  I can also look at updating the documentation, though I might not put this information in the FAQ page.  It might be better to add some additional details in the AccountingStorageType section.

> IMHO, slurmctld ought to log a warning message in slurmctld.log in case
> AccountingStorageType is undefined or set to accounting_storage/none. 
> I wonder if this is already implemented?

There is a warning message that will show up in the slurmctld logs like this if you have things partially configured:

[2024-11-12T12:14:16.774] slurmctld version 24.05.4 started on cluster knight
[2024-11-12T12:14:16.775] warning: Even though we are collecting accounting information you have asked for it not to be stored (no AccountingStorageType set). If this is not what you have in mind you will need to change it.

Additionally, there is a message when you shutdown the controller, letting you know that you are using an unsupported plugin:

$ scontrol shutdown
You are not running a supported accounting_storage plugin
Only 'accounting_storage/slurmdbd' is supported.



> Perhaps removal of accounting_storage/none ought to be mentioned somewhere?

It was mentioned in the NEWS with the release of 23.11.0rc1:
 -- Remove 'none' plugins for all but auth and cred. scontrol show config
    will report (null) now.
https://github.com/SchedMD/slurm/blob/961d0581c50d43ba55abaf877c0657af151a300f/NEWS#L588-L589

It's not a breaking change, which is why I think it wasn't added to the RELEASE_NOTES.  If you use the accounting_storage/none plugin, things will still work the way they did previously, it will just show "(null)" as the type.


I'll let you know when we have made changes to the documentation and example file.  Let me know if you have any additional questions in the meantime.

Thanks,
Ben