Partition Assignments
A partition assignment is tiCrypt's own entry for a partition that already exists in Global Slurm. It holds a description, a priority, a default flag and an access list of teams, projects and VM configurations. The partition itself, with its nodes and limits, is defined in the Slurm cluster configuration, not here.
A partition assignment is not a Slurm partition. Creating an assignment does not create a partition in Slurm, and deleting one removes only tiCrypt's entry: the partition stays in Global Slurm.
Why partition assignments exist
Global Slurm schedules the worker VMs of every project on shared hardware, and Slurm on its own knows nothing about tiCrypt teams, projects or VM configurations. The partition assignment is where tiCrypt records which of its VMs may use which partition.
- Only assigned partitions can be used: when a job names a partition, the backend checks that the
partition has an entry here. A partition that exists in Slurm but has no entry is refused with
Slurm partition <name> does not exist. - The access list is enforced by the backend: a job from a VM that does not match a Restricted partition's list fails with "VM is not whitelisted for the specified partition". A VM matches when its team, its project or its VM configuration is on the list.
- Default partitions come first: when a VM asks which partitions it may use, the backend lists the partitions marked as default first.
Without an entry, a partition is unavailable to tiCrypt VMs even though Slurm reports it.
When to use partition assignments
- A new partition was added to the cluster: create an assignment so tiCrypt VMs can submit jobs to it.
- A partition holds hardware reserved for one group: make it Restricted and list the teams, projects or VM configurations allowed to use it, for example a GPU partition for one project.
- A partition should be the first choice: tick Mark as default partition so it comes first in the list of partitions a VM may use.
- A partition is being retired: delete the assignment so tiCrypt VMs stop using it, then remove it from the Slurm configuration.
Before you begin
- You are a Sub-admin, Admin or Super-admin with the View all Slurm partitions permission, which shows the Partition Assignments table.
- You are a Super-admin to create, edit or delete an assignment. The buttons appear for anyone who can see the table, but the backend accepts these changes only from a Super-admin.
- The partition already exists in Global Slurm. Click View Raw Partitions to check what Slurm reports.
Access Partition Assignments
- Go to the Management icon in the top left taskbar.
- Navigate to the Slurm section.
- Click Partition Assignments in the left panel.
- View the partition assignments in the table.
The table is sorted by Priority, then by Partition Name. If no partition is assigned, it shows "No Slurm partitions assigned. Partitions allow fine-grained control over node allocation and access for different teams, projects, and VM configurations."
The following table describes the columns of the Partition Assignments table.
| Column | Content |
|---|---|
| Partition Name | The name of the partition in Global Slurm. |
| Description | The description entered in tiCrypt. |
| Priority | The priority entered in tiCrypt. |
| Default | A star when the partition is marked as default. |
| Teams | "All teams" for an Unrestricted partition. For a Restricted partition, up to two team names followed by "+N more", or a dash when no team is listed. |
| Projects | "All projects" for an Unrestricted partition, otherwise the listed projects, shown the same way as Teams. |
| VM Configs | "All configs" for an Unrestricted partition, otherwise the listed VM configurations, shown the same way as Teams. |
View the Partitions Reported by Slurm
Location: Management > Slurm > Partition Assignments
- Click the Open full menu button in the top right panel.
- Select View Raw Partitions.
- In the Raw Slurm Partitions pop-up, review the partitions Global Slurm reports.
- Click Copy to copy the list, or Download to save it as
slurm-partitions-raw.json. - Click Close.
The pop-up lists every partition Global Slurm reports, assigned or not. If the backend cannot reach Slurm, the message "Failed to fetch raw partition data from Slurm" appears instead.
Create a Partition Assignment
Location: Management > Slurm > Partition Assignments
- Click the Create Partition button in the top right panel.
- In the Create Slurm Partition Configuration pop-up, wait for "Loading available partitions from Slurm..." to finish.
- In Partition Name, select a partition from the suggestions. The suggestions list the Global Slurm partitions that have no assignment yet.
- Optionally, enter a Description (optional).
- Under Partition Settings, enter the Priority and tick Mark as default partition if this partition should come first.
