If you have every used a batch scheduler, there is usually some kind of qstat (queue status) command. Usually these utilities are command line programs that provide a snapshot of the queue. To make this kind of information more accessible, we have developed a nice "top like" utility for viewing SGE queue status and processor loads.

Userstat is helpful in two ways. First as shown in Figure One, it provides (in the top of the window) a list of jobs in the queue (running and waiting). The lower window shows the load and memory usage for the cluster. If you highlight a running job in the top window and press enter, only those nodes that are used by the job are shown in the lower window.

Figure One: Example userstat output for whole cluster

An example of this this display is shown in Figure Two. Userstat is designed for both administrators and users. Indeed, it provides a very low overhead way for users to watch their jobs.

Figure Two: Example userstat output for a single job

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