7.3. Experiment Setup

Global workflow uses a set of scripts to help configure and set up the drivers (also referred to as Workflow Manager) that run the end-to-end system. While currently we use a ROCOTO based system and that is documented here, an ecFlow based systm is also under development and will be introduced to the Global Workflow when it is mature. To run the setup scripts, you need to have rocoto and a python3 environment with several specific libraries. The easiest way to guarantee this is to source the following script, which will load the necessary modules for your machine:

source dev/ush/gw_setup.sh

Warning

Sourcing gw_setup.sh will wipe your existing lmod environment

Note

Bash shell is required to source gw_setup.sh

Scripts that will be used:

  • dev/workflow/setup_expt.py

  • dev/workflow/setup_workflow.py

7.3.1. Step 1: Set user settings

To make it easy for a user to specify the some of the user specific variables, users can create a .gwrc file in their home directory. An example is provided in $TOP_OF_CLONE/dev/parm/workflow/gwrc that contains the following variables:

  • ACCOUNT: the account to charge for the run

  • HOMEDIR: the home directory of the user

  • STMP: the path to the DATAROOT storage area for the run

  • PTMP: the path to the COMROOT storage area for the run

  • HPSS_PROJECT: the project on HPSS to charge for the run

This file is read by the setup_expt.py script to set the user specific variables. If you do not have a .gwrc file, the setup script will revert to the default values in the repository.

7.3.2. Step 2: Run experiment generator script

The following command examples include variables for reference but users should not use environmental variables but explicit values to submit the commands. Exporting variables like EXPDIR to your environment causes an error when the python scripts run. Please explicitly include the argument inputs when running both setup scripts:

cd dev/workflow

./setup_expt.py NET MODE --idate $IDATE --edate $EDATE [--app $APP] [--start $START]
  [--interval $INTERVAL_GFS] [--resdetatmos $RESDETATMOS] [--resdetocean $RESDETOCEAN]
  [--pslot $PSLOT] [--configdir $CONFIGDIR] [--comroot $COMROOT] [--expdir $EXPDIR] [--gwrc $GWRC]
  [--resensatmos $RESENSATMOS] [--nens $NENS] [--run $RUN]

where:

  • NET is the first positional argument that initializes the parser for the correct system. Valid values are:

    • gfs: Global Forecast System (GFS)

    • gefs: Global Ensemble Forecast System (GEFS)

    • sfs: Seasonal Forecast System (SFS)

    • gcafs: Global Chemistry and Aerosol Forecast System (GCAFS)

  • MODE is the second positional argument that instructs the setup script to produce an experiment directory for mode of execution. Valid options are:

    • forecast-only: for running a forecast only experiment

    • cycled: for running a cycled experiment (forecast + data assimilation)

Based on the NET and MODE arguments, the setup script will provide further input options to the user. The script will also check for the existence of the $ROTDIR and $EXPDIR directories and prompt the user to overwrite them if they already exist.

  • $APP is the target application, one of:

    • ATM: atmosphere-only [default]

    • ATMA: atm-aerosols

    • ATMW: atm-wave (currently non-functional)

    • S2S: atm-ocean-ice

    • S2SA: atm-ocean-ice-aerosols

    • S2SW: atm-ocean-ice-wave

    • S2SWA: atm-ocean-ice-wave-aerosols

  • $START is the start type (warm or cold [default: cold])

  • $IDATE is the initial start date of your run (first cycle date in YYYYMMDDCC)

  • $EDATE is the ending date of your run (YYYYMMDDCC) and is the last cycle that will complete [default: $IDATE]

  • $PSLOT is the name of your experiment [default: test]

  • $CONFIGDIR is the path to the /config folder under the copy of the system you’re using [default: $TOP_OF_CLONE/dev/parm/config/$NET]

  • $RESDETATMOS is the resolution of the atmosphere component of the system (i.e. 768 for C768) [default: 384]

  • $RESDETOCEAN is the resolution of the ocean component of the system (i.e. 0.25 for 1/4 degree) [default: 0.; determined based on atmosphere resolution]

  • $INTERVAL_GFS is the forecast interval in hours [default: 6]

  • $COMROOT is the path to your experiment output directory. Your ROTDIR (rotating com directory) will be created using COMROOT and PSLOT. [default: $HOME (but do not use default due to limited space in home directories normally, provide a path to a larger scratch space)]

