alliance_automation_node_request_email.txt

Subject: Request for automation node access on Fir, Rorqual, and Nibi for non-interactive Slurm monitoring and job management

Hello Alliance technical support,

I would like to request access to the automation nodes for Fir, Rorqual, and Nibi for my account `devon7y` under allocation `def-jcaplan`.

I have two related non-interactive local workflows that need unattended access without prompting for MFA passcodes:

1. Local Slurm automation for submitting jobs, polling status, canceling jobs, and synchronizing small project files.
2. A local VS Code extension ("Slurm Status Bar") that displays my Slurm job statuses in the VS Code status bar.

The VS Code extension itself does not connect to the clusters directly. It only reads a local file (`~/.slurm_status_bar.txt`). A small local Python 3 monitor script updates that file by querying the clusters over SSH. The monitor runs on my workstation and refreshes remote state once every 60 seconds per configured cluster.

The automation is strictly non-interactive. I do not need PTY access, agent forwarding, X11 forwarding, port forwarding, or interactive shells on the automation nodes. I only need to run direct commands for Slurm monitoring/control and small file transfers.

The commands I need are:

- Slurm monitoring for the VS Code status bar:
  - `squeue -u devon7y --noheader -o '%i|%j|%t|%L'`
  - `sshare -u devon7y -l -P`

- Slurm job control for my local automation workflow:
  - `sbatch <job_script>`
  - `squeue ...`
  - `scancel <job_id>`
  - `scontrol ...`
  - `sq ...`

- File transfer for small project/code/config/result synchronization:
  - `rsync ...`
  - optionally `scp` / `sftp`

For larger data movement between systems or clusters, I use Globus separately. Globus is not the reason for this automation-node request; the request is specifically for SSH-based Slurm monitoring/control and small SSH-based transfers.

The tools/libraries involved on my side are:

- OpenSSH client
- `rsync`
- a local Python 3 monitor script
- a local VS Code extension that reads a text file produced by the monitor

I understand that automation-node access requires constrained SSH keys uploaded through CCDB, including `restrict`, `from=`, and `command=` constraints, and that the recommended model is one key per use. I plan to follow that model and use separate keys/aliases for different purposes, for example:

- one key for Slurm control/monitoring
- one key for file transfer
- if needed, a separate key or wrapper for read-only fairshare lookup

I will also restrict the keys to my workstation's public IP/subnet via `from=` and can provide the exact public IP mask as needed.

One important question is `sshare`. My VS Code status monitor uses `sshare -u devon7y -l -P` to display fairshare values alongside job statuses. I noticed that the published `slurm_commands.sh` wrapper documents `squeue`, `sbatch`, `scancel`, `scontrol`, and `sq`, but not `sshare`. Could you please advise on the recommended way to support read-only `sshare` access on the automation nodes? If the right solution is to use a custom wrapper script for `command=`, I am happy to do that.

To summarize, the intended use is:

- unattended, non-interactive SSH access from my local workstation
- read-only Slurm status polling every 60 seconds for a local VS Code status-bar display
- on-demand job submission and job management
- small file synchronization with `rsync`
- no interactive shell use on the automation nodes

Could you please let me know the process for enabling automation-node access for Fir, Rorqual, and Nibi, and whether a custom wrapper is the right path for supporting `sshare` in addition to the standard Slurm commands?

Thank you,

Devon Y.
Account: devon7y
Allocation: def-jcaplan