TORQUE jobs hang on Ubuntu 16.04 - ubuntu-16.04

Question

I have TORQUE installed on Ubuntu 16.04, and I am having trouble because my jobs hang. I have a test script test.pbs:
#PBS -N test
#PBS -l nodes=1:ppn=1
#PBS -l walltime=0:01:00
cd $PBS_O_WORKDIR
touch done.txt
echo "done"
And I run it with
qsub test.pbs
The job writes done.txt and echoes "done" just fine, but the job hangs in the C state.
Job id Name User Time Use S Queue
------------------------- ---------------- --------------- -------- - -----
46.localhost test wlandau 00:00:00 C batch
Edit: some diagnostic info on another job from qstat -f 55
qstat -f 55
Job Id: 55.localhost
Job_Name = test
Job_Owner = wlandau#localhost
resources_used.cput = 00:00:00
resources_used.mem = 0kb
resources_used.vmem = 0kb
resources_used.walltime = 00:00:00
job_state = C
queue = batch
server = haggunenon
Checkpoint = u
ctime = Mon Oct 30 07:35:00 2017
Error_Path = localhost:/home/wlandau/Desktop/test.e55
exec_host = localhost/2
Hold_Types = n
Join_Path = n
Keep_Files = n
Mail_Points = a
mtime = Mon Oct 30 07:35:00 2017
Output_Path = localhost:/home/wlandau/Desktop/test.o55
Priority = 0
qtime = Mon Oct 30 07:35:00 2017
Rerunable = True
Resource_List.ncpus = 1
Resource_List.nodect = 1
Resource_List.nodes = 1:ppn=1
Resource_List.walltime = 00:01:00
session_id = 5115
Variable_List = PBS_O_QUEUE=batch,PBS_O_HOST=localhost,
PBS_O_HOME=/home/wlandau,PBS_O_LANG=en_US.UTF-8,PBS_O_LOGNAME=wlandau,
PBS_O_PATH=/home/wlandau/bin:/home/wlandau/.local/bin:/usr/local/sbin
:/usr/local/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/sbin:/bin:/usr/games:/usr/local/ga
mes:/snap/bin,PBS_O_SHELL=/bin/bash,PBS_SERVER=localhost,
PBS_O_WORKDIR=/home/wlandau/Desktop
comment = Job started on Mon Oct 30 at 07:35
etime = Mon Oct 30 07:35:00 2017
exit_status = 0
submit_args = test.pbs
start_time = Mon Oct 30 07:35:00 2017
Walltime.Remaining = 60
start_count = 1
fault_tolerant = False
comp_time = Mon Oct 30 07:35:00 2017
And a similar tracejob -n2 62:
/var/spool/torque/server_priv/accounting/20171029: No matching job records located
/var/spool/torque/server_logs/20171029: No matching job records located
/var/spool/torque/mom_logs/20171029: No matching job records located
/var/spool/torque/sched_logs/20171029: No matching job records located
Job: 62.localhost
10/30/2017 17:20:25 S enqueuing into batch, state 1 hop 1
10/30/2017 17:20:25 S Job Queued at request of wlandau#localhost, owner =
wlandau#localhost, job name = jobe945093c2e029c5de5619d6bf7922071,
queue = batch
10/30/2017 17:20:25 S Job Modified at request of Scheduler#Haggunenon
10/30/2017 17:20:25 S Exit_status=0 resources_used.cput=00:00:00 resources_used.mem=0kb
resources_used.vmem=0kb resources_used.walltime=00:00:00
10/30/2017 17:20:25 L Job Run
10/30/2017 17:20:25 S Job Run at request of Scheduler#Haggunenon
10/30/2017 17:20:25 S Not sending email: User does not want mail of this type.
10/30/2017 17:20:25 S Not sending email: User does not want mail of this type.
10/30/2017 17:20:25 M job was terminated
10/30/2017 17:20:25 M obit sent to server
10/30/2017 17:20:25 A queue=batch
10/30/2017 17:20:25 M scan_for_terminated: job 62.localhost task 1 terminated, sid=17917
10/30/2017 17:20:25 A user=wlandau group=wlandau
jobname=jobe945093c2e029c5de5619d6bf7922071 queue=batch
ctime=1509398425 qtime=1509398425 etime=1509398425 start=1509398425
owner=wlandau#localhost exec_host=localhost/0 Resource_List.ncpus=1
Resource_List.neednodes=1 Resource_List.nodect=1