- Under Access Control, select Unrestricted or Restricted.
- If you selected Restricted, choose at least one entry in Allowed Teams, Allowed Projects or Allowed VM Configurations.
- Click Create Configuration.
The message Partition "<name>" configured appears and the partition is added to the
table. tiCrypt VMs that match its access list can now submit jobs to it.
If every Slurm partition already has an assignment, the pop-up shows "All Slurm partitions are already configured in tiCrypt. No additional partitions available to configure." and Create Configuration stays disabled.
The following table describes the fields of the Create Slurm Partition Configuration pop-up.
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Partition Name | Required, up to 100 characters, letters, numbers, hyphens and underscores only. A partition that already has an assignment is refused with "This partition is already configured in tiCrypt". The pop-up does not check a typed name against Slurm; the backend refuses a partition that does not exist in Global Slurm. |
| Description (optional) | Up to 250 characters, without <, >, { or }. |
| Priority | A number of 0 or more, 0 by default. The hint reads "Higher priority partitions are preferred by VM controller when selecting nodes". |
| Mark as default partition | Unticked by default. Default partitions are listed first when a VM asks which partitions it may use. |
| Access Control | Unrestricted (the default) makes the partition available to all teams, projects and VM configurations. Restricted limits it to the entries chosen below. |
| Allowed Teams, Allowed Projects, Allowed VM Configurations | Shown for Restricted only. Each list offers the teams, projects or VM configurations you can see. A VM may use the partition when its team, project or VM configuration is listed. |
When Restricted is selected with all three lists empty, a warning asks you to select at least one team, project or VM configuration, or to switch to Unrestricted, and the pop-up cannot be submitted.
Edit a Partition Assignment
Location: Management > Slurm > Partition Assignments
- Select the partition assignment you want to edit.
- Click the Edit button in the top right panel.
- In the Edit <partition> pop-up, change the description, priority, default flag or access control. Partition Name cannot be changed.
- Click Update Configuration.
The message "Partition configuration updated" appears. Only the fields you changed are sent. If nothing changed, "No changes made" appears and the pop-up stays open. Switching to Unrestricted removes the access list.
The Edit pop-up can show two notices about the Allowed VM Configurations list:
- Hardware setups in the list: entries saved before the list held VM configurations are hardware setups, which match no VM. The warning reads "The following entries are hardware setups, not VM configurations, and do not match any VM. Remove them and select VM configurations instead." Click Remove hardware setups to drop them.
- Entries you cannot see: a notice says how many selected VM configurations "cannot be displayed because they were deleted or you do not have permission to view them. Saving does not remove them."
View a Partition Assignment
Location: Management > Slurm > Partition Assignments
- Select the partition assignment you want to view.
- Click the View button in the top right panel.
- Review the Slurm partition panel. Its header shows Restricted or Unrestricted, and it has Edit and Delete actions.
The following table describes the content of the Slurm partition panel.
| Section | Content |
|---|---|
| Basic info | Partition, Description ("None" when empty), Priority, Default (Yes or No), Access ("Only the teams, projects and setups listed below" or "Unrestricted") and the ID. |
| Allowed teams | The listed teams, with links to their panels. "All teams" for an Unrestricted partition, "No teams" for a Restricted partition without teams. |
| Allowed projects | The listed projects, shown the same way. |
| Allowed VM configurations card | The third card lists the VM configurations on the access list. |
| N Nodes | Shown with the View Slurm node information permission. Lists the nodes Slurm reports in the partition, with links to their panels, or "Slurm reports no nodes in this partition". |
Delete Partition Assignment(s)
bulk-action
Location: Management > Slurm > Partition Assignments
- Select the partition assignment(s) you want to delete.
- Click the Delete button in the top right panel. With several rows selected, the button is Delete N Partitions.
- In the prompt, click Delete Partition, or Delete N Partitions for several.
The assignment is removed from tiCrypt, and tiCrypt VMs can no longer submit jobs to the partition. The partition itself stays in Global Slurm. The prompt states this: "This will remove the partition configuration from tiCrypt but not from Global Slurm."