Experiments

Listing Experiments

From the Web-UI

Click on the Experiments tab. This will display all available experiments that the user has access to view or edit.

From the Command Line Binary

This will display a list of all available experiments: it is run as a root user.

$> phenix exp list

Starting / Stopping Experiments

From the Web-UI

Clicking the stopped button will start the experiment; similarly the started button will stop the experiment. A progress bar is used to update the progress of starting an experiment. During the update to the experiment -- starting or stopping -- it will not be accessible or available to delete.

From the Command Line Binary

$> phenix exp start <experiment name>

Or ...

$> phenix exp stop <experiment name>

Or ...

$> phenix exp restart <experiment name>

Optionally, you can use the --dry-run flag to do everything except call out to minimega.

The phenix exp --help command will output:

Experiment management

Usage:
  phenix experiment [flags]
  phenix experiment [command]

Aliases:
  experiment, exp

Available Commands:
  apps        List of available apps to assign an experiment
  create      Create an experiment
  delete      Delete an experiment
  list        Display a table of available experiments
  restart     Start an experiment
  schedule    Schedule an experiment
  schedulers  List of available schedulers to assign an experiment
  start       Start an experiment
  stop        Stop an experiment

Flags:
  -h, --help   help for experiment

Global Flags:
      --base-dir.minimega string   base minimega directory (default "/tmp/minimega")
      --base-dir.phenix string     base phenix directory (default "/phenix")
      --hostname-suffixes string   hostname suffixes to strip
      --log.error-file string      log fatal errors to file (default "/root/.phenix.err")
      --log.error-stderr           log fatal errors to STDERR
      --store.endpoint string      endpoint for storage service (default "bolt:///root/.phenix.bdb")

Use "phenix experiment [command] --help" for more information about a command.

Create a New Experiment

From the Web-UI

Click the + button to the right of the filter field.

Enter Experiment Name and Experiment Topology, the remaining selection are optional. In this example, bennu is an example topology and is not included by default. You will need to create your own topology(ies).

From the Command Line Binary

Three options are available from the command line. The only requirements are for an experiment and topology name; scenario and base directory are optional.

$> phenix experiment create <experiment name> -t <topology name>
$> phenix experiment create <experiment name> -t <topology name> -s <scenario name>
$> phenix experiment create <experiment name> -t <topology name> -s <scenario name> -d </path/to/dir/>`

The phenix exp create --help command will output:

Create an experiment

  Used to create an experiment from an existing configuration; can be a 
  topology, or topology and scenario. (Optional are the arguments for scenario 
  or base directory.)

Usage:
  phenix experiment create <experiment name> [flags]

Examples:

  phenix experiment create <experiment name> -t <topology name>
  phenix experiment create <experiment name> -t <topology name> -s <scenario name>
  phenix experiment create <experiment name> -t <topology name> -s <scenario name> -d </path/to/dir/>

Flags:
  -d, --base-dir string   Base directory to use for experiment (optional)
  -h, --help              help for create
  -s, --scenario string   Name of an existing scenario to use (optional)
  -t, --topology string   Name of an existing topology to use

Global Flags:
      --base-dir.minimega string   base minimega directory (default "/tmp/minimega")
      --base-dir.phenix string     base phenix directory (default "/phenix")
      --hostname-suffixes string   hostname suffixes to strip
      --log.error-file string      log fatal errors to file (default "/root/.phenix.err")
      --log.error-stderr           log fatal errors to STDERR
      --store.endpoint string      endpoint for storage service (default "bolt:///root/.phenix.bdb")

Scheduling an Experiment

From Web-UI

The experiment must be stopped; click on the experiment name to enter the Stopped Experiment component. Click on the hamburger menu to the right of the filter field and start button to select a desired schedule.

From the Command Line Binary

The list of available schedules can be found by running the folowing command.

$> phenix exp schedulers

Then apply the desired schedule with the following command.

$> phenix experiment schedule <experiment name> <algorithm>