Using command-line arguments within a shell script

Using command-line arguments within a shell script allows you to pass information to the script when executing it. This is especially useful in managing an HPC cluster, where you might need to automate tasks related to nodes, networks, job scheduling (SLURM), and storage systems (Lustre). Here’s an example of how you might use command-line arguments in such a scenario:

Let’s say you have a shell script named manage_cluster.sh that performs actions related to managing your HPC cluster resources. The script could accept different arguments to specify the action you want to perform and additional information as needed.

#!/bin/bash

# Usage: ./manage_cluster.sh <action> [additional arguments...]

action="$1"

case "$action" in
    "start_node")
        node_name="$2"
        echo "Starting node $node_name..."
        # Logic to start the specified node
        ;;
    "stop_node")
        node_name="$2"
        echo "Stopping node $node_name..."
        # Logic to stop the specified node
        ;;
    "submit_job")
        job_script="$2"
        echo "Submitting job using SLURM: $job_script"
        # Logic to submit the job using SLURM
        ;;
    "configure_network")
        network_type="$2"
        echo "Configuring $network_type network..."
        # Logic to configure Infiniband or Ethernet network
        ;;
    "backup_lustre")
        backup_path="$2"
        echo "Backing up Lustre to $backup_path..."
        # Logic to back up Lustre data
        ;;
    *)
        echo "Unknown action: $action"
        echo "Usage: $0 <action> [additional arguments...]"
        exit 1
        ;;
esac

In this example, the script uses a case statement to handle different actions that you might perform in managing an HPC cluster. Each action corresponds to a specific task, such as starting/stopping a node, submitting a job to SLURM, configuring a network, or backing up Lustre data.

You can execute the script with different command-line arguments to perform various tasks. For instance:

./manage_cluster.sh start_node compute-node-01
./manage_cluster.sh submit_job my_job_script.sh
./manage_cluster.sh configure_network infiniband
./manage_cluster.sh backup_lustre /backup/path

By using command-line arguments in this way, you can create a versatile script that streamlines common administrative tasks in your HPC cluster environment.