RedHat Enterprise Linux 5 -> 6 distribution migration

Background information

In order to better support newer software packages -- many of which depend on libraries that are out of date on our current OS -- I will be gradually switching nodes from RHEL 5 to RHEL 6. For binary compatibility reasons, the head nodes (patas and dryas) will not be switched until all compute nodes are on RHEL 6.

What this means for you

Ideally, nothing. I've tried to ensure that all the compatibility libraries are in place to allow the RHEL 6 nodes to run jobs built for RHEL 5. However, there's a good chance I've overlooked something.

If you have a job that fails on some nodes but not others, please email linghelp@u and include the error messages from your stderr file, as well as a copy of the job log file and submit script. This will help me diagnose the problem and solve it.

Workarounds

If you need your job to avoid RHEL 6 nodes, you can do so by adding the following to your submit script:

Requirements = ( OpSysAndVer == "RedHat5" )

If, for testing purposes, you want to try a job on only RHEL 6 nodes, use this instead:

Requirements = ( OpSysAndVer == "RedHat6" )

Please contact linghelp@u with any questions or issues. I'm depending on users to help me find trouble spots and make the final switchover a smooth one.