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-title: Using AWS Spot instances
+title: Using Preemptible instances
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SPDX-License-Identifier: CC-BY-SA-3.0
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-This page describes how to set up crunch to take advantage of "Amazon's EC2 spot instances":https://docs.aws.amazon.com/AWSEC2/latest/UserGuide/using-spot-instances.html.
+This page describes how to enable preemptible instances. Preemptible instances typically offer lower cost computation with a tradeoff of lower service guarantees. If a compute node is preempted, Arvados will restart the computation on a new instance.
+
+Currently Arvados supports preemptible instances using AWS and Azure spot instances.
h2. Configuration
-To use spot instances, set @UsePreemptibleInstances: true@ and add entries to @InstanceTypes@ with @Preemptible: true@. Typically you want to add both preemptible and non-preemptible entries for each cloud provider VM type. The @Price@ for preemptible instances is the maximum bid price, the actual price paid is dynamic and may be lower. For example:
+First, configure some @InstanceTypes@ that have @Preemptible: true@. For a preemptible instance, @Price@ determines the maximum bid price; the actual price paid is dynamic and will likely be lower.
+
+Typically you want to add both preemptible and non-preemptible entries for each cloud provider VM type. To do this automatically, use @PreemptiblePriceFactor@ to enable a preemptible version of each listed type, using the given factor to set the maximum bid price relative to the non-preemptible price. Alternatively, you can configure preemptible instance types explicitly. For example, the following two configurations are equivalent:
<pre>
Clusters:
- uuid_prefix:
+ ClusterID:
Containers:
- UsePreemptibleInstances: true
+ PreemptiblePriceFactor: 0.8
InstanceTypes:
m4.large:
- Preemptible: false
ProviderType: m4.large
VCPUs: 2
RAM: 8GiB
AddedScratch: 32GB
Price: 0.1
- m4.large.spot:
- Preemptible: true
+</pre>
+
+<pre>
+Clusters:
+ ClusterID:
+ InstanceTypes:
+ m4.large:
ProviderType: m4.large
VCPUs: 2
RAM: 8GiB
AddedScratch: 32GB
Price: 0.1
+ m4.large.preemptible:
+ Preemptible: true
+ ProviderType: m4.large
+ VCPUs: 2
+ RAM: 8GiB
+ AddedScratch: 32GB
+ Price: 0.08
</pre>
-When @UsePreemptibleInstances@ is enabled, child containers (workflow steps) will automatically be made preemptable. If the instance running a step is preempted, it will be restarted on a new instance. However, because preempting the workflow runner would cancel the entire workflow, the workflow runner runs in a reserved (nonpreemptable) instance.
+Next, you can choose to enable automatic use of preemptible instances:
-If you are using "crunch-dispatch-cloud":{{site.baseurl}}/install/install-dispatch-cloud.html no additional configuration is required.
+<pre>
+Clusters:
+ ClusterID:
+ Containers:
+ AlwaysUsePreemptibleInstances: true
+</pre>
+
+If @AlwaysUsePreemptibleInstances@ is "true", child containers (workflow steps) will always select preemptible instances, regardless of user option.
+
+If @AlwaysUsePreemptibleInstances@ is "false" (the default) or unspecified, preemptible instance are "used when requested by the user.":{{site.baseurl}}/user/cwl/cwl-run-options.html#preemptible
+
+Note that regardless of the value of @AlwaysUsePreemptibleInstances@, the top level workflow runner container always runs in a reserved (non-preemptible) instance, to avoid situations where the workflow runner is killed requiring the entire to be restarted.
+
+No additional configuration is required, "arvados-dispatch-cloud":{{site.baseurl}}/install/crunch2-cloud/install-dispatch-cloud.html will now start preemptible instances where appropriate.
+
+h3. Cost Tracking
-If you are using the legacy Nodemanager, "see below":#nodemanager .
+Preemptible instances prices are declared at instance request time and defined by the maximum price that the user is willing to pay per hour. By default, this price is the same amount as the on-demand version of each instance type, and this setting is the one that @arvados-dispatch-cloud@ uses for now, as it doesn't include any pricing data to the spot instance request.
-h3. AWS Permissions
+For AWS, the real price that a spot instance has at any point in time is discovered at the end of each usage hour, depending on instance demand. For this reason, AWS provides a data feed subscription to get hourly logs, as described on "Amazon's User Guide":https://docs.aws.amazon.com/AWSEC2/latest/UserGuide/spot-data-feeds.html.
+
+h2. Preemptible instances on AWS
+
+For general information, see "using Amazon EC2 spot instances":https://docs.aws.amazon.com/AWSEC2/latest/UserGuide/using-spot-instances.html.
+
+h3. Permissions
When requesting spot instances, Amazon's API may return an authorization error depending on how users and permissions are set on the account. If this is the case check logs for this error:
The account needs to have a service linked role created. This can be done by logging into the AWS account, go to _IAM Management_ → _Roles_ and create the @AWSServiceRoleForEC2Spot@ role by clicking on the @Create@ button, selecting @EC2@ service and @EC2 - Spot Instances@ use case.
-h3. Cost Tracking
+h2. Preemptible instances on Azure
-Amazon's Spot instances prices are declared at instance request time and defined by the maximum price that the user is willing to pay per hour. By default, this price is the same amount as the on-demand version of each instance type, and this setting is the one that nodemanager uses for now, as it doesn't include any pricing data to the spot instance request.
+For general information, see "Use Spot VMs in Azure":https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/virtual-machines/spot-vms.
-The real price that a spot instance has at any point in time is discovered at the end of each usage hour, depending on instance demand. For this reason, AWS provides a data feed subscription to get hourly logs, as described on "Amazon's User Guide":https://docs.aws.amazon.com/AWSEC2/latest/UserGuide/spot-data-feeds.html.
+When starting preemptible instances on Azure, Arvados configures the eviction policy to 'delete', with max price set to '-1'. This has the effect that preemptible VMs will not be evicted for pricing reasons. The price paid for the instance will be the current spot price for the VM type, up to a maximum of the price for a standard, non-spot VM of that type.
-h2(#nodemanager). Nodemanager
+Please note that Azure provides no SLA for preemptible instances. Even in this configuration, preemptible instances can still be evicted for capacity reasons. If that happens and a container is aborted, Arvados will try to restart it, subject to the usual retry rules.
-If you are using the legacy Nodemanager, its config file must also declare preemptible instance sizes, which must match the API server's @InstanceTypes@:
-
-<pre>
-[Size m4.large]
-cores = 2
-scratch = 32000
-
-[Size m4.large.spot]
-cores = 2
-instance_type = m4.large
-preemptible = true
-scratch = 32000
-</pre>
+Spot pricing is not available on 'B-series' VMs, those should not be defined in the configuration file with the _Preemptible_ flag set to true. Spot instances have a separate quota pool, make sure you have sufficient quota available.
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