Resource_List.nodes=1 Resource_List.walltime=01:00:00
10/30/2017 17:20:25 A user=wlandau group=wlandau
jobname=jobe945093c2e029c5de5619d6bf7922071 queue=batch
ctime=1509398425 qtime=1509398425 etime=1509398425 start=1509398425
owner=wlandau#localhost exec_host=localhost/0 Resource_List.ncpus=1
Resource_List.neednodes=1 Resource_List.nodect=1
Resource_List.nodes=1 Resource_List.walltime=01:00:00 session=17917
end=1509398425 Exit_status=0 resources_used.cput=00:00:00
resources_used.mem=0kb resources_used.vmem=0kb
resources_used.walltime=00:00:00
EDIT: jobs now hanging in E
After some tinkering, I am now using these settings. I have moved on to this tiny pipeline workflow, where some TORQUE jobs wait for other TORQUE jobs to finish. Unfortunately, all the jobs hang in the E state, and any number of jobs more than 4 will just stay queued. To keep things from hanging indefinitely, I have to sudo qdel -p each one, which I think is causing legitimate problems with the project's filesystem as well as an inconvenience.
Job id Name User Time Use S Queue
------------------------- ---------------- --------------- -------- - -----
113.localhost ...b73ec2cda6dca wlandau 00:00:00 E batch
114.localhost ...b6c8e6da05983 wlandau 00:00:00 E batch
115.localhost ...9123b8e20850b wlandau 00:00:00 E batch
116.localhost ...e6d49a3d7d822 wlandau 00:00:00 E batch
117.localhost ...8c3f6cb68927b wlandau 0 Q batch
118.localhost ...40b1d0cab6400 wlandau 0 Q batch
qmgr -c "list server" shows
Server haggunenon
server_state = Active
scheduling = True
max_running = 300
total_jobs = 5
state_count = Transit:0 Queued:1 Held:0 Waiting:0 Running:1 Exiting:3
acl_hosts = localhost
managers = root#localhost
operators = root#localhost
default_queue = batch
log_events = 511
mail_from = adm
query_other_jobs = True
resources_assigned.ncpus = 4
resources_assigned.nodect = 4
scheduler_iteration = 600
node_check_rate = 150
tcp_timeout = 6
mom_job_sync = True
pbs_version = 2.4.16
keep_completed = 0
submit_hosts = SERVER
allow_node_submit = True
next_job_number = 119
net_counter = 118 94 93
And qmgr -c "list queue batch"
Queue batch
queue_type = Execution
total_jobs = 5
state_count = Transit:0 Queued:1 Held:0 Waiting:0 Running:0 Exiting:4
max_running = 300
resources_max.ncpus = 4
resources_max.nodes = 2
resources_min.ncpus = 1
resources_default.ncpus = 1
resources_default.nodect = 1
resources_default.nodes = 1
resources_default.walltime = 01:00:00
mtime = Wed Nov 1 07:40:45 2017
resources_assigned.ncpus = 4
resources_assigned.nodect = 4
keep_completed = 0
enabled = True
started = True

Answer 1

C state means the job has completed and its status is kept in the system. Usually the status is kept after job completion for a period of time specified by the keep_completed parameter. However certain types of failure may result in the job being kept in this state to provide the information necessary to examine the cause of failure.
Check the output of qstat -f 46 to see if there is anything indicating an error.
To tune the keep_completed parameter you can execute the following command to check the value of this parameter on your system.
qmgr -c "print queue batch keep_completed"
If you have administrative privileges on the Torque server you could also change this value with
qmgr -c "set queue batch keep_completed=120"
To keep jobs in completed state for 2 minutes after completion.
In general having keep_completed set is a useful feature. Advanced schedulers use the information on completed jobs to schedule around failures.