  • $EXPDIR is the path to your experiment directory where your configs will be placed and where you will find your workflow monitoring files (i.e. rocoto database and xml file). DO NOT include PSLOT folder at end of path, it will be built for you. [default: $HOME]

  • $GWRC is the custom user global-workflow resource configuration file. [default: $HOME/.gwrc or $TOP_OF_CLONE/dev/parm/workflow/gwrc]

For the cycled mode, additional options are available:

  • $SDATE_GFS cycle to begin GFS forecast [default: $IDATE + 6]

  • $RESENSATMOS is the resolution of the atmosphere component of the ensemble forecast [default: 192]

  • $NENS is the number of ensemble members [default: 20]

  • $RUN is the starting phase [default: gdas]

Examples:

Forecast-only with Atm-only configuration in the GFS:

cd dev/workflow
./setup_expt.py gfs forecast-only --pslot test --idate 2020010100 --edate 2020010118 --resdetatmos 384 --interval 6 --comroot /some_large_disk_area/Joe.Schmo/comroot --expdir /some_safe_disk_area/Joe.Schmo/expdir

Forecast-only with Coupled model configuration in the GFS:

cd dev/workflow
./setup_expt.py gfs forecast-only --app S2SW --pslot coupled_test --idate 2013040100 --edate 2013040100 --resdetatmos 384 --comroot /some_large_disk_area/Joe.Schmo/comroot --expdir /some_safe_disk_area/Joe.Schmo/expdir

Forecast-only with the Coupled model (including aerosols) in the GFS:

cd dev/workflow
./setup_expt.py gfs forecast-only --app S2SWA --pslot coupled_test --idate 2013040100 --edate 2013040100 --resdetatmos 384 --comroot /some_large_disk_area/Joe.Schmo/comroot --expdir /some_safe_disk_area/Joe.Schmo/expdir

Cycled with the Atmosphere-only model (including ensembles) in the GFS:

cd dev/workflow
./setup_expt.py gfs cycled --app ATM --pslot cycled_test --idate 2013040100 --edate 2013040100 --comroot /some_large_disk_area/Joe.Schmo/comroot --expdir /some_safe_disk_area/Joe.Schmo/expdir --resdetatmos 384 --resensatmos 192 --nens 80 --interval 6

7.3.3. Step 3: Check user and experiment settings

Go to your EXPDIR and check the following variables within your config.base now before running the next script:

  • ACCOUNT

  • HOMEDIR

  • STMP

  • PTMP

  • ARCDIR (location on disk for online archive used by verification system)

  • HPSSARCH (YES turns on archival)

  • HPSS_PROJECT (project on HPSS if archiving)

  • ATARDIR (location on HPSS if archiving)

Some of those variables will be found within a machine-specific if-block so make sure to change the correct ones for the machine you’ll be running on.

NOTE: If you selected ARCHCOM_TO='globus_hpss, then you will need to activate your globus connections between Mercury and MSU. See :doc: globus_arch.rst for more details.

Now is also the time to change any other variables/settings you wish to change in config.base or other configs. Do that now. Once done making changes to the configs in your EXPDIR go back to your clone to run the second setup script. See :doc:configure.rst for more information on configuring your run. Go to your EXPDIR and check/change the following variables within your config.base now before running the next script.

7.3.4. Step 4: Run workflow generator script

This step sets up the files needed by the Workflow Manager/Driver. At this moment only Rocoto configurations are generated:

./setup_workflow.py $EXPDIR/$PSLOT rocoto|ecflow

Example:

./setup_workflow.py /some_safe_disk_area/Joe.Schmo/expdir/test rocoto

Additional options for setting up Rocoto or ecFlow are available with setup_workflow.py -h that allow users to change the number of failed tries, number of concurrent cycles and tasks as well as verbosity levels.

Presently, only the Rocoto workflow engine is supported. EcFlow capabilities are a work in progress.

7.3.5. Step 5: Confirm files from setup scripts

You will now have a rocoto xml file in your $EXPDIR ($PSLOT.xml) and a crontab file generated for your use. Rocoto uses CRON as the scheduler. If you do not have a crontab file you may not have had the rocoto module loaded. To fix this load a rocoto module and then rerun setup_workflow.py script again. Follow directions for setting up the rocoto cron on the platform the experiment is going to run on.