Using the Normal QoS for General Compute Jobs

Created by Bent Petersen, Modified on Mon, 3 Mar at 3:54 PM by Bent Petersen

The normal QoS is the default quality of service for general computational workloads on Mjolnir. This QoS is optimized for fair scheduling and efficient resource usage, ensuring that jobs are processed in a balanced manner across all users.

Key Features

• Max Runtime: Up to 14 days (336 hours).

• Max CPU Allocation: Up to 96 CPUs per user.

• Memory Limit: No hard limit, but subject to available resources.

• Priority: Standard priority (fair-share based).

• Best for: Bioinformatics pipelines, simulations, general HPC workloads.

How to Submit a Job with the Normal QoS

To submit a job using the normal QoS, use the following example:

sbatch --partition=cpuqueue --qos=normal --cpus-per-task=4 --mem=32G --time=12:00:00 --wrap="your_command_here"

Best Practices

• Request only what you need – excessive resource requests can delay job scheduling.

• Use --cpus-per-task wisely – optimize parallel jobs by specifying the correct number of CPUs.

• Avoid using normal QoS for file transfers – use the filetransfer QoS instead.

• Check fair-share priority – users who have run many jobs recently may experience longer queue times.

When to Use Normal QoS

✅ Pipelines, simulations, and batch-processing tasks.

✅ Jobs that need long runtimes (up to 14 days).

When NOT to Use Normal QoS

❌ File transfers – use the filetransfer QoS.

❌ Teaching-related tasks – use the teaching QoS.