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SLURM Cgroup Limit

SLURM cgroup limits restrict resources (CPU, memory, GPU) for jobs, causing OOM kills or throttling when exceeded.

Quick answer

SLURM cgroup limits restrict resources (CPU, memory, GPU) for jobs, causing OOM kills or throttling when exceeded.

Infrastructure#slurm#cgroup#memory#infrastructure#oom#resource-limit

What this failure is

SLURM Cgroup Limit is a Infrastructure failure seen during ML training runs. SLURM cgroup limits restrict resources (CPU, memory, GPU) for jobs, causing OOM kills or throttling when exceeded. Common tags: Slurm, Cgroup, Memory, Infrastructure.

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Why it happens (the mechanism)

Cgroup memory limit set lower than job memory request. Cgroup CPU quota limits job to fewer cores. Cgroup device access not configured for GPUs. Cgroup OOM killer triggers before system OOM killer. Taken together, these mechanisms explain why the failure is reproducible, why it tends to surface on specific workloads or scales, and why generic mitigation attempts often fall short without addressing the underlying cause.

What you'll observe

  • Job is killed by cgroup OOM killer
  • Training runs slower than expected due to throttling
  • Job can't access all requested resources

Common symptoms and what they mean

SymptomWhy it happens
slurmstepd: error: cgroup out of memoryCgroup memory limit set lower than job memory request
Job killed with SIGKILL by cgroupCgroup CPU quota limits job to fewer cores
Resource usage reports differ from job-level limitsCgroup device access not configured for GPUs

Which systems are affected

  • SLURM-managed GPU clusters
  • Cgroup v2 enabled clusters
  • Shared compute environments

How to confirm this is the problem

Use this checklist to test the hypothesis against a small reproduction. No single line proves the root cause, so preserve the preceding events and compare one variable at a time.

  • ✓Reproduce the failure from a clean checkpoint/seed: the symptom must appear without warm-up state from a previous run.
  • ✓Verified signal present: slurmstepd: error: cgroup out of memory
  • ✓Verified signal present: Job killed with SIGKILL by cgroup
  • ✓Verified signal present: Resource usage reports differ from job-level limits
  • ✓A targeted fix from the "How to fix it" section eliminates or substantially reduces the symptom within one validation pass.

The fix and the prevention pattern

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Slurm GPU errors in context

Slurm GPU failures can occur before allocation, during cgroup creation or inside the workload. The hub joins job reason, GRES, memory, node-health and distributed-launch evidence.

Compare every slurm gpu error side by side

Related failures to investigate next

Lambda Bgp Route Withdrawal Region Outage often co-occurs with this failure because both share underlying assumptions about infrastructure; if you fix this entry but still see drift, validate the related primary cause next. lambda bgp route withdrawal region outage →
Slurm Node Oom often co-occurs with this failure because both share underlying assumptions about infrastructure; if you fix this entry but still see drift, validate the related neighboring cause next. slurm node oom →

Root cause

  • Cgroup memory limit set lower than job memory request
  • Cgroup CPU quota limits job to fewer cores
  • Cgroup device access not configured for GPUs
  • Cgroup OOM killer triggers before system OOM killer

The fix and how to prevent it

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References

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